Big Cats

A lesson in Patience.

Lions love chillin', and if they could sip on some Barcadi while they're at it, I'm pretty sure they would. The King of the Jungle may remain inactive for up to 20 hours a day, however the young Princes and Princesses get to play around once in a while.

These photos were taken at an Animal Orphanage. The lions were quite inactive and just when I thought we'd waited long enough for some action and were ready to move on, they began playing.

On another note, there's nothing scarier than watching a lion in captivity pacing. The feline movement from one exact spot to another and back again is menacing. Maybe they pace because the can hear the cheetah in the next enclosure being fed first. Maybe they pace because they're just tired of having a bunch of people with long lenses pointing at them and having to endure flashlights. Maybe they pace because they want to see other animals apart from their own family and the two legged one's on the other side of the glass. Maybe they pace because they think that even though the're orphans, they can take care of themselves in the wild. Maybe they pace because they just want to be free.  

I see you

Focus. Focus. Focus.
It keeps things simple by capturing what the eye sees while discarding distracting backgrounds.

I decide to get up close and person with some items and here's what came out of that exercise.

Yup, thats about it, for now.

Ciao

Staring out the window

This is one of those pictures I took without really giving much thought until looking at it later on and realising how much weight it holds. 

Penny for your thoughts?

Initially I thought I'd crop out the car and make the whole photo black and white. Then there was the exposure dilemma- do I keep the right side dark and shadowy or increase the exposure? After some tweaking, I kept it natural the way it was taken.

Fire Fire

There was a blazing fire just behind the construction site next to our complex, so naturally I grabbed the camera and watched the scene from the balcony.

The fire died eventually. Patience together with the hue provided by the golden hour and the heavy smoke allowed me to get this shot, the bird flying over the scene was an added bonus.

Raiding the Kitchen

Chopping up onions and garlic suddenly got exciting as I found myself spending more time figuring out lighting, textures, macro shots, compositions and settings than on the food preparation and cooking itself.

I used artist canvases as the backdrop, luckily I had one that was painted black already, so that worked...for the time being. Then the fight against the dreaded shadows began. All in all, it was fun and the onion didn't make me cry.

Today's lesson:

-Its probably better to take pics of food at any other time except right before it needs to be chopped up.       Timing and planning.

-If the entire background is the same colour then somehow the backdrop needs to be lighter or brighter than the foreground...lighting.

-When feeling short of inspiration, raid the kitchen cupboards and the fridge.

Note to self: get smooth long white and black cardboard for future setups.

Ready, set, GO

“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”- Alan Cohen

Photography.

I figured I'd document my experiences as well as the trials and errors that come with this entire exciting learning process. I love art and I love photography. I don't own a DSLR camera yet, but that doesn't mean I can't experiment. I've been doing a lot of reading and coming across articles like this gives a lot of encouragement to a point and shoot owner.

I'm also starting this blog for these reasons:

Accountability- I need to post something regularly, so I need to go out and capture something every week. Click click click.

Passion. Life's too short.

So this is it, books, blogs and a camera!

Here we go!!!

A ginormous thank you to everyone who's close and dear to me for their encouragement and support. This first post's dedicated to you.

P.S Critique is welcome, we need to learn and grow right

P.S.S. Ironically the pic in this post was not taken by me but it fits the mood, thanks sis.