2015 Project 52: 1st Quarter by Shane (ShaneS)

[ShaneS]

Thank you again everyone. I'm working on a few things here and it's starting to come together in my head. From my head to the camera and on to processing, well that is a whole different matter Two steps back and one step forward...onward plod!

[wilgk]

Sorry to be late Shane, I liked the BW version from last week, for me the yellow of the lines I found distracting.
Good luck for week 4!

[purplehaze]

Sorry to have overlooked your post regarding your Week 2 shot, Shane. I think Jack's crop of the b&w version is perfect.

[ShaneS]

Better late than never...I've been working on my photo essay but found some time this past weekend to get out and shoot some waves. I was trying to capture a good composition of a lone wave breaking which is a bit challenging to do when you only have a 200mm reach and there are a lot of rock near the shoreline

I came away with two shots that I liked...and I processed them very differently.

Here is a high key shot:



And a darker shot:



Do you have a preference? Any suggestions on how to improve this type of shot either compositionally or in post?

[wilgk]

I like the dark, as I am fond of images a bit darker than is commonly accepted as perfect exposure.
I think they both have energy and mood, compositionally the first possibly works better with the roll of the wave, but as I say the processing of the latter is very appealing for me.

[IzzieK]

I prefer the first one...it has the right appeal to me, just like being there. Water is a very tricky thing to shoot -- if you make it too smooth it does not look natural. The first one and I must say, both of them are very natural looking according the flow, but I prefer the first one for the lightness and the way the light hit it.

Now hubby just came up to my den and I show him these and asked which one he preferred. Dang! he like the darker one. I asked why and he said because it looks like water. So there you are -- we never agree on anything much. Now you know...

[mknittle]

the dark one for me. There is much more definition to the water. Very nice Shane.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done on the waves.

[ShaneS]

Thank you Kay, Izzie, Mark and John!

I am a bit torn on dark vs light processing and will say that the high key was my first inclination so the darker version was a bit of a stretch for me so I'm glad that I didn't botch it completely and that some of you actually prefer it

I almost filled my memory card with shots of the waves that morning and the hit rate was very low! Timing is everything is an understatement with these types of shots.

[Kaye Leggett]

I like the lighter one !!!! although wonder if you have slightly oversharpened which is so easy to do with water as the main subject - I still haven't got it right.

[ShaneS]

I'm having a bit of trouble with this thread/project of late despite being out and about with the camera quite regularly. A couple of images follow but I wanted to share some of my concerns and get your feedback.

1. I'm trying to improve my 'vision' and readily admit that I am struggling to work through that but at this point I'm not sure of the 'right' questions to ask about my imagery to improve.
2. I am getting less concerned about producing a technically perfect shot but one that portrays more 'feeling' in its composition and processing.
3. I'm also trying to create more thought provoking images that I recognize may not be everyone's cup of tea.
4. The long and the short of it is how can I get feedback along those lines in this forum? I love the members here but am not sure how to proceed...

So, having said that. I will try a new way to present the images for this challenge with a statement/question that I posted to Facebook today and a couple of images where I will tell you what I attempted to capture. (both are iPhone shots).

First my Facebook commentary:

Epiphany of the day: I think when I pull my 'big camera' I get too serious and over-think things. I need to pretend the 'big camera' is the iPhone next time I go out and see what happens. Can anyone else relate to this?

I take my photography pretty seriously and try to create the best images possible but quite often it seems that the quick snaps taken with my iPhone are more creative and have more 'feeling' to them.

Can anyone else relate to this?

Both of these images were captured yesterday with the iPhone:

Fresh Reflections



This image was taken through the windows of a local cafe. I loved the various reflections and when I saw the scene was drawn to the buildings and people as well as the graphic nature of what I saw. It represents a microcosm of city living to me. I also played with adding a frame to this one.

What do you think/see? Do you like it?

