Introducing Year of the Alpha – 365 Days of Sony Alpha

[Dr. Harout]

I am enjoying this too, though in a shame for not being bold enough to join. Keep up the good job. (have to admit, I'm learning from this thread)

[Kalainen]

Barely 10 days and we are already in the toilet...
Atypical subject and gritty one at that (no pun intended).

Thanks for your comment Sury. I used some soya sauce for this picture and afterwards when I cleaned everything twice, the scent of soya sauce is still there.

[Kalainen]

I recommend putting a list of topics and styles together that you can refer to in times when spontaneity runs dry.

Yes, I intend to do something like that. Do you have some specific way in your mind or is this just a general (and defineatly good) advice?

Toni

[Kalainen]

I am enjoying this too, though in a shame for not being bold enough to join. Keep up the good job. (have to admit, I'm learning from this thread)

Thanks Harout! I glanced at your flickr-page and some shots very good for participation. So don't be too critical for yourself.

Toni

[Kalainen]

Day 11 of 365 - Weather report
"Finally the snow is coming down from the sky! In this evening, when it got dark, the snowfall began and this time it looks like it has a potential to become a true winter. Usually by this time of year, in Finland, we have had already at least a couple of good months of winter with everything covered by beautiful white snow. Apparently some flowers are still blossoming in central Finland and some folks have picked mushrooms from the forests. I have never experienced this kind of black winter before. Doesn't sound quite as dramatic as Niagara falls freezing in North America, but I red that the same weather phenomenon explains the mild weather in Scandinavia and the freezing weather in North America."

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Day 12 of 365 - The interrogation room
"Found this front door of apartment building when I was hiking around the neighborhood couple of days ago. What is this place, I immediately thought, when I noticed security camera above the door. Notice that there is also a platform for pin codes and a pretty solid looking door. For some odd reason window on a top conjures up, in my mind, an image of a interrogation room. It's a gray and dreary room with one light hanging from the ceiling. Underneath the light there is a simple table and three chairs – one for me and two for my interrogators."

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

[aster]

Hello Kalainen, : )

Welcome to the forum! Lovely run of images it will be it seems, with a self-conducted challenge of finding something to shoot and enjoy the results of too.

I'm enjoying and intrigued with the many little moments turning into evetual photo art.

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[jbtaylor]

I recommend putting a list of topics and styles together that you can refer to in times when spontaneity runs dry.

Yes, I intend to do something like that. Do you have some specific way in your mind or is this just a general (and defineatly good) advice?

Toni

It's general advice but the categories and themed threads of this or any other website provide a nice framework for thinking about your project.

[Kalainen]

Hello Kalainen, : )
Welcome to the forum! Lovely run of images it will be it seems, with a self-conducted challenge of finding something to shoot and enjoy the results of too.
I'm enjoying and intrigued with the many little moments turning into evetual photo art.
Thanks for sharing,
Yildiz

Yildiz, thank you for your kind and beautiful words!

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

I recommend putting a list of topics and styles together that you can refer to in times when spontaneity runs dry.

Yes, I intend to do something like that. Do you have some specific way in your mind or is this just a general (and defineatly good) advice?

Toni

It's general advice but the categories and themed threads of this or any other website provide a nice framework for thinking about your project.

This is a good advice, thank you Taylor!

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Day 13 of 365 - It's the context, stupid!
"Nearly two weeks ago, when I was starting this photo blog, I had premeditated only the first picture beforehand (day 1). It didn't come quite as I imagined, but I figured it was good enough. After that I was on my own and my quest for 'the 365' had started. I didn't know what to expect or wish for. I only knew I had carefully build myself a photo blog for my 365-project and searched for couple of forums where I could share my coming adventure. I had already invested a fair amount of work into it, so I couldn't turn away from it now (plus there was couple of good friends pushing me into it). In a sense, I had my concept and bones ready, but I knew nothing about how the 365 would change my photography."

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Day 14 of 365 - Useless stuff - in use
"There is something about old and useless stuff that I find intriguing. I can, for example, go to a flea market and see all the useless junk, but I'm still somehow interested enough to check them out and explore these piles of stuff that are actually something what the seller would throw away if he weren't trying to sell it there. In other words garbage. You can also found odd stuff in forests, like couches and cars – at least in here, but probably there too. Sometimes they are so deep in the forest, it makes you wonder how people have managed to get them there. I guess the interest in old and useless stuff is in some way connected to 'user experience': you find them in accident and they feel like treasures or something. One could also use economics to explain that there is, unlike in super market, a natural scarcity of authentic junk, because every piece of scrap you found is in its own way a unique relic of life shaped by the time. So, it's important to keep eye on them."

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Day 15 of 365 - Lonely stages
"When it comes to composition, I've found myself favoring symmetries and perpendicular angles. I don't know where it comes from, but it seems to be coded into my photographic eye. One could say that it's rigid way of organize objects and things in a picture, but I find it resembling classic harmony or theater stage where everything has meaningful place – everything in order and nothing arbitrary. It's a point of view where viewer is somehow estranged from it and watches it objectively while things are presented to him/her."

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[jbtaylor]

"When it comes to composition, I've found myself favoring symmetries and perpendicular angles. I don't know where it comes from, but it seems to be coded into my photographic eye. One could say that it's rigid way of organize objects and things in a picture, but I find it resembling classic harmony or theater stage where everything has meaningful place"

The same occurs to me. Maybe I watched too many Stanley Kubrick movies. The question for both of us would be "Will we break out of that tendency?"

[Kalainen]

"When it comes to composition, I've found myself favoring symmetries and perpendicular angles. I don't know where it comes from, but it seems to be coded into my photographic eye. One could say that it's rigid way of organize objects and things in a picture, but I find it resembling classic harmony or theater stage where everything has meaningful place"

The same occurs to me. Maybe I watched too many Stanley Kubrick movies. The question for both of us would be "Will we break out of that tendency?"

I'm glad to hear, because I was secretly hoping to find a partner in crime. I always feel that if I have to turn camera out of its straight position (up and down for example), it will break to composition immediatly. I find other people to shoot non-straight position and in angles all the time. I guess it makes photography more subjective and 'realistic', because most of the time we are not in perpendicular angle to stuff/people we interact.

The question your asking came for me too, but I'm not so sure if I actually want to break out of it at all. I want photographs to look that they have been designed to look that way - not just some subjective glance or something. And I think it has a some sort of reason why it's part of my photographic eye. I need to refine it and sophisticate it to become my visual character.

Next time I'm watching some Kubrick movies I've got watch them more closely..