this is one of the photos i like. i like it how its really dark in the background and how the beads and broach are sitting. I have a feeling just using the candle is going to be too dark for the rest of my photos.

Ive started using candles just to see how it will work with my other ones, i like how some of the photos turned out but the others are blury but next time i will try use a tripod. the photos that worked are really repetitive and i don't like it, i think next time i use the candle i will also use my phone light to give the shadow even better. the flame really just represents my brother. i am going to bring photos of my nana older and photos of just me my nana and my mum from christmas etc and try make the shadows cover me and maybe me and my mum as my board progresses even more

I'm researching photos that have used lit candles and thinking of using the candle light to give the shadows, the flame can represent my brother who had a bigger part in my grandparents lives, i can work it to make it somewhat over powering. I will take a few test shots next week to se if it works and if it doesn't i will go back to using my phone light but still bring my mona lisa watch into it. i haven't as of yet finished my board because i was unsure about using the candles and i knew that if i leave it any later in my board it will look out of place if it even works at all. I am going to get some other photos of my nana, one that my mum put in a frame that sort of looks like a daguerreotype, it is an oval which will also relate to the oval mono lisa broach, and the shadow from the very first photo on my board how the shadows is circular sort of. then i can start going into the more vintage type of photos, as the photos do look quite old.

I can only find one photo that uses rule of thirds that I can use right now, it is the closest thing that uses rule of thirds that I can see. The edge of the wall is on the bottom line (roughly) and the glasses are on an intersection. I will try use rule of thirds more in my work from now on.

These are some of the photo's i took yesterday. i will definitely be using the top three photos ( not my contact sheet ) on board and the last is yet to be confirmed as i am not sure how it will fit with the rest of my photos. i like how the beads give a really cool looking shadow and i used the cold ones because my nana loved gold, pretty much all of her jewelry was gold, i might bring in some of her jewelry soon like her Mona Lisa broach

Centre of interest

I have circled roughly where I personally think the centre of interest is in each of the photos. In the picture of the beads and the shadow the first place look is where the light catches the beads with the bright colours.

So far

These are the first few photos of my board of my new still life objects. I am happy with the light and how the shadows work. I also like how the red stands out alot. Next I am going to get an older photo of my nana and put the photo and my other objects together.

I've decided to change what im doing completly from the travel theme to being about my nana and how our relationship was before she died. using the shadows to show how much of a presence she had in my life and how close we were. When she died we were able to go into her room at the rest home and take the things that we wanted and the things that are special to us, i got to take her teddies and and some items of jewelry. For my still life i am going to take photos of those things. I will also use some really old photos of her. I have one already and its a photo of her when she was about 18 months old.... that is nearly a hundred years ago.

I'm not 100% sure where my photos are going from here... I think im going to try find an old map of banks peninsula or even little river and akaroa and maybe make the shadows on the map. Then maybe even find a map of the places I have been or want to go. I have thought about getting the travel tags and using them in a way that I have not yet confirmed. I guess im sort of leaning towards the travel side of things, but always being reminded of the things at and from home. Ill see where it takes me and what Mrs says :L

Lines are in my photos but they weren't meant to be there for any specific reason and they kind of annoy not having a purpose. Although in my first photo it kind of breaks up the photo and makes it look interesting with the two tones. 

* In all of my photos so far I have tried using a low view point by resting the camera on the desk with the objects.

* And I used my phone torch to create the light and shadows.

I tried using rule of thirds with the shadows of the monkeys and and my necklace. It is in the middle vertical third. and the lines of the wall are almost on a third.

I used the manekineko as the centre of interest. It is more focused and brighter than the shadows of the monkeys in the background.

My Name is Marissa, I am a student at Hornby High and  haven't quite set in stone what my work is about yet. I have taken photos of my stone necklace from my families home town. A manekineko from japan and a little 3 wise monkeys ornament that I got from a little shop somewhere in Singapore. I hope you like my blog and feel free to critique and comment :)

This is a photo by Kenneth Nielsen, He is one of my artist models but this is the only photo I can find by him and I only know his name. But I really like this photo and I like what he has done with the shadows.

These are the first 3 photos on my board. The 3 wise monkeys and the manekineko are things I got when I was in Japan and Singapore and the necklace is to represent home as it is from my family's home town, Littleriver and the Banks Peninsula area.
The 4th photo is my contact sheet of all the photo's I took, as you can see there is not many as this was about my 4th time trying and I finally got was I think I was looking for.