Winter pathways, Clinton River Park, Michigan Image # WI-9553
An interesting thought popped into my head during this day walking in the woods and approaching this area. The woods around my home are pretty much a jumbled mess. Vines, scrubby bushes and snags, thorny plants everywhere. Long time readers may recall me mentioning this a few times in the past. I think most would agree that the simpler a photograph can be, the stronger it becomes. Eliminate distracting elements that will confuse the eye and our brains is a fundamental of composition. So doing landscape type work in my woods can be quite difficult. (more…)
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Black and white photo of a cluster of Coast Redwood Trees in California. In this photograph I wanted to emphasize the rough texture and strength of the bark of the trees. This cluster of trees seemed like an imperious wall.
With a bark so thick (30 cm!), and being largely impervious to disease, it should be no wonder why Redwood trees achieve their enormous heights and size. However, what they rely upon most is their environment, which is why they are limited to a few regions in California. I think there are many lessons to be learned from our great Redwood trees. No matter how strong, no matter how large of a living being you are, take away the environment on which you rely upon, and you will perish.
This seems like a rather obvious point when it comes to our environment and nature. What about when we apply similar philosophies to art and creativity? I am sure we have all heard it one time or another, in art, and particularly in critique, it pays to have a thick skin. Of course, when pursuing any area of art, there are nutrients, and there are pests. It doesn’t help to have a skin so thick that you don’t let nutrients in. At the same time, you have to be extremely wary of pest invasions. (more…)
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Textured Tulip from my yard
I spent some time photographing this morning pretty close to home, about as close as I can get actually – our front yard. My wife Lisa has done an amazing job with flowers around our house, and I often take advantage of having a lot of great subjects around. Today I photographed one of our tulips that has not opened yet. I was immediately drawn towards the tear drop shape formed by the petals, and knew I wanted this to be a focal point in the photograph.
Identifying what you are drawn to up front can help a lot when you are forming your composition, and also focus your post-processing. It helps guide your entire decision making process on how to approach your subject, and how to ultimately represent it.
The color of the tulip was pretty vibrant pink, an overpowering pink actually. Color can quickly become a rock concert when you are only after a light ballad. The color quickly became a dominant feature of the photograph, giving less emphasis to the small shape I was attracted to. That color needed to be tamed!
Read More“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” - Leonardo da Vinci
Perhaps you have read this quote before, I certainly have. It is one of those quotes that states so much more than the simple words that it is composed of. I don’t think about the literal aspects of this much, but in practice, it is something we all do with every image, every time in the field and afterwards. I was recently reminded of it in reading Guy Tal’s new ebook on Creative Processing Techniques.
Abandoned resort in Bonaire
With photography, the process of abandonment can be brought about by a number of influences and has a number of different stages. When you think about it, it can happen during capture, during editing, during post processing, or even in the act of storage. Each one of those stages brings about different reasons why abandonment might happen at that particular point. A photograph is faced with a lot of different obstacles to overcome before reaching its way out to the world, or not at all.
This process of nurturing a photograph along came to mind for me upon thinking about this quote again. It can be like what I described in my last post where you are trying to find suitable subjects to fit into a puzzle. The process of searching in the field is much like nurturing it to become something more tangible. We make conscious decisions to work a subject further, or to move on to something new. Abandonment in the field may be a creative choice, or one plagued by outside circumstances like time, opportunity, or state of mind.
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Three Trees, Kodiak, AK
I have this bluetooth gizmo for my car that allows me to use my iPhone hands-free. It acts as an FM transmitter so audio broadcasts through my car’s speakers. It also allows me to play any music I have on my iPhone, use Pandora, or any other audio service through my car stereo. The downside is that due to some FCC regulation changes a few years ago, they have limited the power of these devices, resulting in some slight static. It is better than most I have tried, but the static is still noticeable. It doesn’t make much of a difference when using it for the phone, but sometimes I do find it annoying when listening to music.
Last week I was listening to a limited edition, red vinyl only release called “Field Recordings” from Rocco DeLuca that I picked up when he was here in Detroit back in November 2010. (He is an incredibly talented guitar player and soulful singer, I recommend everyone check him out) Once I got the vinyl transformed to digital, I have been listening to it constantly on my computer, and then took it to my car. Well, the rip I did from the vinyl is crystal clear on my computer, but I was limited in clarity by the transmitter in my car.
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