Project 366, February 2016

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This is the last day of February (and the day which made this a Project 366 rather than 365), so it's time to look back on the month's photos.

I got out and about a bit more this month thanks to the better weather, so I was able to do more architecture and outdoor sculpture shots. As you'll see while the year progresses, those are a couple subjects I really enjoy. And since flowers are starting to bloom, you'll see more of those, too.

I also started bringing out the macro lens, as well as my lighting setup. Expect to see many more photos using one or both of those throughout the year.

By this time I thought I would have posted some photos shot with my phone, but as it ends up, everything has been taken with my main camera. I do, however, snap quick phone shots to stash in an album of ideas for use later in the year.

Here's my favorite photo for February:

This is a set of three brick obelisks at the edge of UW's Red Square which I normally go by during midday or the afternoon, but seeing that the skies were clear, I had grabbed my ultra-wide lens on the way out the door and started exploring. You'll see several of the different angles I tried if you follow me on Flickr, but this is my favorite. A lot went right with this shot; the obelisk on the left almost looks like a pyramid, and is almost (but not quite) squared up, giving the whole shot a sense of rotation (I did anchor the top left corner to give a starting point). I also like how all three obelisks have completely different lighting.

We took our nephew and niece to Gas Works Park on a sunny day. Not clear blue skies, however; there were some really interesting clouds, and I almost chose one of those shots, but I ultimately opted for this piece of machinery. The bright red is very striking, as are the shadows and texture. I also liked how the trees in the background somewhat mimic the shape.

One kind of shot I do quite a bit is to have the background way out of focus but still be a part of the composition. I was actually hoping for a bit more rain on the window for this photo, but Seattle weather let me down. Being at an angle to the window also made only the drops in the middle of the frame be in sharper focus than towards the edges.

The rest of the photos can be found on the February page.