The Official January Photo A Day Challenge

[Ravyk]

WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*runs in* still more coming!!! typical me...running late as usual

Stupid camera batteries went missing in the car so I couldn't get all my shots off yesterday, plus it was too hot most of the time during the day so scuse the badly out of focus night shots

Here are my last shots for January

27th:

Running the Dogs

Sandy Blurs

28th:

Feeding the Shark

29th:

Cooling Down

30th:

Cooling Down II

And last but not least

31st:

Scooby Impression

enjoy!!

[rocco]

CM I absolutely love your self portrait. It's brilliant, well done.

[Clicking Mad]

thanks iltby & tlc - I had Chester sit in position (or close enough) so I had something to focus on, camera on a tripod using the 50mm lens, ISO 400 speed 1/13 and f/4.0. I deliberately left some "cropping room" around what I saw through the viewfinder just in case either of us moved a little too much when I jumped infront of the camera. I used all natural filtered light through the windows - my lounge room is generally the darkest room in the house but I had all the blinds and the front door (over to the right of shot) open to let in as much light as possible - there is no direct light it is filtered through the corregated opaque ceiling of my carport. Had the timer set - and have found out I can't change how much time I have to get in shot 10secs is all. Ran into shot and plonked myself into some sort of position, I sat on the lounge next to him in a couple of tries, then decided to lay-down on the floor infront and made myself smile :D which involved giggling so that it wouldn't look so fake and that was kinda how I found out my giggle encouraged a tail-wagging for Chess

Earlier I had tried to do a nose-to-nose type portrait shot but the 10sec time limit just never gave me enough of a lead-in 'cause he found it quite unusual and not sure he really liked it, usually after the shot was taken he'd be happy to give me a smooch. And I also tried a few on my bed in my bedroom - a lot more light in there, but I kept getting shots of my arse or up my nose, it wasn't working for me I was also looking into a nice portrait of us sitting down - again couldn't find the right setting for it.

Bindi-boo - cool collage! sweet and playful

jag - thanks, I've loved your scenic pics! ... and your last series is fantastic

tlc - love your collage too, the nose-to-nose ones are really nice, Chess just wouldn't do that for me, at least not within 10secs ;)

mtd - sweet Maggie (?) on the lounge

iltby - nice dog pics, I'm loving those kind of in-focus nose pics, leap has a great shadow going on and fantastic "Prey" pic, I prefer to off-centre and I think it looks great as it is

CM - your photo from yesterday is absolutely hilarious :p Have really loved seeing all your Chester shots over the past month, you've done some amazing things with B&W. Also, have already said it, but your photo from today is just brilliant, I absolutely love it

Ash, thanks for coming up with and organising this whole thing! It was a ton of fun Have really loved seeing pics of your two little boys. I think the first shot you ever posted is just brilliant, too.

And finally, thank you so much to everyone for your compliments and feedback and encouragement, I've had such a fun month with this

thanks iltby it has been a lot of fun!

I just want to thank everyone for embracing this challenge. I know for some (myself included) a photo a day is difficult to commit to. I am actually impressed that I managed about 20 out of 31. I have photos from a couple of days that weren't posted - one because I didn't download it until the following week and another because even though it's a good photo, it contains some explicit language (wall of graffiti).

I am so impressed with the way many of you have approached the challenge and made your own personal goals. I have loved a 'month of Chester' (including the self portrait ) and I have also loved 'ILTBY's month of macro'. I think there are a few here who have made great improvements with their photography over the month, the three that spring to mind straight away are tlc, PPS and lea.

Overall I have enjoyed and loved seeing the vast array of work that EVERYONE has produced from simple shots in their home, of their dogs and general domestic life to getting out and about and doing things they wouldn't have normally done if it wasn't for the challenge.

The treasure hunt list for February has been posted. Hopefully Troy will be nice and pin the thread for us again. I just want to say thank you to everyone for making this a success and I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have.

See you in the February thread! :D

Brilliant Ashanali ... thanks for starting this! It's been totally absorbing. I just went through the whole thread - it was quite a journey!

aquamal - love that last shot!

jayc - cool colours in the sky

poodlemum - beautiful boy and no pink for him

ravyk - love the running dogs pics really like them a lot! Love the movement and darkness and inability to entirely know what's going on

CM I absolutely love your self portrait. It's brilliant, well done.

thanks

Thanks EVERYONE for making this a great month! Brilliant inspirations and creations and dedications - it really has been a fantastic month!

I think I've learnt a great deal. Just concentrating on the one subject has made us both - Chester and I - better at knowing what to look for in a nice shot and him in his tolerance, posability (if there is such a word) and flexibility. I seriously think he's gotten good at "posing" how I want, and what I see - I've given a lot over to his "normal" behaviour but there were many shots that I've totally had to move him around with my words or hand signals - that recent night time shot for example all I had to do was put my arm/hand out to the left to get him to give the side-on shot which was what I was after ... he's learnt my camera language hehehehe

and I wouldn't've done it if it was for this thread

see you all in the February thread yah!

[TerraNik]

Here we go... Finally got my computer programs sorted.

My final January photos...

The pups' mega-huge bone that we bought as a joke.. They love it!

[iltby]

Thanks for the explanation CM I'll have to give that technique a go sometime!