New Camera!

Today my new camera came :-)

As you can't take a picture of a camera without another camera (which I'm still lacking) I pinched this one from the net:

It's the Olympus E500, my first Digital SLR. Luckily it arrived at my work while Nathalie and Michelle were both there - they are photo pros and were able to explain to me all the tricky stuff (like how to put the lens on ;-))

The course is going to be fantastic - I'm working through the first week's assignments including the Flickr task. Below are a few of the shots I found to comment on.

We had to pick photos that we found particularly striking - they could be anything. As I mentioned before, I am discovering definite things I like to see in photos. I like B&W, very minimalistic photos (think the opposite of those Impossibles puzzles), close ups of flowers and foliage and shoes. Well I never denied that I like shoes.

I think the thing I like most about these two photos is the fact that the legs are disembodied. They came from different photographers in a random browsing session but both focus on a body part which is often passed over in favour of faces and torsos. They are both taken at quite odd angles - standing on the desk and lying prone. Not quite where you'd expect to see legs.

This is the kind of minimalistic picture I am growing to love. In fact, thinking back, it's quite similar to an oil painting I bought once in Thailand and never got around to framing. I like the way there's the merest hint of buildings peeping through the mist at the back.

The obligatory flower close-up. I'm not sure I like the two black fields on the left - one would probably be better, less symmetry.

Once it stops raining I'll take the camera out and get to work on the main assignment.

Getting Started

Class officially begins on Monday 1st, however everything's up and running for those who want to make an early start.

I spent some time browsing around the forums, uploading software and generally finding my feet last night. Wowee! There's an awful lot to learn!

Loads of people have already uploaded the first assignment, and it's amazingly inspiring browsing around all the photos and thinking about how I'd do things differently. Part of the week's tasks is to comment on other photos but I will be assigned to a small group on Monday so I'm waiting until then.

This week's tasks:
- Browse Flickr for public photos you like and write down some comments
- Look at colour and photograph a bottle
- Read through Photoshop tutorials

Photoshoot:
- choose 6 letters from the alphabet and photograph them, 4 'free' photos

I'm on the wrong computer atm but I will share some photos that I found on Flickr with you tomorrow. I haven't started this week's shoot as Neil has trotted off to Tokyo with the camera, and I am waiting on my new one to arrive in the post - hopefully Monday!

Welcome!

This blog is not a knitting blog, however it will probably feature loads of yarn.

For a while now I've had a hankering for being able to take decent pictures of Yarn in a Bowl - why did my YiaB never look like some of the other cool YiaB I spotted here and there on the web?

So I signed up for an Open University photography course, took the obvious next step and bought a new camera, and will henceforth bore you here with my discoveries.