Third year of weekly prompts of https://52frames.com/ – each week the photographers are given a prompt of a type of photo to take. Below are photos I have taken per these prompts, though they may lag behind my profile at https://52fram.es/huntzhogz. I recommend hopping over there to view comments I receive. I also post on Instagram (see link at top).

Week 33 – Abandoned: The Forgotten GuardianThis image perhaps evokes a complex blend of melancholy and quiet resilience. There’s a profound sense of loneliness in the way the small stone figure sits isolated among the dark, tangled vegetation, yet also a touching steadfastness—as if this little guardian refuses to give up despite being forgotten.

This is an old flowerpot was abandoned when we purchased our home last year. For this image, I found an area of growth that I thought was fitting, at a time of day with soft light, and applied some post production to give a feeling of night, with desaturated colors to enhance the overall feeling.

Week 32 – Macro: Kiwi GardenCross section of a Kiwi that was cut and put in front of a powerful spotlight, giving a somewhat abstract look, but also an insight into the inside of a Kiwi.

Photo taken with 24-105mm lens using a macro extension tube to allow me to get up close to the kiwi.

Week 31 – Color Temperature: Before the GlamorThe primate moment before stepping into the photographers studio.

I wanted to do something with lipstick and a mirror. I started down the idea of getting ready for a rock concert, but then thought about getting ready for a glamor shoot. The star is the lipstick – product photography – but secondary this works as an advertisement for a studio shoot.

Week 30 – Unusual Crop: CorkedI wanted to focus on the cork in an uncorked wine bottle, and crop around the neck, so the focus is on the cork. The bottle is off kilter making this a little more dynamic, and the highlight on the bottle neck isn’t balanced either.

Week 29 – Something New: Liquid Light – Birefringent SpoonsA little more abstract this week. This photo explores the Birefringent properties of a plastic spoon, creating colorful rainbows.
Image was created with a single plastic spoon, a laptop screen (polarized light source), a linear polarizing filter, and a prism filter.

Week 28 – In the style of: Reflections of MortalityIn the style of Georges de La Tour

A 17th-century French artist, as his style seems to resonate with me. Some of his famous works include a candle (see The Penitent Magdalen c 1640), makes heavy use of dramatic “Chiaroscuro” (strong contrast), with a minimalism approach of having a reason for every element in the painting.

The skull is used in a number of paintings representing mortality. The candle light often symbolizing God but also short life. Mirror often associated with reflection but also doubling important elements. The bible here both contemplative but also identifying the Word of God. The red fabric providing not only a rich color for the scene, but also symbolizes life blood and the blood of Jesus. The background matches the classic surrounding obscurity.

Week 27 – Frame within a frame: SilhouetteI was fortunate to have Victoria at my studio for the week of this challenge, so I adapted a concept I had in mind using the spotlight to cast an orange circle onto black backdrop.

See blog for more photos of Victoria.

Week 26 – Fluid: Sands of timeI have this beautiful sand timer that I use as part of my (very large) scrabble board. Watching sand pour just speaks “fluid” to me.

Long exposure composite with adjustable LED lights to get the color reflections

Week 22 – Through the looking glass: FocusIt’s surprising to think that I spent most of my life avoiding the need to wear glasses. That drastically changed around ten years ago when I started losing both near and distance vision, and now I have to wear glasses all the time no matter what I’m doing. As such, that was my inspiration.

Week 21 – High ISO: NightmareWhen I think about High ISO, I think about noise. It gave me a moment to reflect on a time when I was plagued by nightmares, and something I kind of recollect is a noisy light like when your eyelids are closed. What are nightmares made of? It is dark, and a little light is cast when suddenly it catches the glimpse of an eye looking at you…

I wanted to let the noise add to the feel of night – if it’s the noise of a video camera, or the noise of our eyes trying to make out what is in the dark.

Week 20 – Water: Cherry SplashI was planning to do a water-droplet photo, but last minute (excuse to buy some cherries) I decided to drop cherries instead. See BTS for more details of how I achieved this.

Week 16 – Under/Over Exposed: Ready to travelVacation is on my mind – I will soon be heading to London, then Scotland (Inverness, Edinburgh, Gretna). I decided to create a composite that is intended to convey traveling using over-exposure with Adamski effect to give that dreamy feel. A touch of yellow tone for extra warmth.

