52 weeks: Week 17 wrapup

© 2010 Simon Hucko

Well, it's been a rather long and busy week for me. We closed on our house last Tuesday, which means we've been painting and doing various other things all week. On top of that, I still can't locate the charger for my DSLR, so I haven't been carrying it around with me since the batteries are basically toast (lesson learned). Tired of my own excuses and not wanting to miss my blogging deadline again this week, I decided to throw together a quick still life type shot on the butcher block I spent all of Sunday working on. I chose a part of it that had some cuts and texture to it, giving a nice earthy contrast to the polished steel of the silverware. I converted to black and white to help bring out the textures and make the high ISO noise from my point n shoot less noticeable (noise is generally much better tolerated in black and white, as we expect black and white film shots to have some grain to them).

There were a lot of great entries this week, so I chose to highlight two. My first pick is "Major Tom" by matt.mendick:


© matt.mendick

First off, I'll admit that he totally got me with this one. I looked at the caption and just assumed that it was a shuttle launch of some sort (especially with the inside knowledge that he was just in the Tampa area). Nope, just a plane. I really like the movement from the clouds to the deep sky. The black and white is a nice trick, too, makes it look like the blackness of space. The placement of the plane at the top of the frame makes it look like it's about to fly right out of the photo.

My second pick this week is "Squeaka" by irv_b:


© irv_b

I love that the musician is in silhouette but his instrument still shines through. It's a great effect, kudos for noticing this and capturing it so well. I like the narrow crop, too, and the natural framing that the tunnel provides. Great photo.

That's it for this week. Keep up the great work, I'll continue trying to locate my charger, and probably give the point n shoot more attention between ripping out wallpaper and carpet...

~S

[title of blog] on flickr