By Ian Hollidae, 2025/10/16

One goal of my photography project is to take pictures of mundane or average things and try to make them look good, or at least, presentable. I would say a common street sign is as mundane or average as it gets.

I was hoping to focus on some of the weathered patterns along the wall but finding a good one proved challenging. Focusing on the sign instead and letting the wall add contrast seems to have been a better move. As a bonus, I got some reflected sunlight from one of the top floor windows behind me to go along with the ambient light of the alleyway.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/08/28

A number of years ago, before I started a beginners photography project, I made a far less organized attempt at taking pictures. Shortly after Flickr became popular, I bought a FujiFilm S3000 (FinePix) point and shoot. I knew absolutely nothing about photography. And since there wasn't a wealth of photography information at the time, learning was slow. Although I enjoyed myself, the effort eventually fizzled.

Fast forward to 2025 and I'm buying a USB to USB-C converter for my MacBook to use some old thumb drives. It occurred to me that my old camera connector was USB. But where was the cable? Fortunately, it was neatly coiled up in storage.

Obviously, while going through the old photos, I found that most shots were useless. But there were a few close and could-have-been shots as well. I remember taking this one. It was a street side restaurant with a glass enclosed patio. I even remembered the original title, so I used it for this post.

In the end, it was good to look back and gain a new perspective on current photography efforts.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/08/07

This is the entrance to the recreation center of a local park. It was closed down during COVID and remained closed for quite some time while undergoing renovation.

When I took this shot, I was conducting a photography project capturing windows and door knobs. The fact that the handle was broken was a bonus. Glad I caught it before work crews fixed it.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/07/07

Unlike a lot of my early cloud photos, lucking into the shot, I was ready for the possibility of this photo. Definitely a step forward in my photography.

Storm conditions of the previous two nights were more or less the same for this night as well. I knew exactly where to be, and when, so it was simply a matter of waiting (and staying dry). Once it was all over, editing wound up being straight forward. This version is one of the dramatic preset filters.

So chalk up another win for planning and organization. Don't let anyone tell you they're not important.

As a side note, this picture is part of the 3D photo presentation, "Between The Clouds".

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/05/28

One thing I've enjoyed during my photography project is taking pictures of old or rundown buildings. I never really expected old items to become a topic of interest in the first place which makes it even more enjoyable. Alleyways, when I can find them, are a favorite. That's where this photo was taken.

I'm not sure if this building is completely abandoned but I never see anyone go in or out and there's never any lights on at night.

Anyway, there's plenty of peeled paint and a bit of wall decay which made this a nice subject.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/04/16

At the time I took this shot, I had actually been looking forward to these types of conditions (overcast, poor light). I had never done photography in bad weather and I had plenty of questions. How should I adjust to the light? How muted woulds colors really be? How much detail could be captured? Since I really didn't have my own answers, just the advice of from a bunch of tutorials, I mainly focused on not eliminating possible shots before I even started.

I decided the location to look for shots was a large local park. With a recreation center, outdoor basketball courts, miniature skate park and several baseball/softball fields, there were plenty of things to (possibly) shoot. And even if I wound up getting nothing, there were plenty of opportunities to practice. I made sure to set aside plenty of time to work things out.

As it turns out, I got more shots than expected. What I mainly learned from the experience was how much harder composition becomes in poor conditions. It clearly takes a lot more time to find suitable subjects (items you might find plenty suitable under better conditions) and how long it may take to frame things. I also learned that despite what tutorials teach you about light, I think if you have any light, there's a chance for for a photograph.

Overall, I enjoyed the outing. I was fortunate it didn't rain. However, it did turn dark several times and it was during one of those dark spells I got this photo. Just so you know, this is not a black and white shot.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/03/01

I was on my way to a local rose garden to take pictures and I needed to stop at the store for something. This was spotted in the parking lot. While not a candidate for classic minimalism, a small box on a large open wall seemed like a photographic opportunity.

I took several shots from different angles trying to frame the box (whatever it is) in the best composition. It wasn't until I tilted the camera did things get interesting.

The irony of this shot is that I planned to visit the gardens a week in advance and this was really the only photo that came out of all my effort.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2025/01/09

I've found a lot of value in re-evaluating old photos. Some of the benefits are obvious such as finding your mistakes, seeing alternative compositions and realizing you could have used better camera settings. Another benefit I've found is the opportunity to try out editing features you don't often use. That's how I got this photo.

This was taken at a local park in my spare time. It's a concrete structure that's been mostly torn down except for a wall that has an iron gate entrance. For whatever reason, the gate has been chain locked. The shot was simply a one-off practice snap that I didn't give a second look for months. What brought me back to this photo was an editing exercise I was going through. Specifically, the use of lighting presets for Portrait mode in Apple Photos. I never saw much use for them before but this picture made such a leap so I decided to post it.

So I guess there are some uses for lighting presets after all.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/12/03

This was a photo opportunity that arrived fast and left even faster. It's the front edge of a late afternoon storm. At first, all I could think about was getting home before it hit. But as I was measuring how to beat the storm, this shot appeared directly overhead and thought it was too good to pass up.

In order to capture the shot, I knew I didn't have time to line things up perfectly. So I decided to try and frame the shot with as wide a framing as needed. I would simply crop what I wanted in editing.

On an iPhone, zooming is digital. If you're a (relative) beginner like me, you'll come to realize that it's useless. But one thing I've learned is if you enlarge the ratio setting, you can get a little more coverage of the shot you're trying to take. In this case, I took shots in a ratio setting of 4:3 (default on my iPhone) and 16:9. Both ratios gave me the shot I wanted.

Fortunately, I was able to get off a number of shots because two minutes later the entire sky was covered.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/11/01

This was one of those photos that made me think about how to push the limits of an iPhone and how I would translate what I've learned when I eventually switch to a "real" camera.

Originally, I wanted a picture of just the building with clear sky in the background. But positioning and repositioning didn't provide anything of interest so I decided to experiment with compositional balance. At first, I included the moon but eventually I added the contrail as well. The photo stopped being about the building and became more about what we can see over our heads.

In the end, I decided I liked the shot. Sometimes setting aside standard/rigid photographic rules can produce something you're happy with.

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This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/10/10