Oh, Hi. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been able to complete 42 weeks of the 52Frames Photo Challenge, but here we are. This week, I really wasn’t sure of my submission.
I reached out to my mini-group, and they voted for the picture below. Their comments included that this one met the challenge better and was stronger in technical aspects: focus and centered subject.
I like the shell, but I was leaning toward one that told more of a story. This was my second choice.
I submitted the shell as I do agree that there is something missing about the lobster trap. I like the story, but I think that the framing could have been better.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
I stopped in Hallowell on a sunny morning. The sun was bright, but I like the clouds reflecting in the river.
I tried to use the Hugin plugin, but that wouldn’t open. I switched to the AutoPano Gigi plugin and successfully created the Pano. I’ll need to play around a bit more, but I can definitely see creating more Panomaras in the future.
This week’s challenge is “negative space”. My first thought was about creating the negative space with black as the negative space. Hm. I thought about it some more and realized that maybe not black was needed, but a plain color. I like a local lighthouse, so maybe a shot of the lighthouse and sky.
On my way in, I see a sign “Fresh Lobster Rolls”. Something about the sign grabbed my attention. I also looked at the American flag blowing in the breeze. But I was there to take the lighthouse picture. I parked and headed off to take a picture of the flag and the lighthouse. I took several of the lighthouse.
Lighthouse
I took several shots of the lighthouse. I think that this one worked well for the negative space challenge. The sky is pretty consistent coloring with just a hint of the clouds on the far right.
I liked this one as it includes more of the lighthouse. Including the water adds a bit to the picture as well.
Flag
I took a few shots of the flag. I like the balance of the clouds and the flag with this one. However, I worry that the clouds are a bit distracting for the negative space aspect.
Sign
On my way in, I saw the “Fresh Lobster Rolls!” sign. I thought that it might work well for the challenge. Even though I had my lighthouse pictures, something about the sign stayed with me. On my way out, I stopped and took a few images.
I liked the coloring of the sign. I like the handwritten aspect of it. In the end, there was just something about it that struck me. So, this is the entry for this week.
The challenge this week is for a photo that describes a line from a song.
This week’s challenge is Line From a Song, and it might strike a chord with music lovers and visual storytellers alike. Dive into your favorite tunes and pick a line that resonates or sparks your imagination. Your task is to create a scene that embodies this specific lyric, capturing its mood, story, or message through your lens.
Whether it’s a dramatic scene inspired by a powerful ballad, a serene landscape that echoes a soft melody, or a bustling street scene that fits a rocking pop lyric, let the music guide your creative process. It can be a literal representation or a metaphorical one.
Naturally, please write a little in the description so your fellow Framers can know the actual line (maybe include the name of the song!) and have an idea about how the image and the song lyric speak to you. Rock on!
52Frames PHoto Challenge #23 of 2024 – Line from a song
After thinking about a bunch of lyrics, I decide to go with “Black Coffee in Bed” by Squeeze. I figured that I could actually accomplish this one.
The above was my original shot. I wanted it just slightly underexposed and with a bit of bokeh. After thinking about it, I decided to try switching to monotone.
I decided that I preferred the monotone version as it conveys more of the mood and feeling that I was going for.
The challenge for this week was “wide aperture”. I usually shoot with a pretty wide aperture, so this was a “normal” challenge for me. I kind of wanted to shoot an image with a variety of lenses to really learn about the differences, but I didn’t get the time.
I did get to think about it though. That is something that helps me. I do plan on taking an image (with the widest aperture) with a variety of lenses in the future.
In the meantime, my photo submission for this week is below.
We spent Easter afternoon with D1 and a friend of hers. Dinner was wonderful (mac and cheese and broccoli). A puzzle was completed and the Tiger game was on the projector. The Tigers are now 3-0 (all one-run games).
Teri Kanefield
The wonderful Teri Kanefield post the Ronna McDaniel Story. Teri is a national treasure. Read her stuff. She is logical and respectful. She has great examples and provides a balanced perspective.
“We tell the truth, even when it offends some of the people who pay us for information.”
Snow
Even though we’ve had very little snow this winter, we got a bunch last week and are predicted to have more this week. So much for picking up the heat mats, getting the flowers out, installing the landscape lighting, etc.
VLOOKUP
I had a frustrating experience with a VLOOKUP use case this week. I had a spreadsheet and wanted to match up a couple of columns. So, I created two tabs for that information.
The two tabs from which I’m pulling from are labeled ML, and SN.
One worked,
=VLOOKUP(B2,SN!A2:F,4,FALSE)
one did not:
=VLOOKUP(B2,ML!A2:F,2,FALSE)
Since there really wasn’t that much information on the sheet and copy and pasted the information onto the first sheet. Then, I used:
=VLOOKUP(A2,$N$3:$O$8,2,FALSE)
Which worked fine and dandy. I still don’t know why the original didn’t work. This is why you always do a sanity check though. I didn’t get an error message, just no data was marked.
Keybow2040
Still haven’t solved the Keybow2040 programming yet.
Tools
I did get a bit of time to work on cleaning up the shed and (starting) to organize the garage. I got the workbench cleaned off in the shed. I installed an overhead light (not correctly wired yet, but functional). I put up a board and mounted a couple of battery chargers in the garage. I still have lots of work to do to get things organized, but small steps were completed.
Audio Hijack
Audio Hijack has an update. I should know better than to run an update just before recording a show, but…
The update seems to have broken my workflow. After the update, only one side of the podcast recorded. I reached out to Rogue Amoeba, the developer of Audio Hijack, and got a very quick response. After two emails, the issue was solved. I’ll need to use a different workflow, but all should be good again.
