Up and away...

I am now convinced that everywhere you go there is a photo opportunity. The great thing about photography is that when the act is deliberate, it forces you to slow down and look around. In all the years I have been at this location I have never noticed this building before. But on this day I stopped to look around for image possibilities. I spent twenty minutes or so exploring the things down on my level. I think we sometimes get trapped into a two dimensional world and forget to look up. What caught my attention was the colors on the side of the building. The clouds were breaking up slightly and allowing the warm evening sun to hit the structure. These warm colors contrasted with the deep blues of the sky and the whites of the clouds. The reflections of the sky in the window and the lines of the building added to the image. I ended up shooting about 10 different compositions and liked this one the best.

Capturing the feeling...

The sun was straight up in the sky, as can be seen by the shadows. The temperature outside was blazing hot. I glance up at the side of this building and saw an open window. I could almost "see" the cold air blowing out of the window as the curtain flapped back and forth. There was such contrast between the rough wall and the curtain, the cement and glass, the blue trim and the rusted overhang, and most importantly the temperature. The scene was screaming for a photograph. If only I could have someone standing in the window whipping the sweat off of their brow!

Practice, practice, practice...

Many jokes circulate the online photography community about pet photographs. Quite a few people think that all new camera purchases should come with a cat. While there may be half a billion pet photos or so out there, this sort of photography still remains a great way to practice technique. My wife, Denise, had a dog show this weekend. I shot some 500 or so frames while at the show on Sunday. Why you may ask did I shoot so much at a dog show? After all, how many unique photo opportunities could there be? Well, my intention was to master one particular function of my camera. As you Canon SLR users may be familiar with, I just started using CF4.2. What better place to practice than a dog show. So I walked in the building in the morning having never tried the new auto focus/metering technique and I left in the afternoon being very familiar with the versatility of CF4.2. The lesson here is that sometimes photography isn't about the availability of subjects. Never use the excuse that there is nothing to photograph. Simply photograph what is around you. If that happens to be your pet, so be it. Use the opportunity to practice, practice, practice. By the way, this image is of Sealy, an Australian Shepherd and new AKC Champion. To see more images of Australian Shepherds, take a look at my wife's web site: Dreamstreet Australian Shepherds. As Eliot Porter once said, "You learn to see by practice. It's just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it."

Street photography woes...

A vast majority of people become nervous when they think about doing street photography. Many misconceptions about the legality and ethics of photographing other people exist. The bottom line is that street photography is not about the other people, the scene, or the "right or wrong" of it. Street photography is about your relationship to the environment around you. A photographer on the street that feels like he is being voyeuristic will be perceived as a voyeur. A photographer on the street that feels like he is being sneaky or "stealing" something will be perceived as a sneaky thief. So the trick is to just relax and react to your surroundings. Let go of the "looking glass effect." Don't get caught up in what others are thinking. If somebody isn't comfortable with you taking there picture, don't. You will know when you shouldn't release the shutter. If you are uneasy and nervous, you will be projecting that feeling. Ask yourself why, let it go, and than simply enjoy the moment and begin shooting.

UPDATE: At the request of a viewer (my Mom) I will begin to discuss more of the particulars of what was going on in my thoughts during the capturing of these photographs. The day I took this picture I had been exploring two ideas. I had been looking for ways to use motion blurring technique without washing out the entire frame. I was also looking for strong graphic lines for my compositions. I walked passed this stairwell in the center of a campus building. At first glance I thought the shadows were too deep and the subject was unappealing. However, something about the graphic lines forced me to take a second look. I liked how the stairs receded into the frame and then took a hard right at the top of the frame. The empty space below the stairs could keep the eye from leaving the frame. The graphic lines of the stairs and rails, balanced by the empty space at the lower right created a nice balance. However, the overall subject was still boring and the stairwell was in deep shadow. Then I realized I could use a motion blur technique to capture somebody walking the stairs. The blur technique would also create a long enough exposure to open up the shadows some. So I tripod mounted my camera and 28mm lens about 10 feet in front of the stairs. An exposure of 1.6 seconds created a perfect blur as this gentleman came down the steps. The final compostion works well and the subject certainly becomes Contrast. There is the contrast of sharpness/blur, motion/stillness, line/space, and figure/ground. For the technical viewers, I didn't take a meter reading at all. I just kept the shutter open long enough to allow the man to walk a few steps. I used a small aperture of f/18 to ensure the stairs in the background would remain relatively sharp enough to contrast with the motion blur. By the way, the gentleman in the photo is Michael Long.

Showing your work...

One of the great things about a photoblog is that you can share your work with others in a relatively easy yet effective way. At the other extreme is showing your work in a gallery. I am pleased to announce that some of my recent work will be presented in a gallery exhibit at 39 Hotel in October. As the dates are solidified I will post more info.