Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Friends, Romans, Lens Me Your Ears

Test Your Eyesight With These Two Shots

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


This post is a direct result of a challenge from British blogger Imac. He recently threw down the gauntlet when he challenged me to take an unusual photograph of a camera lens. It was just before I flew out to Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur with my family and as soon as I saw his comment, I planned to photograph the famous Petronas Twin Towers reflected in a lens.

How? The simplest way. I always have at least two Sigma lenses with me, an 18-125mm lens and a 70-300mm lens. I figured the best way to do it was to have one of the Authorbloglets point the 300mm lens at the twin towers and for me to use the other lens to photograph the reflection of the towers. It would have been a simple but effective shot.

So there we were, on our way to the towers, when I spotted this unusual sight, a roadside collage comprising several small hexagonal mirrors of different colours. As usual, I trailed the rest of the family by several metres, because I kept stopping to take photographs. As soon as I saw this, I knew it would be perfect for Imac’s challenge.

If you haven’t been able to spot the reflection of my own lens in the photo above, take a look at the shot below and see how quickly you can pick it among the beautiful kaleidoscope of colours.

Incidentally, this sequence of challenges began when Crazy Cath said I’d probably be able to take an artistic shot of a bowl of peas and Maggie May echoed her words before I posted my response, called The Nobel Peas Prize. Immediately afterwards, the Texan blogger Rhea challenged me to photograph garbage (literally) and my response to that was Trash Talk.

I know what you’re thinking. You have a challenge for me, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you want me to shoot….

26 comments:

PRH said...

WoW! That is one interesting project(and photos) David.

Maggie May said...

That was a really lovely photo & your pointing camera really shows up in the lens! Very pretty colours and a brilliant idea. Artistic!
Thinking of a challenge............ something really boring that doesn't look boring at all, once YOU have finished with it!

Texas Travelers said...

Enjoyed this thouroughly.

Troy

dixymiss said...

What an eXciting challenge ~ one I'd say you satisfied brilliantly! Up for another challenge? I'll play! Can you shoot a blank sheet of paper, so that it tells a story? I'd like to see you try!

polona said...

well, if that isn't a great response to a challenge, i've never seen one!
clever and creative, but then, i wouldn't expect anything less from you :)

Unknown said...

That is awesome! It has been a crazy weekend. But I am back. Have a great day!

Hilary said...

Wonderful idea and very cool shots. Looking over the comments, I suspect it's going to be the most interesting blank sheet of paper EVER!

becky aka theRAV said...

Oh, I love this, David! So neat. Thanks for your critic of my Sky Watch photo. I think you saw in it what I saw which was why I did not want to crop it anymore.

Cath said...

I got it in the first shot and prefer the first one. It's a really cool shot. I love the shapes and colours in it - they mesmerised me that much I completely missed the twin towers reflected in there until you mentioned it!

You rise to challenges well. The blank sheet of paper seems a tough one. I couldn't come up with more obscure than that, although there's things I'd be interested to see.... ;0)

Neva said...

What a great idea and I love the shots....I see your lens.....hmmmm I think.....

holly said...

if snow white's step mother would have had this, perhaps she'd have been slowed down a bit, what with the 27 mirrors she'd have to question...

"and you? who do you think is the fairest? okay now you over there. fairest? and now the one down in the corner. now just the ones facing me. and now just the male mirrors."

i really need to sleep more.

Sandi McBride said...

Okay, so I don't know a pentax from a zoom lense, but that David is one beautiful shot! I say the gauntlet was picked up and tucked away quite marvelously!
Sandi

alicesg said...

Brilliant shot of the twin tower through the reflections.

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Lana Gramlich said...

What an interesting structure & photo! Good job. :)

Charles Gramlich said...

I love the interlaced feeling of these panels.

just jamie said...

Once again, just lovely, and creative, and inspiring...

CrystalChick said...

Your photos are so interesting and really GOOD!!
You mentioned on a post of mine that if I had any questions.....
I certainly won't bother you with the long long list of them, but I will ask if you could recommend any books? Maybe the ones I have just aren't the right ones.
I posted a picture today that I love the idea of, but the actual shot didn't turn out very well.
There are a few down a bit on my page of a day trip to Batsto that I liked but I just tend to over edit all my stuff because I'm not confident enough with what comes out of the camera.
The only other question is do you do any editing of your pics?

Great job as usual. If it's okay, I'll add your page to my blog list.

Unknown said...

Reall, really cool and fun!

imac said...

I take my hat off to you Sir, great capture.

My odd shot -is with YOU in mind.

cheshire wife said...

Looks like you have got full marks on that one.

Kat said...

Great job!

Corey~living and loving said...

oooo Daivd! You rocked it. simply rocked it. :) great shots!

thanks for the mention in post of the day. appreciate the support as always. :)

have a great day!

Jenn: said...

Ingenious shot! I am off to see the Peas now!

dixymiss said...

Hello, David. ThanX for stopping by. I'm quite eXcited to see what you'll come up with, should you choose to accept my "blank sheet of paper" photo challenge!

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