Here we are half way through the year and I've managed to do three months of Photo a Day. I'm not sure if I will do it in July but we will see how I go.
I've been collecting the list though and I may come back and do them.

How do you stay motivated with Photo a Day challenges?

I didn't share much again this month but have managed to document the month in Collect

The prompts...
and my photos

Recently I had the pleasure of shooting a friend's wedding. This was the first wedding I had done but I had such a great bridal party to work with and they were all so photogenic. So without further ado, I introduce Mr & Mrs Roberston.

Assignment 3 all done, back and graded so I'm now sharing with you.

I tried to get back into the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day challenges last year but it didn't last longer than a month. I am setting myself a goal this year to do the complete year. We're going well so far and I have completed January and only missed a few day in February. I'm not Instagraming everyday but will be collating them here at the end of each month.
I was originally sharing these on my personal blog but decided that I wanted to slowly move all my photography related things to here this year.
So on to my photos for January and February.
First up the lists -

and my photos

 Created using the Collect app

and doing another photography unit through the University of Tasmania. This time round is The Photo Essay

Storytelling through photography: go deeper than a single image
 We know the impact that photographic images can have on us, individually and collectively. When images and words come together to tell a story they can be entertaining, revelatory, breathtaking and even powerful agents of change. In this unit, you will work with media professionals to learn the basics of creating a photo essay. During the unit you will hone your writing skills and learn how to create, select, and edit photographic images. Putting words and images together, you will learn how to use the photo essay format for personal, professional, or creative expression.

Looking forward to working though this unit and sharing with you all as I go.

Project focus – Images for a social world, theme or story.

For Project Two I decided to create a series of images around the theme of Historical George Town. Local history is a recent passion of mine and living in the third oldest city in Australia gives me lots of interesting places to visit and photograph.

I decided to start my trip around George Town and Low Head at the Low Head Light House. Although not the original light house, it has been standing since 1890 and is the third oldest light station in the Commonwealth after the Macquarie lighthouse (near Sydney 1818) and Iron Pot (Derwent River near Hobart).

I chose not to just photograph the light house but some of the surrounding buildings, including the foghorn building (which is one of only two operating in Australia1), the view back towards Low Head and George Town and the Semaphore signal. I wanted to show viewers that there is more in the area than just the lighthouse and I wanted to share some of the history of the area.

The next four images were shot at the Low Head Pilot Station Maritime Museum which sits at the location of the oldest group of pilot buildings located in Australia.
I chose the image of the buoy in front of Pilot’s Row (the home of the Low Head Pilot Station Maritime Museum) as I feel it shows the maritime history of the location in one shot.
The image of church was included mainly because I’ve always been fascinated with old churches. The next image in the series, The Wall, was included because I have become more interested with shooting leading lines and other composition techniques since undertaking this course.
Finally the image of the Boat Crew cottage was chosen as I was hoping to capture some of the historic architecture of the area.

Images were shot on a Nikon D5200 and image editing was done in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, mainly cropping and adding some vintage effects. The reasoning behind this is was I wanted to create images that had a feeling of age and history, even though they were taken with a modern camera.

Full size images can be viewed in my Historical George Town album on Flickr.

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Information comes from Low Head Pilot Station Maritime Museum website http://museum.lowhead.com/

   

1. Key 2. Treat 3. Purple 4. Reflection

   

5. On my To-Do list 6. Mistake 7. Cute 8. Where I stood

   

9. Four things 10. Partial 11. Me time 12. Stairs

  

13. Begins with M 14. Pile 15. Floor

Copyright has been a subject that has been of interest to me for many years, starting back when I worked with digital artists and the online signature tag community. This interest expanded when I started working as a web designer and became aware of the copyright minefield on the internet.

When I first started online I was wary of sharing personal images online and everything was heavily marked with my name. Then social media arrived and privacy concerns were added to the mix. I’m pretty cautious about what I share online.

I’m pretty lucky that, as far as I know, no one has ever used one of my images online without my consent. I’m always mindful of crediting images I use, especially if it’s for work. If I need to search for an image to use I make sure it’s licenced for creative commons.

So what can you do to protect your images?

Learn as much as you can about image copyright. Here’s some great resources:

• Photographers Rights, General Privacy, and Copyright in Australia
• Creative Commons
• Who Owns Photos and Videos Posted on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?
• 10 Helpful Websites for Protecting Your Photography Copyrights
• Photo stealing and photography copyright – what if somebody is using my photos?

Learn how to add copyright information to your images either on your camera or after once you have downloaded them to your computer by editing the EXIF data

Watermark your images

Upload low res images

How do I protect my images? Watermarking and adding copyright info into the metadata. On social media I only upload low res images.

At the end of the day though, if someone is going to steal/copy your image they will no matter what you do. At least inform yourself what you can do to protect yourself.

If you want some more reading on this subject, go read this article. It was shared with the student of Photography & Social Media and I think it’s a great read for all who are interested in photography

Last week I shared some images from the light house at Low Head. A couple of minutes down the road, and my next stop on my photographic journey, is the Low Head Pilot Station.

It is the oldest group of pilot buildings located in Australia and while it was the first station to operate, it is the third oldest pilot service after private operations in Sydney and Hobart. The first building on the site is thought to have been built around 1806 and the pilot service still operates from the site today. The Pilot’s Row now houses the Low Head Pilot Station Maritime Museum, the boat crew cottages (as well as the school house and Pilot’s cottage) are now holiday accommodation and the Coxwain’s cottage now operates as the Coxwain’s Cottage Cafe.

Anyway enough of the history for now, onto the photos. This location is full of history and a stunning location to photograph. A mix of old buildings and modern additions.

   

L to R: Commemorative plaque; buoy looking back towards the Pilot Station; buoy overlooking the Tamar River; buoy, replica semaphore signal and breakwater

   

L to R: various images of the Low Head Pilot Station ‘Pilot’s Row’

   

L to R: one of the boat crew cottages, the church, fence, dating plaque on the Coxwain’s Cottage.