We live in a flat

LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 11 (30 Oct – 6 Nov)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Clockwise from top left:
Top Left: Facial Reconstruction, weliveinaflat.com
Top Center: The Sketch, 1stworlddog.com
Top Right: Low Tide outside Southsea Marina, Langston Harbour, looneyatoms.com
Bottom Right: Pee-mail, 2catsandacattledog.com
Bottom Centre: You think you know, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Bottom Left: Naked Mountain Bridge, lingeringvisions.wordpress.com

Welcome back! We were all quite experimental for Week 11.

weliveinaflat was trying out an iPhone app called Studio, that lets her incorporate graphical elements and text as layers before saving it as one image. It could be as simple as a speech bubble (pictured top left) or as complex as this picture of Little Mamam and Miss Harper Lee.

1stworlddog was trying out a sketching app (pictured top center) that turns Bodhi’s picture into a work of art.

Meanwhile, Barbara (looneyatoms.com) was toying with editing using her camera’ software to achieve a painterly effect. Her subject of boats certainly makes it very suitable for painting :) And Dawn (lingeringvisions) was also editing her autumn landscape of a picture she took earlier. Two landscapes, different approaches.

2catsandacattledog also opted to be artistic by going for a dreamy, slightly desaturated effect. The picture in the thumbnail is cropped and trust me it does not tell the full story!

Last but not least, CompletelyDisappeared rendered grumpy Kookai in black and white, splat on the floor… and still very adorable in his grumpiness :P

Go click on the links above because the photographers will have more detail what they did at the point of taking the picture. Thank you for sharing :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 10 (23 -30 Oct)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Clockwise from top left:
Top Left: The sillhouette, 1stworlddog.com
Top center: Sunrise on the turkey run, lingeringvisions.wordpress.com
Top Right: Wiccan woman, 2catsandacattledog.com
Bottom Right: Half a view, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Bottom center: Coins, Ink on Paper, weliveinaflat.com

Everyone went outside for their photos this week! Or in my case, a representation of what we did outside :P

I had always thought that it is hard to capture scenery photos. If it was at a tourist spot, well then, there’s always some other tourist getting in the way and preventing you from a wide shot. You need to be there at the right time of day for the right light, stand at the right spot to get the perfect aspect and of course have the right equipment, if you are aiming to capture something that tells a story rather than what is that mess of green?? What was I looking at when I took it?

And yet, it is often the day-to-day scenes that feature most in our lives, that will give you a little bit on the detail and the context of the culture/environment that we grow up with and operated in. Whether we came from the city in a small island or live in wide open spaces in a country many times the size. Not the touristy places that we have been to all of one time. :P

So this week, as you know autumn comes to some friends like Dawn (Lingeringvisions) and I imagine, Meghan (2catsandacattledog) may be experiencing autumn over at her area as well? Meghan’s is an imaginative photo of a wiccan woman with a cauldron, and you have got to use your Harry Potter senses when you look at that one. Muggles may have some difficulty seeing it :P

Dawn’s picture is a well-composed one of an early morning Autumn road… sans tourist or other photo bombers ;P I would love to walk a long such a road not just for the sights but also for the temperature. It is always hot and wet in Singapore, and I imagine in Thailand as well.

The scenery over at Thailand is slightly different, Completelydisappear’s photo of the scenery comes from the different perspective from a boat, looking at the buildings on the river bank, silhouetted by the roof of the boat . Not so green and open, with a different vibe.

Over in sunny Australia, we see a silhouette of a different kind – Bodhi takes us back out to open, green spaces like Meghan and Down, but thinks you should look at his sillhouette instead ^ ^ Whether the silhouette is the subject, or frames the subject, it still adds an element of interest to the picture doesn’t it?

Last but not least, mine is a picture of something I put together to illustrate what Donna and I have been doing outdoors. A photo can show you what the outdoors look like, it can tell you a story of what we have been doing outdoors, on a boat or on a bike.

