THE WEEKLY DOGWOOD CHALLENGE - WEEKS 14-26

It's taken me this long to complete the second quarter of the Dogwood 2017 weekly photography challenge because I struggled to get Week 14 Panning completed. Panning is hard! So without further ado, here are the results....

Week 14 - Panning (Technical)

​This challenge has been "dogging" me for weeks, so what better subject to choose than a doggo. Must be the slowest pan ever done, but it's done!

Week 15 - Hard (Artistic)

​Struggling with a borrowed camera and trying to line the moon up while hanging out a window - HARD!

Week 16 - Leading Lines (Story)

I love the sinuous curves of the top dam at Zealandia!

Week 17 - Loop Lighting (Technical)

Linton very kindly agreed to be my model for this challenge. One of the first photos taken with our new Sony a9 too - I'm loving the shallow depth of field I can get with the Sony FE 50mm/f1.4 lens (this image taken at f1.8.). Although it was a lighting challenge, I chose to just use natural light to achieve the loop effect.

Week 18 - Purple (Artistic)

The Melbourne "Artists Down Under" get-together gave us a number of fantastic photo opportunities, and I kept the Dogwood challenges in mind as we went out exploring the city. This was taken in ACDC Lane in the Melbourne Laneways.

Week 19 - Back Yard (Story)

The depths of winter and nothing but rain, rain, rain; there were still bursts of colour to be found though.

Week 20 - Sky Overlay (technical)

This challenge was far more to my liking! Though admittedly, the sky overlay was only a minor part of the compositing involved in creating this picture. This ended up being the eponymous image in my "Visions of Zealandia" exhibition, in a limited edition of 5 at 70x70cm on archival Breathing Color Lyve canvas, exclusive to Zealandia. Delighted that two have sold already! 

Week 21 - Soft (Artistic)

This is a bittersweet image of "T2" Takahē giving his partner "Puffin" Takahē a lovely noogie in the soft floofy  feathers on the back of her neck. Sadly, only a few weeks later, Puffin passed away at the ripe old age of 22 years, leaving T2 a widower. She will be remembered fondly by us all at Zealandia.

Week 22 - Geometric Shapes (Story)

Taken in the Melbourne Laneways; I like how the squares and rectangles of the windows and walls reflect and reinforce the narrow rectangular confines of the laneways but also help frame an escape into the natural world.

Week 23 - F8 Portrait (Technical)

Skipper Chris Gee obligingly modeled for this portrait; the technique of shooting with a narrower aperture than normal for a portrait helps to give more environmental context. Here the Zealandia valve tower provides an easily identifiable landmark.

Week 24 - Green (Artistic)

So many greens in this patch of parsley; playing with artistic depth of field at f1.4.

Week 25 - Toy Story (Story)

Here the story continues from Week 10 (left) with Nurse Pooh stitching up poor Ginger Bear (right) after her tumble in "Did she fall or was she pushed?".

Week 26 - Light Painting (Technical)

Had quite a bit of fun with this one - 30 second shutter speed and using a torch (flashlight for you Americans) to paint light over the scene. Takes quite a bit of trial and error, as you might imagine.

Six months down, six to go! It's been an interesting ride so far and gets me out of my comfort zone.