Two photos here. The background was taken by phone on a bright morning in Seattle. The suitcase was taken in my studio against a white background. More details in BTS.

Week 15 – Details: Love letter (alternate)I used extension tubes to essentially turn my standard lens into a macro lens, and wanted to capture end of a pen writing a love letter.

Week 15 – Details: Thank you letterI used extension tubes to essentially turn my standard lens into a macro lens, and wanted to capture end of a pencil writing a thank you letter.

Self critique – DOF is a little too soft (I wanted it tight, but didn’t realize how tight until edit).

Week 14: Levitation – Artistic experiment with shadowsI’ve seen various levitation ideas, and I had thought about juggling cameras. But with a twist – what if this was a studio setup with split yellow/magenta lights? the lights combine, but when a shadow is cast, it gives the opposite color.

Ok, so I decided to give this week to an experiment. There are issues with this – for example, top camera is too close to white background, causing the shadows to be too close to each other. I would have put more effort into it being (almost) symmetrical. I could have fixed, but I was really coming down to the wire with editing, submitting with less than an hour before deadline.

Week 13 – Mood: LossDon’t panic – this is conceptual.

What would it be like to lose the most important person in your life. This morning, my wife and I listened to the story of a gentleman we know, who lost his wife ten years ago to cancer.

The story was very emotional, and set the tone for this image.

Week 12 – Shallow Depth of Field: A medieval woman scornedSecond shoot with Nancy. Nancy and her husband Gordan came by today with a suit of armor, a sword and some knives. They have done medieval re-enactments in the past (hence suit of armor), I’ve posted photos in another blog. At the end of the day, Nancy was willing to do a final photo for me to use in this weeks challenge. I wanted to focus on the eyes. The red on the knife is from a light source.

Week 10 – Black and White: OppositesSometimes things might look black and white, but when you get into the details, it’s not so clear. What is clear is that there are opposite viewpoints.

I decided to take a minimalist approach this week, and glad I did because I had two portrait shoots this week including a 2 hour shoot immediately before creating this image.

Simple BTS this week just showing lighting.

Week 9 – Unfinished: Coffee GrindingWhile we sleep and dream of tasty coffee, the coffee grinders work tirelessly through the night making sure every bean is crushed ready for the next pot of French press.

One of those rare moments where I have a very good idea what I’m going to do for the prompt. Lighting setup in BTS below.

Week 8: Triangular Composition: A Garden’s Quiet GlowNight is drawing in, something to take your mind off a busy day. Time to pick the rake up or time to put it down?

I wanted a blue cast on this to convey night, but also have a white light casting some shadows. This week (2/23-2/28) I will be in Austin so needed to get this weeks photo wrapped up on Saturday.

70mm focal length focus-stacked with 11mm macro extension-ring.

Week 7 – Motion Blur: Queen to C71994, Rene Meier (White) was playing against Stefan Mueller (Black), and made one of the most famous chess moves, Queen to C7 “Qc7”. I’m not going to analyze this move here (there’s plenty about it on the web).

For the purpose of this challenge, I wanted to convey a game of chess in motion. I didn’t want to pick any random piece, a felt the move had to be one that had meaning. Of a few games I looked at, I picked this simply because the move looked more dramatic due to the diagonal slide.

Week 5 – Blue: BlueberryLast year I did a complementary colors blueberries with oranges. For this weeks “Blue” I decided to double down on a blueberry. I did originally do an orange background (contrasting color) but again, decided to double-down on the blue. I do feel the whites anchor this so it looks like a blue background vs blue hue.

Week 4 – Something Old: A world apartYou might be mistaken that this photo was taken in England. It was in fact taken in Poulsbo, Washington. A British iconic (and old) telephone box somehow made its way to becoming a landmark item in Poulsbo.

Leading Limes: LemonI was inspired by a similar photo I saw through pinterest. It drew me in with the implied leading line created by the lemon slices, so fitting for this week.

What I eat: Soft Boiled EggsA “Rushed” photo this week. The whole week has been busy (visitors). I made a make-shift white-box out of paper (faster than visiting studio) and decided to go for some soft boiled eggs.

Self Portrait: Framed (Variant 2)A more surreal version of my “Framed” portrait.

Self Portrait: Framed (Variant 1)Every year begins with a self portrait. This is published variant I created.