July Roundup & 365

Big Day (208/365)

Aside from attending my cousin's wedding (above) and upcycling a dress into a waistcoat, I didn't really do anything worth blogging about in July, so this post is going to focus on my 365 Project photos.

Despite doing little of note, I did experiment with some different techniques and ideas when taking photographs this month!

Reflective Afternoon (182/365)

Musical Wave (183/365)

I began the month with a couple of abstract images--reflections of light on the ceiling!
Over the course of the month, I experimented with other types of reflection too.
All will be revealed further on in the post...

Poppy (184/365)

Starburst (185/365)	Breakfast (186/365)	Bud (187/365)
Wallflowers (188/365)	Black Eye (189/365)	Quartet (190/365)

Having a busy week, I ended up picking something easy to focus on for the first full week of July--another rainbow series, this time with flowers.
Because it was easy, and the flowers were there.
I did something similar back in May, but banned myself from photographing flowers because it was too easy.
This time I was glad to have something easy to photograph, and I opted to seek out pink flowers instead of violet, for more contrast between pictures.

Fractured Time (192/365)	Looking Anywhere But You (193/365)
Green Eyed Monster (194/365)	Two Heads (195/365)

As I noted at the start of the post, one thing I experimented with in July was reflections.
The photos above were taken using a small piece of mirror glass, which I held in front of the lens at an angle that distorted the resulting image.

I See All (200/365)	Rosebud (202/365)	Stained Glass World (205/365)
Translation (206/365)	Alpine Honeycomb (207/365)	Quilt (211/365)

Another use for mirrors was some vortography. This involves using three mirrors joined into a triangular shape, to create repeated patterns, like in a kaleidoscope.
I used a cheap piece of mirrored perspex for this, which works just as well (and was something I could cut to size at home!)
For the last four of this set, I used printed media as the focus--a cereal box for Alpine Honeycomb, and fashion magazines for the other three!

I hadn't tried this technique for photography before, but it turned out to be pretty fun, and an easy way of getting an interesting result.

Little Blue Friend (198/365)	Unripened Fruit (199/365)	The Mouths of Friends (204/365)
(Do NOT) Feed Me (209/365)	Ripening Fruits (210/365)	The Crate Escape (212/365)

Of course, no month of 365 Project could be complete without a bunch of random snaps, especially when it's yours truly taking the photos.
Around mid-July, I got into the habit of taking a random picture of something when I first got up. Supposedly this was to motivate me to make more effort with photography during the day, but a couple of times it's just led to me taking a 'meh' photo and deciding 'that will do'.
I guess it at least decreases the stress of finding something new to photograph every day.

Despite that, I did experiment with a couple of other new-to-me techniques/ideas:

Gerbera (197/365)

Windy Day (191/365)

Shapeshifter (196/365)

The first was intentional blur. In Gerbera and Windy Day, I used a slower shutter speed and zoomed in whilst taking the photo. I didn't use a tripod because it wasn't to hand, which meant the flowers ended up with a painted effect.
I also used a slow shutter speed for Shapeshifter, this time panning the camera from left to right as I took the shot, to give a blurred, rushing-past-a-platform-of-passengers kind of effect.

Shine Bright (201/365)

A Pair, A Pear (203/365)

Finally, a new technique I tried out (having seen it on Marcy's 365 Project) was dark reflection still life!
The setup is relatively simple, though I definitely need better equipment for the job (namely a larger piece of fabric and a bigger piece of glass!)
Despite the simplicity of setup, the resulting images can look pretty neat.
I'm glad I tried out this technique, because it does turn out some good results--well worth the effort of setting up the shot.

That's it for this roundup!
I'm a little disappointed in myself for not making more effort with photography this month, and also for not really doing much to blog about. This was very much a stay-at-home month!

I did, at least, complete one goal:

80. Refashion/upcycle 3 items of clothing

Hurrah!


Unfortunately August is looking to be very much the same as July was: inactive and unmotivated! I really feel that I've run into a brick wall photography-wise, and am wondering if it's the same for other 365ers. It's difficult to come up with new, good photos every day... Kudos to those who do it without hesitation (and double kudos to those doing a 365 for a second or third time!)