Lilahpops

Well, it’s all over now. I had loads of fun participating in the April Challenge and learned quite a lot about macro photography in the process. I’m still in entropy mode and finding many things to photograph - I’ll have to do a series of ‘the ones that didn’t make it to the challenge.’

Here are my 30 entries: I created this image using Mosaic Maker. The links underneath the image take you to the individual images on Flickr or you can view them here at my Photo Gallery.

I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did photographing them.

1. A brick taking a bath in a field, 2. Old leather, 3. Boarded window, 4. Worn through, 5. Armless beauty, 6. Rusted latch, 7. Blue rust, 8. A cracking driveway, 9. Unwired, 10. Undelivered, 11. End of the life cycle, 12. Just a bit crooked, 13. Peeling paint, 14. Rusty paperclip, 15. Rusted latch, 16. Clips of old, 17. Old books, 18. More rust, 19. Mixed entropy, 20. Entropy in the cemetery, 21. Entropic barbed wire, 22. Old maps, 23. Old wood, 24. End of the road, 25. Rusted fence, 26. Dappled, 27. You’ve got mail, 28. A flawed floor, 29. Colourful copper, 30. Last of the old leather

Contribute to this project and help out other Vito BL photographers

I’m running a mini photography project here at Lilahpops for photographers using the vintage camera Voigtlander Vito BL. I’ve been using this camera on and off for the last 9 months or so and find that not only is it a refreshing change from using digital, it’s also a wonderful and challenging way to learn photography. The Vito BL is totally manual, no batteries necessary, an odd feeling after digital.

I’ve had several requests for a copy of the camera’s manual and it got me thinking as to other ways users of the Vito BL might find help in using this camera. Who better to help than others in a similar situation?

You don’t need to be a professional user of the Vito BL to contribute to this project.

Would you like to participate?

I’m inviting people who use the Voigtlander Vito BL. I find it fascinating that vintage cameras are still alive and kicking and that there are so many photographers out there who love film photography - and more specifically vintage camera photography. The Vito BL is my introduction to vintage photography so this is the focus of the project. I know there are far more experienced Vito BL users than me - I’m still learning. I get back developed film rolls with good photos, bad photos, blurry, sharp, you name it.

There are just two things you need to do to participate (well, three if you include using the contact form to let me know you are interested):

1. Upload some photos taken with the Voigtlander Vito BL

After using the contact form, I’ll be in touch. You can email photos to be included in the project results, your best and worse ones, if you like. Or, better yet, if you have posted any of your Voigtlander shots to your Flickr/Zoomr etc account I’ll link to them instead. I’ll just to let you know here that I’ll probably use a thumbnail image of your photos as the link and I’ll attribute each of your photos with your name or Flickr/Zoomr etc id with something along the lines of “Photograph courtesy of …”

2. Answer our simple questions

For a general overview of what it’s like to use the Voigtlander, I ask you to consider these questions (and any other thoughts/advice you may have). You don’t need to write anything at length, unless you wish to.

a. What attracted you to the Voigtlander?

For instance, is it because you have a general interest in vintage cameras, was it a cheap buy on eBay, did someone give you the camera, or did you have to learn how to use a vintage camera for an assignment or course?

For me: the Voigtlander was my father’s first camera and he passed it on to me to experiment with as my interest in photography grew.

b. Do you like using the Voigtlander?

For instance, is it easy/difficult to use, fun or complicated, a learning experience?

For me: I find it a great introduction to the basics of photography as everything has to be set manually on the camera to take a photo. Sometimes I am way off with estimating the distance!

c. How does it compare to other vintage cameras you have used?

For me: I haven’t used other cameras this old but I am getting a taste for vintage.

d. Do you prefer modern day digital cameras to older film and vintage models?

For me: I do love digital - love digital - but I’m glad to have an older film camera at hand.

What’s the deadline?

Just over three weeks from now - submissions end Friday 23 May 2008

There are no winners, no prizes. That being said, you will feel a general, fuzzy sense of well-being after having helped out a fellow Voigtlander Vito BL photographer or two.

This is my entry in the Share the Love Project

OK, it might be lame but I love my cat! In fact, I love both my cats but only one would deign to sit for a photo today.

If you follow Neil Creek’s blog you’ll know the reason for this project. If you haven’t been reading then head over and check it out.

