A while ago, Marina over at mexploring.blog went hunting for pink in her home town, Oslo. She proposed her readers join the hunt. Pink isn’t my color, but ultramarine blue, turquoise, teal, pastel mint and olive green are – and all the shades in between. Then I love to add a splash of lemon yellow to brighten things up. I have a lot of these colors at home and, instead of going downtown, decided I would go hunting right here, in the jungle that is our home…
I focused mainly on blue and found a lot of blue objects. But presenting them nicely in photos was much harder than I expected! I’m always sneering at fashion/beauty “social influencers” who advertise the free merchandise they are given, but now I have to step back and give a little credit to those of them who take their own photos – it’s not as easy as it looks!
Though I guess practice makes perfect. I don’t usually take this type of pictures – planned ones. My photos are usually spontaneous ones of a moment or detail that catches my eye, looks interesting, funny or beautiful. And of my babies (believe me, I have a whole bunch of baby photos!!)
So… what I ended up doing was gathering some very random objects together, like in the fashion/gossip magazines I used to read when I was younger (Cosmopolitan, Elle and such). I was half giggling to myself because it looked so kitsch, in a I’m-trying-so-very-hard way, and it’s so not me. But I was only thinking of colors here, and trying to collect and compose them in a way that’s pleasing to the eye. Never mind that it makes absolutely no sense to put your camera, two books, a bag and a blanket on the floor and photograph them!!
The results of my hunt turned out quite different from Marina’s… her post was absolutely lovely with pink gathered in many pictures in such an effortless way… In the end, this is all I came up with! The rest of the pictures and collages were not good enough to post here.
Are you good at photographing everyday objects around the house? Do you have any tips you’d like to share?
33 replies on “Blue Hunt”
Love the blanket! Funky idea to hunt for colors at home and compose a picture with the results! You did pretty well with your own rules, love it!
Lately, I’ve tried to compose pictures at home of my zero waste grocery hauls, recipes or homemade natural body products but it isn’t easy either, specially when inspired by those made on the social medias that look professional even when they’re not!
Good for our learning, though! 😉
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Thanks, Julie! Yes, lots of photos on social media do look very pro! Social media makes everything look so glossy, doesn’t it? 😊I guess you have time to practice if that’s what you live off. And some of the pics are probably from the internet or photo banks that the user didn’t credit. I really wanted to try this just once, just for the sake of trying, like you say, for learning! 😄
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Nice blog. Very original. I love the photo. Keep on blogging.
Máiréad
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Thank you very much for the kind feedback! Happy blogging! 😊
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Your blue photos are great! Sometimes its fun to do a photo challenge. I bought a tiny macro lens to fit over my iPhone and got some really good close up photos of different textures around the house.
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Thanks! Now that you mention it, I remembered that I’ve actually heard it before, about the macro lens for your iPhone – maybe I should try it!
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I like your blue hunt photos, especially your blanket. I don’t usually take photos of household items to include in my blog, but when I was sitting at my kitchen table, writing my post about my upcoming visit to the Moomin Museum I looked up and noticed my Moomin biscuit jar sitting on the work surface, so I opened the cupboard to retrieve one of its matching mugs and popped them side by side to take a photo for my post. I wouldn’t describe my little photo shoot as lifestyle blogging but I enjoyed fiddling with the items! Hope you have a good week, we have woken up to thick mist but I think it will burn off soon.
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Thanks, Marion, for stopping by again! It’s fun to fiddle with photography, like you said, and I don’t mind trying something new! It’s getting sunnier over here, still chilly though! Hope the mist disappeared!
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I’m more like you, for the most part, I tend to catch the moment. It’s an impulsive act, something that touches me and makes an impression at that very moment. I too did a few “organised images” and I agree with you that it’s more challenging than what I expected. I think it’s a combination of creativity, photographical skills and practice. Your blue collage is lovely, it gives me a harmonious and calming feeling. 😊
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Thanks, Isabelle! 🙂 I’m with you, catching the moment is more my thing than planning shots!
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Ohh, I know how hard it is to take this sort of photos! 😀 I prefer the spontaneous you but I know that sometimes it’s fun also to plan. I love the hippo the most. ❤
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Thanks, MM! It is hard, isn’t it?! Luckily we don’t have to do it if we don’t want to 🙂
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One more way we are alike … I am terrible at composing these little vignettes of random items! And we agree on color preferences, too!
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Hahah, great, we both have excellent taste in colors, don’t we?! 🙂
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I like the way your blue hunt photos turned out. I’m not so good at photographing household objects in an interesting way…but that doesn’t stop me from trying 😉
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Thanks, Amy! Same here, I’ll try every now and then, though usually I’m not happy with the result! Food is another thing I find is actually very hard to photograph!!
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I find food hard to photograph as well!!
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It’s fun to arrange objects as a still-life and practice does make perfect when it comes to taking photos.
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True, so true!
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love the adorable hippo!
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😄 Thanks!
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Come on, Snow, put all those excuses away – it is a lovely photo hunt 🙂 and thanks for mentioning. Oh yes, you should know how effortless it was to collect those pink things 😉 taking pics of shop windows in the biting wind, or stealing them inside of the shops, hehe. But the point is – the game! And as you had fun doing it (it seems like you did) – you were doing it right!
why little sense of putting blue books and camera on the floor? A lot of sense! You feel like a child again. No? I do it when I arrange such things. And this feeling is precious. We forget to play, and this is our time to do it 🙂 And the hippo brings just that playful element and life.
Keep on playing!
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I had fun, but I’m disappointed that I only ended up with one collage of three photos! I wanted to do several collages and arranged some items, photographed them, went to all this trouble, but then… blah. But you are right: we should remember to play! And it’s actually not even unusual to see completely random objects arranged into a photo, if I hadn’t said anything it probably wouldn’t have stood out! 😀
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Baby steps, hehe. We have really forgotten to play so it’s good to get back to it. Playing has its own sense, and yes, as you say, no one would think of different objects in one composition. Even now as it is trendy to do flatlays (still) on Instagram.
Next time there will be more of them 😉 And soon it’s also possible to get outside and take pics without freezing one’s fingers 🙂
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Yes, you were quite brave in your winter pink hunt!!! Your playing philosophy makes me think of the teacher in the dance class I’m currently taking, she makes us do pirouettes just because adults usually don’t spin anymore, like children do 🙂
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Braveness is a natural part of a Nordic character, haha. Thank you 🙂
I had to learn that philosophy myself – by working with kids. I like this saying “We don’t stop playing when we grow old. We grow old, when we stop playing”. So play has become an important part in my system of life 🙂
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I think you’re on the right track with that! 🙂
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Hi Snow! You’re another blue-colour-girlie… welcome! 😛
All shades of blue, everything and everywhere, that’s a way to express a creative soul!
Love your shots ❤
Ciao
Sid
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Ciao Sid!
Oh really, blue is for creativity? I like the sound of that! And you, my kindred spirit 🙂
Enjoy your week!!
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Happy Week 😀 ❤
Bisous, bisous!
Sid
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No I’m not good at shooting everyday stuff .. I wonder why 🙂
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I love your photos, Julie! But for me it’s the same: for some reason objects are hard to photograph. Maybe because there is no spontaneity?
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I think you are right 🙂
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