Month: May 2010

I normally look for beauty when I photograph flowers (and I photographed many flowers in the past). Usually I overlook weeds and don’t pay attention to them. This exercise helps you to open your eyes to the beauty of weeds. They may not have a beautiful blossom but many of them have an incredible structure. It may be appropriate to convert them into black and white to bring out the structure more clearly.

Enjoy and happy photographing!

I took my latest photographic exercise walk in downtown Chowchilla, CA. This time I used a prime 125mm lens and stopped every two minutes. This walk went a lot better than I thought it would go. At the end I was pretty exited about my images. This image I shot from across the street on Robinson Blvd using the 10 second timer on my camera and a tripod. A lot of cars were passing by and I just got the reflection of a passing car in the window.

Enjoy and happy photographing!

This time I took my 85mm prime lens and stopped every 2 1/2 minutes. I consider this walk a total frustration. I walked by several places where I thought that I should stop here and photograph, but I did not. When I had to stop I was surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. This is not the first time that I feel frustrated about an assignment. It is part of the deal being a photographer or an artist. Frustration is actually energy, energy that needs to be channeled. So, let’s hope for a better photography walk next time.

The mission for this week, should you accept, is to go on your exercise walk with your camera and a watch (cell phone). Take only one lens with you! Before you start set your timer to 2 minutes the first day, 2 1/2 minutes the second day etc. When the first two minutes are up take a 360degree look through your viewfinder and take one shot. Them walk the next two minutes and take the second shot. Repeat this procedure through your entire walk. At the end of your walk you will have a collection of images that you would normally not taken. This is exactly the idea of this exercise. It forces you to see your world with new eyes and photograph at places that you normally overlook.

I did my first walk on Saturday. I took a 50mm prime lens and stopped every two minutes for one shot. My plan for later this day is to take my 85mm portrait lens and stop at every 2 1/2 minutes. I am already curious what I will get.

There are two type of lines in this image. On the bottom you see the lines that are created by the shape of the rotor. In addition there is a secondary, very soft round line on the right hand side. I simply dropped a water on the surface of the rotor and the line separates the wet and the dry part of the surface rust. Many times I sprayed water on fruit or flowers when I photographed them so I decided to try it out with surface rust.

Have great ideas when you photograph your subject and don’t forget to have fun!

The vast majority of this image is out of focus and still it is appealing to me. Maybe because I always try to interpret images, find meaning and compare them to my life. I see myself taking one step at a time into an uncertain future. Here is the power of photography. You pick an object and see the it interpreting your life. How powerful is that?

There is a time in probably every photographer’s life when you have the feeling that all the ideas are gone and the creativity is lost. That happens to me quite often and that is usually the time when new ideas are just about ready to be born. Yesterday I looked at all kinds of possibility to photograph the rotor and I did not like any of them. This morning I suddenly had the idea to experiment with my light setting. I put on of the lights behind the rotor and discovered the dirt and spider webs. Suddenly I had my shot for the day.Don’t give up photographing especially when you feel you are burnt out.

Happy photographing!

Would you guess that this is part of a rotor? It could be the entrance to a bunker, an old mine or part of a ship or anything else. I used continuous light coming from the left at about a 45 degree angle. The light setting creates a deep shadow on the bottom right which supports and enhances the feeling of mystery.

Enjoy and happy exercising with your ideas and your camera!

Pick an object and photograph it for a week. Use your imagination and combine it with your skills to create something exciting!

I recently had a brake job done on my wife’s car. I kept the rotors and put them out in the elements for a few weeks. Now they are ready to be used for some hopefully exciting photography.

Have a great photographic week!

Somehow during the week I got the idea using a sheet of glass for this exercise. This morning I cut some roses and put them in a blue vase. I put my white light tent over the flowers and used a continues light to illuminate the roses. I added a polarise filter to my lens to eliminate class reflection and prefocused the distance. I got this image which made my day!

My advice: Take an idea and run with it. It’s okay to be frustrated, but don’t give up. At the end of the week you will have something worth the effort!