Update, not all good again. I was able to record the podcast, but I had to record off of a different microphone. I’ll continue to doing troubleshooting until I figure out the exact issue. Rogue Amoeba is also asking for logs.
D2 visit
Pancakes
I made pancakes this morning. These came out flatter than usual, but still tasty,.
Apparently, the Yard Goats went looking for old laws. They found one that stated that a pickle was only good if it bounces. Apparently, in 1948, there were arrests made because someone was selling pickles that didn’t bounce.
The park, Dunkin’ Park, is very nice. There is something about minor league baseball. The parks are small, and the teams work hard at including the fans. Like many other teams, the Yard Goats made things fun.
The game was a good game too. The Yard Goats ended up victorious, 7-4. We had a bit of light rain, sunshine, and clouds. Mostly, the weather was pretty comfortable.
*And, yes, I did buy a T-shirt with a Pickle on a pogo stick.
Podcast
Successfully recorded the podcast today. Still having issues with Audio Hijack, but I was able to figure out a way to record the show. Everything is posted and all good.
Travel
Traveling to D2, I listened to the first half of a Tiger’s Double Header. The first game was interesting until the 12th inning. Then things went really south.
52Frames
Completed my 52Frames Challenge for this week as well. The challenge was technology. Since I work in technology, I had figured that this would be an easy one. However, I wanted to do the Extra Challenge of a “cinematic” picture. I had to do some reviewing on what makes a picture cinematic. After some review, many of my original Technology thoughts didn’t line up with cinematic. So, then I thought that I’d take a picture of train tracks with the switching equipment. I did take some pictures of train switching lights, but decided the technology link was too weak. So, I took a picture of my laptop sitting on the deck railing at evening. This worked better for the cinematic features.
Thai Dinner
D2 and I went to small local Thai diner. This was the epitome of local diner. The service was, well, lacking. The food was good though. We even got a kick out of the TV running Roku and playing YouTube videos.
Taxes
I finished up taxes for me and my mother-in-law today. I had a bit of tough go with the pensions and how to code them. There are some things that just don’t make sense. Let’s say that your pension is a defined pension from a private company. Let’s also say that you are over 73 years old. Once you are over 73 years old, you have to take a required minimial distribution (RMD) from your 401K or IRA. However, a defined pension doesn’t have an RMD, you get the same amount from the day you retire. Yet, you have to mark whether or not the amount was RMD or not. Plus, you have to commit that you have taken your RMD. Researching that to make sure that things were right was less than fun.
Today was a great day to hunker down with a blanket and a book. That is, it was windy, rainy, and cold. Instead, I spent it finishing up taxes. I hear in other countries, this process is quick and easy.
Trevor Ragan
Trevor was a really good presenter. He focuses on learning. His presentation revolves largely around three areas:
Growth Mindset (which he gets correct)
Stress Mindset
Psychology Safety
He kept us engaged and learning for three hours. He’s not one of the flash over substance people. He talked a good bit about the nuances and gray areas of research and learning.
He has a free “audiobook” (hint: it’s really a podcast). I put the podcasts into a single file though, so now it is more like an audiobook.
He has a ton of YouTube and Podcast material available. I’ll be checking out some more of his stuff.
Eclipse
I got to a chance to be home for the eclipse. I had a pair of glasses ready to go.
My town was not in the totality. However, it was close. My town was listed as 97.6%. The eclipse was said to start at 14:18 EDT. The mid-eclipse was to be at 15:31.
I’m glad that I got to experience this. This was definitely something that is hard to fully explain. There was something very eerie, more so than words will convey.
This week was minimalism. I took a couple of pictures early in the week when we got some snow. I’m glad I did as the best picture that I got this week was one of those.
I did take some other pictures, a couple of them I like, but they didn’t meet the criteria as well. The other ones that I took were on a very overcast day. I like the way that they turned out, they just didn’t meet the challenge for this week.
This week’s Photo Challenge is Symmetrical Composition. It was a nice exercise to look for symmetry around me. Thus, I enjoyed this challenge. I took a few “backup” pictures with my phone during the week.
However, I visited the park across from the State House (capital building of Maine). I went there as I noticed the nice symmetry of the trees lining the path.
What struck me was the benches. I get a sense of longing, of waiting from the benches.
My second choice was a similar picture of a couple walking. This one ALMOST did it for me.
I think that if the dog wasn’t in the picture blocking the bench, it may have been the choice. I like the balance of the couple walking, both with black coats and jeans. Interestingly to me, the focus of the picture is completely different.
The Photo Challenge for this week is intentional camera movement (ICM). I watched the resource on creating an ICM image and the main point seemed to be the wonders of creating an “abstract image”.
I came down to two pictures that I liked for this challenge. I’ve submitted the top picture (and titled it “Ghosted Piers”). The second image was more abstract, but at the end of the day, I liked the first one a bit more.
Ghosted Piers. Taken at Casco Bay in Portland, Maine. All rights reserved.
This was my second choice. This was also taken at Casco Bay.
Unexplored is the theme for this week. The bonus challenge was to involve a stranger. My choice this week didn’t include the bonus challenge.
Here was my choice for the submission.
Other Considerations:
Here are the other considerations.
I was going to title this one, “Cupid Missed”. I found a random arrow embedded in a tree.
While at the park, a group of ducks came swimming up the river. I got a few shots of them, but I like one of a couple of them taking off best.
I’m not sure which church this is. I like the steeple, but am less thrilled with the storage container in front. Maybe when the trees fill in this can be a better shot.
