17 posts tagged “photography”

This tryptic was taken to show, without a doubt, why I'm constantly railing on about photographing me from "above the nose".

Above the nose please!

By "below the nose", aka "up the nose", as in the first shot in this series, you will literally have the camera angled up the nose.  If you are about the same height as your subject, this will be the angle you get from a digital camera most often since you look down into the screen.  This angle will emphasize any extra chins, waddles or flaps that may exists. Don't I look glorious in all my pudgy goodness? No? I don't think so either... but I'm not trying to look glamorous just trying to prove a point.

From "at the nose", your lens barrel is essentially pointed straight at the end of their nose, as in the second shot.  While you will get a decent shot of most people, it's compositionally boring and most of us plus-sized folks won't be all that impressed.

By "above the nose", where your camera's lens barrel is above your subject's nose (not yours) and angled slightly downward towards them, you have shadows working for you. For most people, it will result in a photo where your subject look slimmer and hide some other imperfections. 

Trust me, us plus-sized folks (aka ME) will like your photos better (and possibly you better) if you raise your camera just a couple of inches.

Oh, and it helps if your subject isn't over tired, sick and in a foul mood when you photograph them too... but smiling is overrated don't you think?

What a day!

Yesterday as I was walking home from a wonderful lunch meeting with Mondo discussing life, business and photography I deeked into the LCBO on St. Clair West. 

As you should already know, I have my S2 back so I'm taking pictures left, right, and centre, like the photoholic I am.  So, when I saw the ad for the "Amateur Photo Contest" stuck to the counter at the LCBO, I did what any photographer would do,  I whipped out my camera and took a picture.

LCBO Photocontest

Of course, since I'd been walking in the rain the white balance was off... and as I adjusted the camera to take a legible photo an LCBO employee comes up to me and and said

"You can't take photos in here. Are you from head office?"

"No.  I just want the information on this photography contest. Do you have a print copy of this info I can take with me? That's all I was photographing"

"You can't take pictures of anything unless you are from head office. I'm going to talk to the manager...." 

I think, I'm just photographic the ad. As she walks away, leaving me and my camera standing by the thing I want to photograph, the other cashier leans over, "they don't even let us photograph each other in the staff room".

The first woman returns "No photographs of anything, ever. Unless you are from head office. But I can give you the phone number of head office."

I couldn't stop myself from saying:  "So you are having a photography contest, but you won't let me photograph the ad to promote your photography contest... doesn't that sound odd to you?"

The response?  "Here's the phone number of head office.  They should be able to help you."

No, I really don't think they will be able to help me. Unless of course they want to hire me.  ARGH!

Friends, family and friends with family - this one's for you!

My friend Andrea (of the peeptastic contest) has got another cool photo contest going.  This time there are even sponsored prizes from HP!

Here's a quick summary:

• the subject of your photo should be of your school-age child going back to school or starting school for the first time. Boarding the bus, walking to school, waving goodbye – you know the drill.
• post your BEST (a maximum of three) photos to Flickr. Make sure each photo is tagged “fishbowlbacktoschool.”
• Deadline: midnight September 10th.
• The best photo (as determined by Andrea's panel of judges) will win an HP Photosmart C5280 (and ink AND some photo paper!) courtesy of HP Canada.

More details and some tips for back-to-school photography on Andrea's blog - a peek inside the fish bowl.

Spread the word!

Hi, my name is Alexa and I'm a photoholic.

 

Since November 2005 I have shot an average of over 100 photos a day. I've shot over 61,000 photos. I've loaded 2,179 photos to flickr.  I've shot using 7 of my own cameras, my camera phone and a multitude of cameras that I've ripped out of other people's hands.  I've photographed my food, your food, everybody's food. I've offered unsolicited advice to people I don't know about shooting food and where to position the lens when shooting plus-sized women.

Legs of Pride

I've been camera-free for the last 11 days, but I've been sneaking photos on my cell phone. My last photo was Sunday. 

Damn this shutter is SLOW

6 days after my camera died we went to the zoo and knowing full well the photos would suck, I still took 114 photos with my camera phone.

While visting my mother last week she kept offering to buy me a temporary replacement.  I think she was afraid of I would go into withdrawals while I was in her house. My father councilled therapy, but conceded that it'd be cheaper to just buy a new camera. 

This will be my last meeting. Today, I bought a new camera. 

Say "Cheese"

The Last Photo I'll Take

2 comments

Not because I think it's brilliant and the pinnacle of my photographic career.
Not because I've acknowledge my addiction and am on the road to recovery.
Not because I'm refocusing my energy on personal growth, business development or even spiritual enlightenment.

No, it's because of the dreaded E18 error which has left me camera-less.

CAMERA LESS!!!!

[more details on the dreaded E18 can be found on the E18 website... yes, it has it's own website - www.e18error.com/]

Lex's Transit Story -- Originally uploaded by LexnGer

We got underground 3 times today to see my photos in the Transit Stories exhibit on the subway screens. The images cycled on every 10 minutes on the "5s", as they say in radio.

It's amazing how long the images seem to be on the screen when they are someone else's, but it feels like seconds when they're your own.

Original original photo: Impractical Shoes

Okay, so I did a little Illustrator cut&paste to get the screen in focus. Still cool though, no?

Well, now it's official, I'm a professional photographer. 

I just sold my first photo.

Cup O' Berry Goodness