I've taken photos of my home library every day yet I can't capture what this library represents, how it feels to be in it, and I haven't posted but the first few days of this month-long challenge to take 30 photos of it. It should be easy to find 30 ways of photographing it but every photo I take isn't right. There's a light bulb out and I can't reach it to change it so it's casting weird shadows. The color is uncorrectable. So, here is this very colorful library filled with books for children (and this is the picturebook section!) presented in black and white.
Your library is to be envied! Shifting in to a smaller home, about 10 book cases had to be contained into one small one. But that small one makes our lounge some homely!
This is paradise! a) I adore children's books and have done all my life and b) I am scouring your titles that I can read here and finding some I don't know, so I am desperate to visit you now!
@newbank My husband and I estimated that we had about 50,000 books altogether, but I have already donated about 15,000 to various international libraries and to an annual book giveaway in memory of my husband. It's been a big effort to be systematic and purposeful about giving away the books to the libraries that most need them, focusing on international libraries that otherwise would not have access to American books for children. I'm hoping to be able to donate most of the books within the next couple of years.
Wow - I just love this, and like @casablanca I would love to spend about three weeks in this spot! I would of course talk to you now and then in between reading, reading and then some more reading. Children's books are great fun.
Do you have a wide angle lens? Having witnessed the magesty of the room, I wonder if a tripod in the corner could show its glory. Also a tripod will allow you to use a slower shutter speed to correct for light. This is how I do real estate shots for clients as I try not to use a flash.
Wow! That is a lot of books! This exercise is indeed a challenge... I’ve been trying to think of it as a collection of the whole rather than individual pictures, but agree that it’s hard when individual shots don’t seem quite right
Thank you for your encouraging comments. Sometimes when one is stuck, it's supportive responses that help you try to get unstuck. It's really a very hard space to photograph, despite how wonderful it is. What you see in this photo is only one wall of the room, and only the upper level. and the lower level has cabinets that all roll out for about 30 boxes of storage behind each one. This section is the picturebook section. I'm now going backwards in my album a bit to fill in the ones I had hesitated to post. This will be a big challenge to stay with all month. Thanks again!
@stimuloog@jgpittenger -- it WAS and IS overwhelming to deal with, but I do believe the causes will make it worthwhile. I wonder how long it will take me . . .
Head's up! I think that's the challenge. We didn't see the end in taking them. And it's getting harder. I already dream of my "Moka pot". I have no plans anymore. I take the camera and try to set it so that it looks interesting. I change lenses and keep trying. I wish you fun!
Great pov and tones. Love it.
That is an astonishing book collection. There must be a story behind it. I admire anyone who takes on the 30 day challenge. Perhaps, it is easier with a single object to which you can apply many photographic techniques, than with a whole room by which you get caught up in how to represent it comprehensively - there are so many options within the subject that it is harder to be creative? (Or, maybe I don't know what I am talking about)
Wow, Junko! That wasn't in your carriage house museum, was it? This is additional? I'm astonished by the collection you've amassed with such purpose! @casablanca Scrolled back up and read C's comment... ...and that was how it all once began! Pam wrote to Taffy that she wanted to come visit...and my girls were living in Chicago, so I told Pam that if she'd visit, I'd come also...and suddenly I think a total of 16 of us were there that week! Taffy, Junko and Andie did a masterful job of arranging activities to fill the days! While still in Chicago, I was up until 4 AM making a book of *some* of my favourite photos...and blame it on exhaustion...I erased every photo I'd so carefully taken! When this is over, though my girls are no longer living there, I'd return in a minute! It's an awesome city, especially the way these ladies present it!
Thank you for your encouraging comments. Sometimes when one is stuck, it's supportive responses that help you try to get unstuck. It's really a very hard space to photograph, despite how wonderful it is. What you see in this photo is only one wall of the room, and only the upper level. and the lower level has cabinets that all roll out for about 30 boxes of storage behind each one. This section is the picturebook section. I'm now going backwards in my album a bit to fill in the ones I had hesitated to post. This will be a big challenge to stay with all month. Thanks again!
Great pov and tones. Love it.