Project 52 by Jazzy S

[Goldcoastgolfer]

So I was doing the usual morning stuff when I noticed Jazz had gotten up and had immediately started organising herself to take some photos of her toys. They were quite small so I ended up having to show her how to use the macro function on her camera to focus on the objects.

It occurred to me that she was doing this quite frequently and that I hadn't really looked at any of her photos since the Botanical Gardens. So I hopped on the computer and checked her camera to discover she had already taken over 400 photos this year!

For those of you who don't know, Jazzy is my six (soon to be seven) year old daughter who seems to have also developed a passion for photography.



Despite her age, I think given her keen eye, Kerry and I owe it to her to actually spend time helping her improve her photography. I've decided that starting her own Project 52 thread will make me at least check and work with her on her photos at least once a week.

For the purposes of this exercise, I'll be doing the post processing but I'll get Jazz to tell me what she wants to see - at least from the Week 7 photos (I'll pick a few out of the 400 she's taken to get us up to everyone else). We do have some limitations, given that her camera is over ten years old - a Fujifine Pix 602Z 3.1 MP bridge camera which only stores JPG files rather than raw.

So without further adieu, here's my Botanical Gardens favourite as her Week 1 entry.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

This is another photo that Jazz took at the Botanical Gardens. There are two things that you need to know about the photo below. The first is that it's almost the full frame - I've just cropped off the sides. The second is that Jazz is absolutely terrified of spiders. Usually when she sees them the air will be filled with a blood curdling scream. Put a camera in her hands however and all her fears seem to disappear. She was up close and personal to get this shot.

[cthermans]

Your first picture is great you have captured the moment! Jazz's picture shows her focus is on the eyes of the bird and that is what I saw first when I looked at the picture. I am looking forward to seeing more of her work

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Your first picture is great you have captured the moment! Jazz's picture shows her focus is on the eyes of the bird and that is what I saw first when I looked at the picture. I am looking forward to seeing more of her work

She does have a tendency to get focussed on whatever it is she's doing

[Goldcoastgolfer]

This is a photo that I hadn't realised Jazz had taken. A few weeks ago her brothers were attempting to take some photos they had seen in a photography magazine. It looks like Jazz re-attempted the set up by herself to take the photo.

The original photo calls for something colourful but she decided to use peanuts which lack the colour interest so I converted the photo to B&W which seems to work better. She has some work on focussing to do which I'll help her with from the Week 7 photos onwards, but it's interesting to see that she'll go to the effort of setting up a scene herself for the effort of taking a photo.

[ScoutR]

Hi Jazzy S. It's wonderful to see you participating in Project 52. Your spider shot is top notch excellent work

Wendy

[kezmal]

She's braver than her Mum, theres no way I'd get near those Golden Orbs, arghhh just looking at the photo gives me chills. Jazz has definitely developed a passion for taking photos, everyday she has her camera hanging about her neck, or asking me to take photos of different things I love that she'll see different projects in magazines and try to recreate it (as per the nuts photo). She's now planning for the School Photo Competition which isnt until May I believe LOL.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

This photo was taken around Week 3 I think. We had gone up to Mount Tamborine to the Curtis Falls national park to see what we could see. The kids found a lot of water falls that they insisted on stopping and taking photos of.

This one I think is the best one that Jazz photographed - one that wasn't so obvious to a lot of people passing by.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Truth be known this is a relatively recent photo but it was conveniently ready for importing so I brought it in and thought given the last week's macro bug shots, it was timely post.

I mistakenly thought this was a photo that Jazz took but in actual fact it was her brother's photo - Alex who is 11, using a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ25. I thought it was worth posting here anyway



This critter is about an inch long. Have a look in Light Box

[Wendy Stanford]

Great idea Mal, Photogaphy is something that everyone in the family can enjoy and participate in together. I think by helping Jazz with photography now she will remember and use that knowledge for many years. I still use the things that my father taught me as a child many many years ago, eg how to catch fish, tie truckie knots,and heaps of other things, anyway back to photos,
Hi Jazzy, Welcome, I like the pelican statue, good focus all the way, nice colour, the spider is great, the placement in the frame is very good , Well done , keep taking those shots
Perhaps Dad can teach you to type

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I've been struggling to keep up with my Project 52 Thread let along Jazz's one. After finally getting to downloading some of her photos I then accidentally lost a bunch of them again as well! Anyway, we did manage to find some photos to post. For the "Week 5" catch up Jazz took portrait shots of our cat Buffy and dog Brinkley. No post processing other than some crops and rotations just to tidy the photos up a little.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Kerry and I were looking through Jazz's photos and came across this one. We thought it was a very interesting angle and perspective that Jazz had manage to capture. The original was actually suffering from the contrast against the bright sky though so I've done a bit of post processing to balance the foreground and background and bring out the colours in the scene.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

We spent yesterday afternoon in the garden where I spent time with Jazz doing two main things. The first was how to notice the little creatures in the garden that we so often over look. I am proud to say that once she started being able to spot a few of the half to one inch grass hoppers here and there on a few leaves, she began seeing all of them - and boy were there a lot!

The second lesson was on how to approach them and take their photo in focus. Obviously it's quite a tricky having the lens up so close to them without scaring them off while trying to keep them in focus. This one was one of her last photos yesterday. I'm pretty proud of what she managed to capture. It's about an inch long in real life if you were wondering.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Jazz went out this morning and decided to put the lessons that she learnt yesterday into practice. All of these photos were bugs she discovered, approached, and took photos of without any assistance or guidance from me. I should point out that while most of my bug photos these days are taken with a flash, she's taken all of these without any artificial lighting.

This one is a mosquito we think - about a quarter of an inch long.


A larger grasshopper - about two and a half inches long.


And a smaller grasshopper - just over an inch long.

[FrankMi]

Wow, Jazzy! You are taking some seriously impressive photographs! You seem to be developing skill in doing close-ups. Congratulations on your Project 52 entries!

[rtbaum]

Jazz- I really enjoy seeing things through your eyes, keep up the good work

[Dave Humphries]

Good shots Jazz,

You're getting good results with these, better than mine (with a similar camera)

Keep 'em coming,

[Goldcoastgolfer]

This is from Jazz...

I think that you are good at taking photo too

[JazzyS]

[JazzyS]