Assignment 04 - Freeze time

Let's examine the effect of short duration light (flash) on images of objects in motion or transition. If your camera doesn't have a shutter speed or ISO fast enough to capture events that only last 1/25,000 of a second, try shooting in the dark - or almost dark - with a flash (or strobe, or speedlight, or what ever you want to call it). Fun things to shoot can include falling water drops, popping balloons, jumping kids, or whirling dervishes. Use your imagination and have fun. Notice all the words ending in "ing"? That means action. No flash pix of a bowl of fruit on a table.






I'll start, only because I already had these shots on file from some recent fun in my kitchen sink at home. More to come, but for now it's your turn.

I'm reminded of my thoughts on transparency . . . that there is no transparency. Is a window to see through without influence on the view beyond, or is the window itself the view?

02.the nothing.bkroll

This assignment proved very difficult for me. When we discussed this idea of nothingness it seemed like an interesting idea that was pretty clear. However, the more I tried to photograph 'nothing' the more I realized I was thinking about this all wrong. To me the assignment isn't about photographing nothing as I originally thought, this is impossible. If something can be defined it is clearly something, not nothing (a little double negative for you English majors). So, many times I found myself thinking that I found the nothing that I wanted to photograph then realizing that this nothing was something and failing. I had to change the way I was thinking about this. I decided to photograph objects that perhaps get overlooked as nothing...nothing important at least, or things that are not typically looked at under the microscope of photography. For instance, the first image is of carpet, the second of a wet street. Both of these images are really nothing special and lack a defined subject withing the frame. However, I think both photos offer something interesting. The wet road has a lot of high tones and low tones...and then you notice the aggregate in the road. The carpet is a uniform object made interesting with the use of depth of field (and no Eric this is not a Gaussian blur filter), it was shot with the fairly large aperture of f2.8. All that said, I am not sure if I though about this in the same way as everyone else but these are my end results...thoughts???

Assignment 03.Window

“The eyes are the windows to the soul” so are windows, the reflection, the view through, and even the frame. Window(s) seen from the inside or the outside. The window(s) must be the main subject of the photo.

float lightly and leave no ripples

if stumped for something to shoot, kids and animals are usually winners. if those aren't available, try water.

02.The Nothing.eMaxwell

A morning fog advisory provided another opportunity to explore this assignment. What I found interesting about the first one here is that the layering of the trees is heightened by the fog. The second one is a tribute to Hiroshi Sugimoto. Hey, it was there. I had to do it.

02.The Nothing.eMaxwell

The intent of this assignment was to focus on light, shade and shadows that played over the surface of a simple coffee cup and force myself to see it not as an object in space, but as a world unto itself.

02.The Nothing.eMaxwell

Sometimes I have an idea that I pursue. Sometimes the idea pursues me. I would like to think of this as a starting point for the exploration of a simple object and how light, shade, shadow, and color interact with that object. Step one: Pour out coffee.

There is no transparency.jRamsey

02.The Nothing. aGray

A morning trek yielded this photo. Bronze scuplture taken against an overcast sky.

Again taken from my favorite place to take photo's the farms near where I grew up. It seems to resonate home to me and is very comforting. This is taken during a shower on a pond. You can see the quick little raindrops in the surface of the pond. The reflection of the gray sky and surrounding trees create the gradient on the surface as well.

Transparency.aGray

The first picture is the original untouched image I took during an visit to the Farm. This picture was taken about mid day during a very overcast day. I chose this photo for this assignment because it seems to embody a number of different technical aspects. It is a picture in a pictureand reflection. The second picture is an attempt to blow out the contrast and focus on the mercury on the windshield. It is an attempt to replicate infrared photography.

Assignment 02 - The Nothing

The purpose of this assignment is to push minimalism to its breaking point and avoid the capture of an object and rather only focus on light, shade, and shadow. Hiroshi Sugimoto is a master artist that is exploring similar ideas in his work.

Transparency.eMaxwell

I found this assignment to be fairly difficult. I am not sure any of these truly represent 'transparency'. I have learned some things in the process. One, dont print at Walmart. Ever. And two, the 'highpass' filter in photoshop is super groovy.

Transparency.bkroll

I went about this assignment in two ways, only one produced a photo that I was happy with. The first (failed) method of photographing transparency I attempted was to shoot through a space. I wanted a subject to be on opposite side of a contained volume of space and to shoot the subject through the volume. I still think this is a valid idea; however, I have not yet achieved the results I was looking for. The second and more successful idea was to shoot a surface that offered a level of transparency as well as reflection to create a tension. My idea was that whatever was showing through the transparent surface had to be vivid enough to pull the eye from the reflection. I think I am fairly successful here with the blue legs of the tables. These pop, to me offering a subject for my eye to focus on. I only wish there were two people sipping espresso at the table. I think if there were a little something else on the interior of the space the photo would be stronger...but all in all, I feel good about this.

-thoughts??