Thursday, April 7, 2011

Shiny

ds507 - Shiny


Dog Blog Post #292: Had some fun with today's Daily Shoot assignment..

Make a photograph of something shiny today.

We've been here before - or at least close to it - and I've taken picture of dog bowls, dog eyes, and reflective mouse ears, oh my!

So what to do today that's different?

My mind was a blank, so I basically wandered around the house saying "shiny... shiny... shiny..." and picked up (and dusted off) a variety of things to see what might work. Thankfully the sun was shining though my favorite window, so at least that part of the equation was going to be easy.

In the end, I selected the picture below...

ds507 - Shiny


... of a small statue I purchased in Mexico three decades ago, while on a week long trip with my Spanish class. (Then spent the past hour trying out random words in Google to determine that it's (mostly likely) carved from gold sheen obsidian. It really is lovely. Turned one way, it's jet black, turned another it has the luster you see above. It was actually quite hard to get it to look "just right" for the picture, not that you can tell that to see it!)

Was it my favorite picture?

No.

But I felt it best met the assignment goal of "shiny".

My favorite shot was the one at the very top, or the one below...

ds507 - Shiny


... both Henry sporting a necklace of mine. Judging from the early comments in flickr, it appears that (once again) folks were drawn to the pictures I didn't pick as my "Daily Shoot" shot.

(sigh)

Seems like that's been happening more of late.

I can't tell if it's because I'm lousy picking the shot that best represents the assignment, or I have enough non-daily shoot (ie: dog photography) contacts now, who comment on whatever they feel like.

Does it matter?

It's not like these are graded. If you take the position they are like "story starters" - intended to get the juices flowing (quite literally, when your models work for food!) - then I should be picking shots like the one up top.

But if the goal is to "stretch" as a photographer, and show what you come up with, then I'm darn proud of getting the shine on that little statue.

(sigh)

Questions, questions... always more questions than answers.

Editor's Note: Yes, houndstooth, I did do the daily shoot for Tuesday, but I didn't like it enough to make it my Wordless Wednesday shot. I was going to post it today, but I spent too long figuring out what kind of rock my statue is made of. Should be able to make it tomorrow!

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

4 comments:

houndstooth said...

I LOVE the top photo! OMG! All I can think of is Steve Martin singing "King Tut" now! Hee hee hee!

It goes to show that not all things that we think capture the assignment always work as well when we capture them with the camera. I uploaded mine for this assignment already yesterday (partly because I was afraid we wouldn't have good sunlight today, which I knew I'd need to get the shot) and while that collar is really shiny and sparkly, I took a lot of shots that really didn't capture it. The light had to hit it just right. Meh. There's always today's assignment, which I haven't seen yet! It will be a while before I can capture great shots for The Daily Shoot.

Beyond the Dog Dish said...

As the saying goes "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"!They all do a great job for shiney - but my favourtie is definitely the first one and not just because I am a dog-crazed lady. I love it from a photography pick; the focal point is the shiney object which stands out really well on an uncluttered background, cute Henry! At any rate, I just really enjoy viewing your daily shots!

Pst... your much farther ahead in the Walking Challenge than me, I need to get moving now that snow is gone!

greygirl25 said...

I fully expected to hear Walk like an Egyptian to start playing when I opened the page.

Think your guys could teach my guys about posing and patience?

Pup Fan said...

I really like both choices... tough call!