One Shot Wonders

What is One Shot Wonders? It was the most fun, most frustrating photography days I have ever had. A group of us from the Artist's Behind Cameras Group got together on Sunday at Mooloobah for a photography challenge, I have never done anything like this before and I will be a lot wiser if I do it again.

We were given a list of photos to take, one photo only, no deletes and in the order of the list. Our cameras were checked, nothing on the disk ***check*** a test photo was taken for the number to be recorded *** check***, camera set to JPEG medium image ***check***

We had 2 1/2 hours for the first 6 photos, my first mistake was not using some of this time to do a recon of the area and choose my photos more carefully.

1. Mostly Yellow

I went for the first most obvious yellow thing I found. Rooky mistake

2. Texture

I am happy with this and would have considered taking this photo of the fence to use as a texture for my photoshop work, I think the plant adds another element to the picture

3. Repetition

We all ended up with a photo that was either under or overexposed, this was mine. There was a group of nippers (young surf lifesavers all lined up with pink vests, they were so cute and all about the same height. As I was setting up the shoot someone called "GO", instinct made me press the button….bugger

4. Leading Lines

The plan for this image was much better than the outcome, I was waiting for the surf to be in the right spot to lead the eye to the couple kissing...of course the waves moved and I missed the 'lines' (and yes I know my horizon is crooked)

5. A Street Scene

I am happy with this image, the family waiting to cross the street, the loo with the view. I shoot in RAW so it was a novelty to put my camera in monochrome.

6. Food

I knew as soon as I saw this heading what I was going to do, I hoped the lolly shop was still operating - this was taken with a wide angle lens held above the table of sweets. (a bit of fingers crossed that my settings stayed right)

After a break for lunch where we shares stories of the shot we could have/should have got, we were ready for round 2. I was hoping to be a bit smarter this time around

7. A beach scene

We were in the perfect location....the hard part was to look for something to stand out from the crowd, the image I had in mind was a group of multi-coloured umbrellas I had seen in the morning, as I headed off to this location I noticed the lifesavers tower, flag and girls in bikinis, I thought this was a very typical beach scene. I will edit this image and include in my portfolio

8. Al Fresco

Italian for dining outdoors, plenty of places to choose from....I didn't want to get up close for this one. I wouldn't want someone asking me to take photos of my food so I went for the dining experience.

9. Round

This was my 'funny' shot, I was going to take this one a few times, as it fits with round, reflection and self-portrait. (I didn't)

10. Reflection

There was two surf lifesavers, one had a pair of reflective sunglasses on, I asked him I could take his photo while he was looking out to the beach - he said 'NO' but this guy said yes, not the result I wanted but still a great portrait shot

11. Movement

Stupid forgot her tripod....I was never going to get a good movement shot without it, in desperation I asked these kids (and Mum and Dad) if I could take a photo while they were playing in the water. Should have used a faster shutter speed this is too blurry in the wrong places (it is well known I am not a lover of blurry/movement in photos)

12. Against the light

I didn't like this heading, it was too early in the day to get a good silhouette image, there was no one around to lean up against the light post for me...thinking outside the square (then I remembered there was judging and most judges 'don't get it'

13. Self Portrait

After being a focus point for one of the other photographers I borrowed her tripod, a quick focus, 10 second delay and jump in to shot. If I liked photos of myself I would be happy with this. (Again I used the monochrome setting in camera)

My test image

The organizer checking my details.