Game Pieces – GP12

Slinky, part II – Portfolio Blog

I know what you’re thinking, and you are right. Where the heck are the new Game Pieces pictures. Talk, talk, talk. All talk, planning, grand designs, but no actual pictures to speak of. I want to say I have been trying but that would not be entirely true. So, not exactly a new subject, but it is a new image.

Slinky, Part II – while I had everything setup the other day to photograph the Dietz Lantern, I grabbed my trusty slinky to played with a few setups and lighting options. I am sure a few of you are getting tired of the black background with the reflective black surface, but in this particular case, it works really well. I feel I am getting to understand my flashes and how best to utilize them. Let me know what you think…

Game Pieces – GP11

Either I am a very slow starter or a very patient person… It was a little over two months ago I posted about my plan to re-start my Game Pieces project. I know a portion of the delay was my search for the next pieces I wanted to photograph. I started with a shopping list:

At first I was planning on picking up new games at the store, creating my photograph, and then giving the games to charity. I picked up a Yahtzee game and a Barrel of Monkeys before the Christmas season hit me and my efforts turned toward the Toys for Tots campaign.

Then I went to a consignment shop. Everything changed. My first find was a 1954 version of Monopoly. Next I picked up a 1949 version of Cootie. I was hooked. I know I will not be able to find older versions of everything on my list but the hunt is half the fun. Remember, it is the journey, not the destination…

I have not decided how best to display my treasured finds so I thought I would warm up with the Barrel of Monkeys. I’m still debating if a subtle approach would be better, i.e., maybe only a monkey or two, no barrel, etc. For now, I went with a full on assault for this version. Maybe there will be a different decision down the road…

Barrel of Monkeys
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/30s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

Game Pieces – GP10

A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about a winter project or projects to keep me occupied creatively with my photography during the coming winter months. I still have high hopes I will be able to get outside often as I do enjoy photographing winter scenes. But, I know that I need something to prevent me from plopping my butt down in front of the TV… 🙂

I really enjoyed my Game Pieces Project which I began back in February of 2014. As you can probably tell from the number associated with this post I managed to create at least 9 images in that series. I want to revive that project. So, I sat down and created quite a long list of additional subjects. I focused on a lot of the old games from my childhood. I’m thinking I’ll be able to find a good portion of them somewhere. I do know I am not planning on keeping them so one of the local charities is going to be happy with me doing this project again.

I took another look at the images I created originally and although they are some of my favorite monochromes, I reworked a few for something else I wanted to do for a friend at work. Anyway, the originals had an interesting border but when I mount the pictures in a frame most, if not all, of that border is obscured by the matting. One of the tweaks was to remove that border. I’m not positive how I feel about that as I look at these new images on the screen, but I know it will make creating a framed image a lot easier. I also tried to improve the look of all the images with a more consistent tone.

I think, in reality, this post is a small warning! Alert! More of these game pieces are on the way…

Dominos II
Original Version

Checkmate II
Original Version

Jacks II
Original Version

Slinky II
Original Version