My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
There are those who take photographs arranged beforehand
Henri Cartier-Bresson
and those who go out to discover the image and seize it.
I did not arrange this image, someone else did. I just discovered it and pressed the shutter button. Found somewhere on the streets of downtown Omaha, NE on a cold and overcast day.
This is another image where it pays to look up. My dad and I had walked to a coffee shop located in a small shopping mall and were on our way back to the house when I looked up and saw this gorgeous blue sky framed by the buildings. Dad waited as I took a few frames. It reminds me of younger years hiking with my dad. I wonder how much I missed because I was so focused on the trail in my attempt to keep up with him and not stumble. Photography has taught me to slow down, look around and see all that is present to me. Dont’ want to miss those blue skies.
I go and get the camera and do it. Photography is a medium in which if you don’t do it then, very often you don’t do it at all, because it doesn’t happen twice. A rock will probably always be more or less there just the way you saw it yesterday. But other things change, they’re not always there the day after or the week after. Either you do it or you don’t. Certainly with things as changeable as sky and landscape with moving clouds and so on, if they look wonderful to you on a certain day and if you don’t do it then, you may never see them again for the rest of your life. So as a photographer you become very conscious – at least I do – that everything is in movement.
Paul Strand
My subject when taking this image was the fading red barn. However, when I loaded it on my computer the barn was not as interesting to me as the sky. It’s a drab sky, nothing spectacular, just an overcast sky. Not sure what but the image has something in it for me, so I started playing around with it. Once I converted it to black and white I saw it completely differently. An emotion rose within me to keep playing. I played with tone and contrast and some vignetting, giving me what I needed. Now the overcast skies are what speaks to me.
On one of flights last week we had a very light load, less than half full. While in the aft galley I looked forward and smiled when I saw this guys foot out in the aisle. He was all stretched out and deserved a photograph.
“Well, I do think, particularly the way I work, the better images occur when you’re moving to the fringes of your own understanding. That’s where self-doubt and risk taking are likely to occur. It’s when you trust what’s happening at a non-intellectual nonconscious level that you can produce work that later resonates, often in a way that you can’t articulate a response to.”
Jerry Uelsmann
I have the next two days off and I need them. The last several days have been busy with lots of travel time. Would love to venture out for some landscape images but the motivation is not there. When this happens my focus is on those things near. I find it interesting that for a simple image as the one above, I can change my perspective so much easier than I can of vast open valley or meadow. I can easily take the spoon and turn it to alter the shape of its shadow. Can’t turn a mountain or move a tree the same way. In vast landscapes I have to be the moving object to get the perspective I need.
“There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that’s impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants.”
Arnold Newman
That’s exactly what happened here. I saw this woman sitting on a bench under this bell tower and thought it would make a good image. Just as I raised the camera she stood up and started walking towards me. Without really thinking, which I do a lot, I took one image. I’m actually pleased with this image even if it was taken by the seat of my pants.
So when your retired and just turned 83, it’s time to celebrate. Glad I had a fast lens so I could capture all the action as we celebrated dads special day. So glad for the time with them on his birthday. Now he gets to enjoy more of his retirement while I start another trip today.
“A photographer must be prepared to catch and hold on to those elements which give distinction to the subject or lend it atmosphere. They are often momentary, chance-sent things: a gleam of light on water, a trail of smoke from a passing train, a cat crossing a threshold, the shadows cast by a setting sun. Sometimes they are a matter of luck; the photographer could not expect or hope for them. Sometimes they are a matter of patience, waiting for an effect to be repeated that he has seen and lost or for one that he anticipates. Leaving out of question the deliberately posed or arranged photograph, it is usually some incidental detail that heightens the effect of a picture – stressing a pattern, deepening the sense of atmosphere. But the photographer must be able to recognize instantly such effects.”
Bill Brandt
I’m still enjoying the warmer weather but will be heading back to Colorado this afternoon. For some idiotic reason they want me to go back to work tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed my time with my parents, playing a few card games and plenty of laughter. We have spent several hours going over old photographs and looking over the family genealogy. I’m bringing back a few photographs I want to make copies of. a couple of unexpected gifts discovered has been a copy of my grandfathers discharge papers from WWI and the marriage license of my grandparents. I now have copies of those papers. I have not spent time on reading any blogs so I will be inundated when I return.
…one thing I can stress about light in storytelling sense, it is the need for photogtraphers to simple be in tune with how it aids emotional appeal and how its subtleties can be use to create nuance in the visual narrative.
Storytellers by Jerod Foster
After two days of cloudy skies and a few rain showers we arose to clear sunny skies. When I checked the weather yesterday morning the temperature back in Colorado was 9 degrees. I’m liking this weather here. I must report that a good time was had with dad, mom, my sister and brother-in-law yesterday as we celebrated dad’s birthday. I’ve not been on the computer much so I will try and catchup with any comments on your blogs I’ve missed reading for the past few days. Toodles!
I found this young lady hard at her studies at one of our local coffee houses. I couldn’t miss the matching colors of here surgical uniform and the shoes. So, I boldly asked if I could take a photo. She agreed and said she was thankful her ankles were not swollen. Hope everyone has a good week. My plans are to be in Phoenix today visiting my parents. Dad turns 83 tomorrow so we will celebrate.