Month: July 2015

I had a dream…

that I could pick a line down the milky way.

dreamscape
dreamscape

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

Edgar Allan Poe

I have never been accused of lacking in imagination and while sometimes I wake up from a night’s sleep and wonder what on earth?!? other times I wake up with a smile thinking about a grand adventure.

While I find pleasure in the long days and warm nights of summer watching the milky way arc across the night sky my thoughts do begin to drift towards winter. Perhaps that was where this idea came from…not powder but light, not snowflakes but stars.

I recently added a layer program called Perfect Layers to my Lightroom which allows me to blend a couple of images into a composite. I have not been a fan of composite images unless they have been true double exposures and not images intended to trick the viewer but this program allowed me to construct an image that represented a dream…pure fantasy.

I think a vivid imagination is a gift to be treasured and nurtured and honestly …who wouldn’t want to carve out a line spraying stars across the night sky?

 

 

 

 

Shot from the heart…

as expected, in black and white.

Fourth of July
Fourth of July

“I’ve been forty years discovering that the Queen of all colors is black.”

Henri Matisse

I did warn you in last week’s post. What can I say? I love the clarity that comes with black and white. While others are anticipating a riot of colors bursting into the night sky I see a hazy red blur that is much better defined without the color.

I do love an opportunity to shoot fireworks. There is such an element of surprise as to what you might see. Each time I do it I find myself more relaxed and able to take in the show at the same time as I am photographing it. I was even able to ignore the popping of flashes behind me with hardly an eye-roll as the other spectators  attempted to capture this on various flash equipped devices.

I found this to be almost meditative too as I calculated how long to leave the shutter open and envisioned what elements I was building into each frame. Would it be one singular explosion or a longer shot enveloping multiple explosions?!

Fourth of July

Fourth of July

For those disappointed by these black and white images I offer this as an opportunity to imagine all the colors of the rainbow. Whatever colors your heart may desire…and a happy independence day America!

The journey of an artist…

follows neither a straight nor an easy path…

morning fog
morning fog

Nothing is ever the same twice because everything is always gone forever, and yet each moment has infinite photographic possibilities.

Michael Kenna

Tempting as it may be to shoot things like heavily saturated sunsets that draw gasps of delight from the general public I think it is important to stay true to what you personally find to be moving. If you sacrifice that inner voice, your own personal je ne sais quoi in the hopes of a sale, you will lose the joy that comes with picking up a camera.

It’s strange but when I find myself editing an image with just the smallest of adjustments using an almost exaggerated light touch I know that the image holds more meaning for me.

Likewise when I see the work of another photographer and it makes me hold my breath even for a moment I know that their work has resonated with me and it then becomes important to find out why.

Michael Kenna is one such artist who when I happened upon his work it was like time stood still. So many of his images were utterly simple and at the same time complex in their composition and tone.

30 seconds one evening
30 seconds one evening

I battle with color and sensory overload at the best of times so I do find myself drawn to black and white. As a young girl I was petrified of the dark with its enveloping blackness and things that might lurk in those shadows. Never one to give in to irrational fears I pushed myself to be in that darkness and I have found it to be meditative and calming in a world that has exploded with connectivity. Now I find myself more often than not, waiting for the sun to go down so that I can explore the night using long exposures. Certainly not something that I would ever have imagined doing but if you are willing to try new things and keep an open mind, you might find your journey taking a new direction.

I do still shoot color but I find myself doing so less and less and when I look back on photographers whose work really moves me, it is almost always minimalist and black and white.

For me it is about being authentic in your work and presenting an image that is true to your own personal vision and this year as I shoot the fireworks to celebrate America’s day of Independence they will more than likely be in black and white…

Happy Fourth of July to those celebrating…