Reflections

There are a few ways to photograph reflections, some easier than others. You can find reflections in water, mirrors and shiny objects like glass or metal. There is another contest and guess what...the subject is reflections. For me contests are a good way to keep shooting, keep learning, try new things and get some feedback on my shots. I still feel like a beginner with a thousand questions.

This is the reflection in a hood of a shiny black car in Chinatown during the Mid Autumn Festival. You can tell its a car by looking at the top right corner of the photo I left a bit of the street in the shot. 

This is at the Botanic Gardens in Copenhagen. Not a perfect water reflection but close.

Gardens by the Bay Singapore during the Mid Autumn Festival. There were dozens of photographers lined up next to me to take this shot. In the photo are the super trees that now have more plants growing up the trunks. I think they want them to have full coverage of plants. The flower dome and cloud forest dome is also in the background.

I loved this building with a cool reflection in NYC.

Lau Pa Sat (orange tiled roof with a small white clock tower) reflection in the Asia Square building. LPS is a hawker center across from our condo in Singapore. I was on the 8th floor (pool level) walking around looking for good reflections since we are right in downtown, found this one. 

Watering the lawn at One Shenton. Hard to believe they need to water it since it rains so frequently.

Cruise ship in the Asia Square building. Nice blue sky.

These stools made a good reflection on a polished tile floor.

Flower in a mirror.

Art Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands has a nice lotus pond in front. There are always people sitting there enjoying the day. The reflection is of the museum itself that is shaped like a lotus flower. I was just there last week to see the Karl Lagerfeld Little Black Jacket photography exhibit, it was great!

Same lotus pond.

City skyline in the Marina Bay Financial building. 

Another skyline in one of the financial buildings. I am surprised they didn't call security on me as I was so close to the glass taking photos. Glad they didn't!

Apple in spoon. I wanted to use a spoon for reflections, however, this is harder than it looks. You have to get the angle just right, lighting just right, background, polish the spoon, no flash, etc. But I am happy with how it turned out. Bonus - got to include this bowl I just bought, I love it!

This is my favorite! Spoon on a newspaper. This was also not exactly easy. I think I spent an hour shooting spoons, trying different angles, different backgrounds and reflections AND I thought it was fun. I guess I must be transforming into a photographer or something. ;)

Happy Friday!!!

Bookworm

I love to read books! Since we moved to Singapore one of my new favorite genres is historic fiction based in Singapore or anywhere in Asia. This way I can learn a bit about the history of the area and the people. There are plenty of fancy bookstores in town and there are giant libraries but what I really like to do is visit one of the many used bookstores in town. There is something about second hand books that take on a life of their own. Who read them first, was it a favorite, why are they back in the bookstore, maybe no more room in their former homes? Sad little orphaned books...I could spend hours shopping for books to bring home. Here are a few shots, I hope you enjoy them.

Still trying to get through Cutting for Stone. It is really good, I have just been super busy lately.

This is a page from a book titled, "The Purple Line". Bought this book at an airport in Bangalore, India. Excellent book, not too big, very interesting and a quick read. I will always shop for books in airports while in other countries. It is fun to read books by authors local to the area we are visiting.

Now this is a window seat! 35 stories up, great view of downtown Singapore. I spend a lot of time in this room but I actually don't sit in the window that much. The couch is fine for me. 

And here is the couch....

I hope everyone has something great to read this weekend. 

Happy Friday!!!

A Glimpse of Me...

I am not the most creative person and I do not always have great ideas of what to post on my blog. I want to continue learning photography so I have to keep shooting. Lately it seems like I have no idea what to shoot. I can't keep walking around town, fingers crossed, hoping to get a few good shots of anything. I am a planner. I plan my meals for the week and write out grocery lists. I schedule days to work out, etc. So having nothing to post until Thursday has been giving me some anxiety! Super happy I found a great photography focused bookshop and bought a great book with 44 different exercises. Lets hope this allows me to feel a bit more organized. The first exercise is titled, "Glimpses of You". Oh boy, off to a bad start. I hate having my picture taken that is why I am behind the camera! After I read through the exercise plan I realized its only a glimpse and not a full self portrait. I think I can handle this...

Reading a book outside by the pool on one of the super comfy loungers. I didn't like this photo so I have it on its side to try to make it more interesting. Makes me look slimmer, too! I think the worst part of this is that I have to use my tripod and set the timer on my camera then run into place. Its super hot outside and I had to do this about a dozen times to get it right so I was sweating by the time I had it. 

The only good shot of me at the pool :) Immediately cooled down again after running around for the previous photo. A remote control is on my "to buy" list so I don't have to set the timer and run into place. Instead with a remote I can shoot whenever I am ready. 

My reflection in the windows on our balcony. Took longer than I thought to get this to turn out. Had to switch to manual mode focus because the camera wants everything but my reflection to be in focus. I have had the same issue with water reflections and manual mode focus is so far the only way I can get what I want out of the shot.

Lounging, yet again, on the couch waiting for Geoff to come home. I really don't sit around this much I swear!

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I don't like to go out to eat everyday so I do most of the cooking at home. Unfortunately in Singapore most kitchens do not come with dishwashers. When we first moved here and were looking for our condo we were told most dishwashers in Singapore have two arms and two legs. Ugh. But it is worth it to eat super healthy meals at home. There is nothing flattering about standing at the sink washing dishes and the exercise guidelines are to photograph part of the daily routine to show who I am. Out of focus is my way of being creative and giving the photo some interest. 

I am holding a small mirror and shooting into the mirror while facing a framed piece of art that I love and you can see my reflection in that as well. Sort of cool. 

I do love flowers. I had some printed on a sort of foam board and I put them up on the wall in the guest room. Love it, need to print a few dozen more to cover the wall. I tried to use the fresh flower to take a photo of me holding the flower up to cover part of my face but it didn't work. I tried about 50 different shots, different angles, different backgrounds, it just didn't work for me. This came out nice and it is a glimpse!

I have a Butterball turkey breast in the oven and when Geoff gets home from work we will have a nice Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of us. No shopping for Black Friday this year instead we are signing up for another half marathon in May 2014. Normally we don't sign up so early but they are giving out free singlets for early bird registration. WOOT WOOT!

Happy Friday!!!