Go click on the links above because the photographers will have more detail what they did at the point of taking the picture, sharing a bit about themselves and their daily lives. It’s not the places that we have been to that define us as people, but what we see, think and feel everyday that makes us so. Thank you for sharing :)

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Before you know it, we are at week 10. Here are

LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 9 (16 – 23 Oct)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Clockwise from top left:
Top Left: Afternoon siesta time!, weliveinaflat.com on Instagram
Top Right: It’s all about family, 1stworlddog.com
Bottom Right: Happy Birth Day 1 Year, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Bottom Left: Sunset Walk, 2catsandacattledog.com

How many sleeping positions does a dog have? This week weliveinadog and 1srworlddog showcased just two of them. With a place to call their own, a dog’s life can be pretty carefree – eat, sleep, play – while the humans have to worry about time to go for walks, time to clean, whether the dog is safe at home/outside, time to train, time to do other human things like work, keeping up with friends, etc. Amidst all that rush and worry, a quick snap to crystallize the moment – Bodhi asleep with toddler, or Copper walking with his human in that sunset hour where the light is low and the shadows are long – perhaps will help us to remember and appreciate, what we are working so hard for… and what we savour in life.

And it’s not just the dogs in our life really. It is the little moments when we take the time to enjoy the world around us, such as food, such as keeping up the endeavour to post once a day for the year. Happy Blog Birthday again, completelydisappear. :D Thank you for celebrating with this challenge ;)

My Best Photo of the Week is not harping so much on technique or what state of the art equipment you have, although you could if that is what rocks your world. This week’s pictures, I do feel, showcases what this challenge tries to be about – looking through the numerous pictures that we took throughout the week and sharing the one that is most significant to us at that particular point in our lives. Thank you so much for sharing with us! 

Please do visit and read more about each picture by clicking on the links above. The photographers have provided a little description of the pictures and why it is special for them :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 8 (09 – 16 Oct)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Clockwise from top left:
Top Left: The changes of southerly, 1stworlddog.com
Top Right: Donna is off the best friend list, said hippo, weliveinaflat.com
Bottom Right: Candy, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Bottom Left: Jumping in paws first, 2catsandacattledog.com

We had more pictures submissions for week7 than week8, but that’s fine because you can join whenever you like. Last week’s pictures are interesting.

1stworlddog and completelydisappear dabbled with image editing apps on their phone on their respective subjects and showed two very different results in terms of the tone and mood of the images.

2catsandacattledog and weliveinaflat explored pet portraiture from different ends of the animal :P Again two very different resulting images in terms of the overall mood and colour palette.

I do think that photography is a process. Through continuous experimentation, one may start to discover favourite angles, perspectives, apps and effects that over time become your personal style. Wherever you are on this photography journey, have fun :) When things get overwhelming, keep it simple. As 1stworlddog says in their latest entry: “It is family and simple things that matter.“

Please do visit and read more about each picture by clicking on the links above. The photographers have provided a little description of the pictures and why it is special for them :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 7 (02 – 09 Oct)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Clockwise from top left:
Top Left: i,Robot, completedisappear.wordpress.com
Top center: Torrey, roxythetravellingdog.com
Top Right: Adrift on the wind, teepee12.com
Bottom Right: Busted!, 1stworlddog.wordpress.com
Bottom center: Backseat, weliveinaflat.com
Bottom Left: Clamming, phallphotos.wordpress.com

We’ve got a good mix of indoor and outdoor photography this week. The common thread among them being life and living and our endeavour to capture this in images, with very different results.

Both Completely Disappear and Marilyn (teepee12.com) shot many frames and shared what they felt was the best out of the batch of photos they had taken of the subject. Completely Disappear sought to convey human emotions via still life photography. Marilyn sought to share the beauty of leaves adrift in the breeze. Meanwhile Patti (Phall Photos) told the story of a family clamming excursion using silhouettes in the warm glow of the setting sun.

Come indoors again, and you’ll find 1st world dog Bodhi busted for counter surfing (imagine that!), Torrey (Roxy the Travelling Dog blog) totally relaxed on Mom’s lap and Donna chilling out at the backseat of her car. All dogs, quite distinct and different from each other. And that is what pet photography tries to show, the character that is unique and personal to the dog and its human.

