P52: Week 2 - My Front Door

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This week's "getting to know you" photochallenge in the LensProToGo.com "Photo 52 Project" is titled "Your front door."
 

We have lived in a 1739 farmhouse in Carlisle, MA since moving back to the US - one of the earliest built, and the first in the village to have gotten electricity way back when. While the house was expanded and updated in part, the core of the house remains very much the original Colonial farmhouse, much as it was nearly 300 years ago.

Well.. I admit that I've got some suspicions about those light fixtures in the picture. But otherwise, you know.

I wanted to find some way to capture the history and fantastic lived-in patina of our home that comes along with literally centuries of continued inhabitation, and to highlight the character, continuity and spirit of the Yankee farmhouse on the river that it still is. 

I also wanted to try my hand at a bit more editing, and to learn a little more about all of the dials and switches on the fancy SLR camera that I've generally been pointing-and-clicking with for the past couple of years. I tried a few settings, and experimented with the lighting at different times of the day. 

Fortunately, with the software on my computer and the ability to take as many photos as I need thanks to all of the futuristic digital technology we take for granted these days, that was easy enough. 

This was taken with my Canon EOS Rebel with a bit longer exposure setting, and then edited a bit to recall the old daguerrotype feel from the very earliest days of photography. Something a proud resident might have spring for back in the day. 

Maggie, our faithful pup, was curious about what I was doing on the lawn so long. 

She seemed to fit right in, I think.

 

Project 52

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Thanks to the bad influence of Jaimee Waters, photographer extrodinaire (editor's note: I've been told she insists on that description every time her name is in print. I don't know that for sure. But better safe than sorry), I signed up for the LensProToGo.com '52 Week Photo Project.'  

Each week, a different assignment. Each week, a different photo. I figure this'll give me something to motivate me to play with my camera more, and maybe learn a little something about photography and editing. 

Week 1's project: A Self Portrait Without You In It ... Something that represents you.

I thought of several somewhat meaningful groupings of objects. My truck. My banjo. A power saw. A hanging bit of preserved meat. My iPhone or some other technical bit. One participant did a brilliant collection of stacked books. I loved the idea, but that would be kind of the easy way out, as it had already been done. 

As we were toodling around today, doing various end-of-vacation chores, I looked at these two miniature people that the Universe has let me hang out with for a while, and I knew that they represented me far better than any other collection of things. Or at least, I can hope they do. 

These two are my legacy. They represent the best in me. I'm trying not to break them. 

Well... Maybe these two and a Diet Coke.