When illness strikes at your loved ones the rest of the world (and its problems) shrinks to the size of a pea in comparison. You realise the insignificance of those petty annoyances: tele-marketers; that b@stard driver who cut in front of you; that neighbour playing loud music. Nothing matters more than those close to you.

Stress like this, however, needs a little relief and light-heartedness. I imagine Neil has picked this theme - Share the Love - for this very reason. I can only hope he and Naomi like cats!

My partner is a little camera-shy, so you’ll have to make do with Cordelia (above). She takes light-heartedness to the extreme … I mean how cool can a cat be? She is quite aloof but knows when lap-sitting is required after a long day at work.

The light was quite poor when I took this. Post-processing was only an auto levels adjustments … she really does have those golden-coloured eyes. Mesmerizing.

This is my entry in the Blog Statistics - Most Popular Project

Tibor has announced the second part of his Blog Statistics Project over at photonovice.net. He asks: what is your most popular post and why do you think it generated so much interest? did it create a lot of discussion in the comments and has it made you change the way you blog, or even how you photograph?

My website is just under a year old and although I don’t receive many comments on my posts, I am finding that web traffic is slowly but surely increasing. It’s true what they say, it won’t happen overnight.

What are my most popular posts?

The first part of the project told me a little about my readers and what you are looking for. So, I checked out my stats again. Not only do they tell me what you are looking for here at Lilahpops, but it seems you might have also found what you were looking for.

For this project I’m focusing on the Top 3 posts. Part one revealed you have been searching for vintage cameras (namely, the Voigtlander) and iPhoto tips. Two of my Top 3 posts are part of my iPhoto series:

Top 3 Posts

• 1. Add special effects to your images with iPhoto
• 2. How to resize an image in iPhoto
• 3. 8 simple steps to add your Flickr photos to your blog feed

Let’s break that down a bit more

Number 3

Not about iPhoto or vintage cameras: this post made the front page of photographyvoter.com; got stumbled; and received links from both Tibor at photonovice.net and Antoine at All Day I Dream About Photography. It got a huge spike in traffic as a result. While this post still receives visits, the interest has leveled off. However, I’ll add here that the readers who visit this page are interested in the content - each reader staying for an average 3:38 mins. It’s not a simple click-in and click-away post.

As an aside, I have to say that adding my Flickr photos to my blog feed has been insanely useful this month. I’m participating in the April Challenge, taking a photo a day and posting each one to Flickr. My feed has never seen such fresh content on a daily basis! I also have picked some extra subscribers.

Numbers 1 and 2

So, the first two posts are from my iPhoto series. The time readers spend on each page is 1:46 mins (Number 1) and 4:35 mins (Number 2) which is quite good considering the nature and speed of ’surfing the web.’

What does this mean?

I can’t say for sure, but when I first got my Mac and began using iPhoto, I didn’t find many tips and tricks out there. Possibly I wasn’t looking in the right places. So I started writing some. It seems that there was a bit of a gap in this area.

Does this change the way I blog? The consistency in my popular posts (not just the Top 3) does encourage me to write similar ones in the future and continue the iPhoto series. Does it make me change the way I photograph? No. But I do store my photos in iPhoto. And I ensure that I use it (even though GIMP is my new editor of choice) often to see what post-processing possibilities it has. And then I write about them.

What are your most popular posts? Get your entry to Tibor at photonovice.net by 9 May!

Are you doing the April Challenge over at photochallenge.org?

So, we are halfway there and now I know why it’s called a challenge; yesterday I almost forgot to take a photo! There’s quite a bit of discipline involved in taking a photo a day on a specific topic. I know I’ll miss it when it’s all over, but I have to admit it’s starting to get more difficult to find something entropic to photograph that I haven’t tapped into in previous photos. Rust is looking good.

If you haven’t been following, or participating in, the April Challenge is all about Entropy. Decay, deterioration, chaos, disorder. You’d be amazed at how much is out there! If you have been following, or particpating in, I’d love to hear how you have been going in the comments.

Check out the new gallery of images that I have submitted to challenge (I’ll be updating this throughout the month of April). The photos are also available on my Flickr account - I created a set dedicated specifically to the April Challenge.

If you have been subscribing to Lilahpops through a feed reader then you would already be getting your daily dose of images already. You can subscribe here.

Make sure to check out all the entries in the April Challenge - there are some stunning photos.