A little plug for a very cool online exhibition (in which I was very pleased to take part)

Cowrie shell; photo from Take12! December 2014, Su Leslie.

Take 12! December 2014 is an online exhibition of images by 12 photographers from different parts of the world – all taken on phone cameras. The brainchild of Meg Greene Malvasi at Move the Chair, I was delighted to be asked to take part, particularly as it has introduced me to some wonderful photographers whose work I hadn’t seen before.

If you’d like to see a snapshot of 12 bloggers’ day – click here. Each participant’s work has its own page, which you can access from the menu at the top of the page.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: playing with pattern

Take a photograph of some beads .. A few image editing apps later and it might make a good design for fabric or maybe wrapping paper. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPad PhotoBooth, edited with Pixlr Express.

One of the things I love about phoneography is the smooth transition from phone/tablet image to something utterly transformed. I almost never use the Photo Booth app on my iPad (probably because I almost never use the device itself to take photos), but it has a very cool kaleidoscope function which quite nicely transforms images. So yesterday, I found a bunch of old beads – such as one might find in a real kaleidoscope – and photographed them. They looked a bit dull, but with some colour editing in Pixlr Express, I was quite pleased with the results.

Editing the edits; the app Pho.to Lab has a kaleidoscope function too, so I could kaleidoscope the kaleidoscope. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPad Photo Booth, edited with Pixlr Express and Pho.to Lab.

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPad PhotoBooth, edited with Pixlr Express.

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPad PhotoBooth, edited with Pixlr Express and Pho.to Lab.

Reminiscent of Polynesian tapa? Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPad PhotoBooth, edited with Pixlr Express.

Thought I might photograph the Christmas decorations too. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPad PhotoBooth, edited with Pixlr Express.

This post was written for Sally’s phoneography and non-SLR photo challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally. You can see more here.

Six Word Saturday: watching the big race up close

Standing as close to the cars as allowed, this boy watches the race “live” on his iPad. Western Springs Speedway, Auckland, NZ. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Word a Week: Yellow

John Ferguson ‘Blooming Buckets’. Exhibited at NZ Sculpture OnShore, 2014. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

One of my favourite sculptures from this year’s NZ Sculpture OnShore exhibition, John Ferguson’s wonderful ‘Blooming Buckets.’ Literally made of large plastic buckets mounted on a steel “stem”, this piece is just so colourful and full of joy. Set against the backdrop of Rangitoto Island, it proved to be one of the most memorable and photographed works in the exhibition.

Detail; John Ferguson, ‘Blooming Buckets.’ Photo: Su Leslie, 2014.

Daybreak on the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. John Ferguson’s ‘Blooming Buckets.’ Photo: Su Leslie, 2014.

One of the first sculptures to be installed; John Ferguson’s ‘Blooming Buckets.’ Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Off to a new home, ‘Blooming Buckets’ was sold at NZ Sculpture OnShore, 2014. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Meri Kirihimete

Merry Christmas to all my blogging whanau

Six word Saturday: trying to capture a Kiwi Christmas

A santa, a kiwi, a Kombi van and a pohutukawa blossom. But where’s the barbecue? Photos: Su Leslie, 2014.

Black & white photo challenge

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with Pixlr Express.

After so many months of working on a large collaborative project; of moving between multiple tasks and mindsets, I find myself craving simplicity and focus. I want to stop, to look, to see.

I find myself seeking solitude and silence; creating spaces in which to hear my breath and construct the narrative of each moment in a voice that is not in competition with others.

I find myself drawn to, and photographing, a constellation of small things.

I find myself masking backgrounds; removing colour; emphasising contrasts.

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with Pixlr Express.

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with Pixlr Express.

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with Pixlr Express.

Photo: Su Leslie, 2014. Shot with iPhone4, edited with Pixlr Express.

This post was written for Sally’s Phoneography and non-SLR digital photo challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally. You can find out more and join in here.

Wordless Wednesday: every parent’s worst fear

White roses: symbolic of innocence and purity. Remembering 141 children and their teachers killed yesterday in Peshawar, and all the victims of the Martin Place siege, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014

Monday Monday

Unlike Emily Dickinson, I see hope more as a thing with petals. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014.

According to this morning’s paper, summer is about six weeks late — and it feels like it. Waking up to another day of leaden skies, I feel a lethargy bordering on dispair. And it’s Monday!

Six Word Saturday: mum can I borrow the car?

The boy-child got his learner’s license last week and the driving lessons have begun in earnest. Photo: Su Leslie, 2014.