Month: February 2015

Step out of your comfort zone…

with your creativity and take it in a new direction!

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Creativity takes courage.

Henri Matisse

I like to write about creativity because I think it is something that many of us struggle with from time to time. I chose this image not because I think that it is the most amazing thing to exit my camera but because it is a starting point of another photographic exploration and it got me inspired!

After many weeks of overcast skies and foggy weather culminating in an abundance of atmospheric black and white images, this past week arrived with some clear nights. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and partake of a little night photography. My life in a very small town does not provide me with fabulously lit up city scenes with iconic landmarks glowing in the dark but I can get away easily from light pollution and do a little stargazing.

My first foray took me down to a little spring fed lake just as the sun was setting. Armed with a sturdy tripod and a torch complete with colored gel filters, I played with settings and soon was engrossed with what was showing up in the night sky. I realized that I had captured in my star shots the International Space Station in the three minutes that it was visible that night. As these kinds of things often do with me, it started me on a huge google search of what was happening on a daily basis in the night sky. That night was a complete fluke so I wondered if I could set up to capture it on another night’s orbit and right on schedule, there it was in another night’s images.

Further reading showed that there would be opportunities to catch Venus, Mars, and a little sliver of the moon close together. Since it was my birthday week-end, out I went again into the night to gaze into the heavens. After my fingers began to get numb from the cold, I packed it up and in we went into town for a quick dinner. Since I wasn’t driving I took the opportunity to continue playing with shots of car trails and such along the way.

And here’s where it starts…

I could hardly wait for dinner to be over to start fiddling with my camera and using its image overlay feature to layer a couple of shots together in the camera and create a new raw file. I know that layering can be done in Photoshop but I personally like the challenge of building a shot out in the field, planning it in my head as I look at the different possibilities available on that one night. This shot for me tells the story of this particular night in one image: laying bare the bones of an idea I can’t wait to take further and execute without the flaws.

Creativity does take courage and that can be a huge stumbling block for someone who isn’t willing to fail. Break out of the box, light up your creativity, and when it takes you in a new direction… you just might discover a whole new passion!

What kind of photographer…

are you?

the day the music died
“the day the music died”

Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.

Robert Frank

This was not what I thought I would write about this week but after photographing this, I could not get it out of my thoughts. I started thinking about why we photograph the things that we do and what does that say about us as photographers?

This was not one of those times of beautiful light. It was late afternoon and I had gone down to the lake hoping that the sun might win its battle with the heavy fog and break through with a mystical, atmospheric sunset. I made my way along the breakwater occasionally seeing dim figures come into view and hearing voices that would carry across the water. Taking a moment to stand in one place and to look all around me, my eyes were drawn to something down in the water that did not belong. It was not an easy feat scrambling down the sharp rocks in my Boggs but I had to have a closer look.

Having spent a lot of time on the water I have seen my fair share of litter and discarded items but never before a keyboard. I carefully waded out into the icy lake so that I would be able to photograph this in relation to its watery grave.

I don’t suppose that I will ever know the story behind the rather bleak demise of the keyboard but it did get me thinking about the various genres of photography and why we are drawn to the things that we are. As I sat and contemplated, the lyrics of Don Mclean’s American Pie running through my head, I realized just how much my photography has changed in the past few years. What began more as documentation that called for clarity, focus, and accuracy of the scene, had somehow began to morph into more of a visual storytelling where everything did not need to be stated.

In The Americans, published in 1959, Robert Frank captured the gulf between the American dream and everyday reality, a visual story as timely today as it was then. Critics of his work described his images in less than complimentary terms using words like “meaningless blur, muddy exposures, and drunken horizons”. He deviated from accepted photographic techniques and in doing so managed to capture so much more.

In a world inundated with photography, where everyone who carries a phone has the capability of taking a photograph, how do you see yourself? What kind of photographer are you?

 

If you could could tag along with an iconic photographer from the past…

who would that be?

sunset double exposure
sunset double exposure

In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.

Alfred Stieglitz  1864-1946

I will admit it straight out…I am enamoured of Alfred Stieglitz. His images resonate with me right down to my core. I came across a book titled “Aperture Masters of Photography” Number Six one day while in a used book store and so the enchantment began.

What drew me in initially were his fabulous atmospherics; his use of steam, fog, and snow to create qualities in his images that were similar to the Impressionists. He is unquestionably responsible for launching the rise of modern photography in America in the early 20th century. With his mastery of tone and texture, and ability to imbue an image with emotional intent, he led the Pictorialist Movement which advocated for the artistic legitimacy of photography. He was also one of the first photographers in the 1890’s to create night images of artistic significance. His night scenes taken on rain drenched streets are exquisite masterpieces of light and composition.

“For Stieglitz was primarily the photographer in whatever he did, no experience being truly complete for him until he had photographed it-”  Dorothy Norman

He was determined that photography would be recognized as a new medium of expression and in 1902 founded the Photo-Secession movement and shortly thereafter, the gallery, with the cooperation of Edward Steichen, that became known as the 291 in New York City. In addition to photographers, well-known artists like Picasso, Rodin, Matisse, and Cézanne all received American debuts at the 291. In 1907 he introduced the work of Georgia O’Keeffe who  would become his wife in 1924.

His later work became more influenced by Cubism, straight photography favoring clarity, sharp focus, and high contrast, with less of the sumptuous effects of his earlier work. He developed a friendship with Ansel Adams and in 1936 granted him a one person show at An American Place which he founded in 1929 on Madison Avenue in New York.

His work as a photographer, his editorship of several major publications in his time, and the galleries that he founded in his lifetime that served as the starting points in the careers of many artists, have all taken their place in the history of photography.

I find his work to be as timely today as it was then and credit him with allowing me to fearlessly post an image of a sunset or a rainbow in black and white. I’ve only just touched on his accomplishments here as to cover it all would require volumes, but if I could go back in time, what an experience it would be to see life through his lens!