What we end up with is a gallery of our emotions and thoughts towards our external environment – people, family dogs, nature and of course, each individual’s approach to photography. Different people, different geography, living this thing called life and showing you the little bits we see, one picture at a time. I appreciate the variety and the richness in your photos and for sharing them with this challenge :)

Please do visit and read more about each picture by clicking on the links above. The photographers have provided a little description of the pictures and why it is special for them :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 6 (25 Sep – 02 Oct)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Clockwise from top left:
Top Left: Charlotte 16, http://looneyatoms.com
Top Right: More than a decade, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Bottom Right: Busy paws, 1stworlddog.wordpress.com
Bottom Left: Headlong into you, www.weliveinaflat.com

The thing about photography is that it is such a good way to start to get to know something about a person. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, but a lot of times, there is also a lot of hidden meaning behind the picture that you wouldn’t know about. Not until you speak with the person who took the picture.

But since we are all so dispersed across the globe, blogging takes the place of one-to-one conversation. I’m very happy that we have representation from London, Thailand, Australia and Singapore today. :D

Barbara and Completely Disappear took very different pictures while focusing on just one particular subject for the image. And while Barbara took portrait of her daughter and Completely Disappear a photo of an orchid, both are symbolic of the close relationships they have with their families. And that’s what made these pictures beautiful to me, beyond the fact that they are nicely taken.

And then we have two shots of dogs, Donna and Bodhi. Bodhi’s human and I were experimenting with different apps for the shots we took. I love this picture of Bodhi, the warm, vibrant hue, unique angle and just the ruff joy of digging in the mud :D It is a happy picture, golden happy. 

Please do visit and read more about each picture by clicking on the links above. The photographers have provided a little description of the pictures and why it is special for them :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 5 (18 – 25 Sep)

Pictures are cropped, please visit the original post (links below) to view the full pictures with the photographer’s original thoughts on them :)
Left: Sunset on the run, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Centre: How could you say no to this face?, 1stworlddog.wordpress.com
Right: A third black, two thirds white, www.weliveinaflat.com

It seems we all worked on something we were not too familiar with.

Completely Disappear practiced working on shutter speed while taking pictures on a moving vehicle. Bodhi the first world dog got his picture converted to black and white, rather than his usual colour shots of his beautiful coat. I was pretty much trying to apply the rule of thirds, and sometimes breaking it, when taking shots of Donna in a crate.  

You can read more about each picture by clicking on the links above and visiting the specific pages that provide a little description of the pictures and why it is special for the authors :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 4 (11 – 18 Sep)

Left: Tired Paws, 1stworlddog.wordpress.com
Centre: Sprawl, www.weliveinaflat.com
Right: Somewhere Over There, completelydisappear.wordpress.com

We have some great pictures of dogs for last week’s entries. :D

A close up of Bodhi’s tired paws, a longer shot of Donna asleep on her cushion bed and a shot of Kookkai, a dog who resists taking pictures. It’s interesting the relationship with the dog and the camera. Some shun it. Some get used to it. Perhaps a dog is more cooperative as it gets closer to its humans. Perhaps the more exposed the dog was to the camera being where it is when one is holding it to take a shot, the easier it becomes to start taking its prescence for granted. Of course, one still needs to be quick about it before the dog loses patience with you :P

You can read more about each picture by clicking on the links above and visiting the specific pages that provide a little description of the pictures and why it is special for the authors :)

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LAST WEEK’S ENTRIES: My Best Photo of the Week (MBPOTW) Challenge – WEEK 3 (4 – 11 Sep)

Top: The Breath of the Morning, completelydisappear.wordpress.com
Bottom left: Paris in Colour Contrast, 1stworlddog.wordpress.com
Bottom right: Touching Noses, www.weliveinaflat.com

Last week’s entries explored Colour and Contrast in different ways.

Completely Disappear and 1stworlddog both had three dominant colours in their pictures, with very different results. The Breath of Morning (pic 1) pushed light and shadow to the extreme, but allowed a hint of red to nicely warm up a moody picture of the morning.  Paris in Colour Contrast (pic 2) went with rich contrasting colours that show up against the natural colours of a tired Paris, sleeping with her prize wrapped snugly around her. Glorious. Meanwhile, Touching Noses (pic 3) contrasted the dark form of two dogs against the light coloured sand, the emotion of vibrant colour is not present in this picture, compared to the other two pictures. It was the subjects themselves and their actions that was significant to me.

All personal favourites or important to the photographers because of the circumstances or thought behind them. You can read more about each picture by clicking on the links above and visiting the specific pages for the pictures :)

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