Reflected



This image was taken at the entrance to the same cafe and is also a reflection. This is pretty much as shot. I simply rotated the image, upped the contrast considerably, the satiration less so and then ran it through NIK's Color Efex Detail extractor to get what you see here.

Again a bit of city living in an abstract sort of way...compositionally I think it works because the lines of the wires mirror the lines of the roof and I think that the colors in the image add a somber, almost ominous, feeling to the image. The 'clouds' also provide a sense of movement and I also really like the painterly feel of the image.

Again I ask, what do you think/see? Do you like it?

In case anyone is wondering I haven't gone off the deep end and I am still plugging along on my photo essay project but this digression represents the 'other side' of my photography. One of the issues that I am having is that many of the shots that I have amassed for the essay feel very sterile to me and I am hoping that at some point the work that I am doing on the 'other side' will enhance how I crate imagery of a more traditional nature. Am I alone in this balancing act?

[Brownbear]

Hi Shane,

I like the first image, a lot! It's beautifully photographed and although it is super busy I love all the lines, reflections and scenes within a scene. I see people going on about their daily lives in the big city, with lots of traffic and chaos.

The 2nd image... I adore the composition of the 2nd image for the clouds and the framing, and also the tones. Very creative and painterly to me. I like it more without the wires framing it on the top (even though I like the wires in the first image), perhaps because that way the scene is not so somber and foreboding. Likely my personal preference for light and happy which likely means your portrayal of the scene is spot on.

Add on - I don't have a iphone but I do have a little point and shoot camera that I carry in my purse just in case I see something interesting, and I do find that I see more things to photograph, perhaps it is more fun because nothing is achieving perfection in every aspect of the image is not first and foremost in mind.

[Donald]

I think there's so much that could be written about what you've said in Post #51 above. For me it's about having had the ability to reflect, assess and analyse your photography and for you then to be taking it on to another level. And that is great.

I think a highly telling and perceptive comment is what you wrote on Facebook about over-thinking it with the 'big-camera' in your hand, but being spontaneous with the iPhone. That is just so insightful. And the fact that you have been able to 'see' this is, I think, a gift that not many people will have.

So, what to do about it?

For me, everything is encapsulated in your 2nd statement in the list at the top of the post:-
"I am getting less concerned about producing a technically perfect shot but one that portrays more 'feeling' in its composition and processing."

Go with that. Totally and unreservedly. I believe that if you do that and reach the point where what you're doing is emotionally satisfying in terms of saying what you want it to say, then points 1 ("... improve my 'vision'...) and 3 ("...create more thought provoking images...) will flow flow from that. Don't go searching for your vision too hard. Let it grow and develop.

Back to that point about spontaneity - I'm not sure that anyone can 'teach' you how to behave with the 'big camera' as you do with the iPhone. I suppose the closest I can come to an idea is that you stop trying to be 'the photographer' and just be 'Shane, the person taking pictures'. I don't know you, but maybe it's something about self-consciousness being out with the 'big camera'. whereas everybody snaps away with iPhones? Just a guess.

[Donald]

Just as an addendum to my note above ....

After I wrote it, I went for breakfast. And over breakfast I was reading my latest issue of 'Black & White Photography' magazine, in which there is an interview in which the photographer is asked their favourite quote. It was from famous British photographer Don McCullin - "Photography for me is not about looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures."

So, I wonder if when you've got the 'big camera' in your hands, you're not 'feeling', but instead trying to 'get it right', but with the iPhone you are doing the feeling bit, because you're not worried about the 'getting it right' bit?

[Kaye Leggett]

Shane, an exercise I was challenged with on a photography course was to take a set of 10 photos in 10 minutes. I ended up in our garage and was amazed at what I could find, and the resulting images. Maybe you try this with your 'big' camera.

[Shadowman]

Hi Shane,

It was some of the images I captured with a P & S that lead me to think I should move towards a DSLR, the P & S shots were pretty good but just couldn't handle the lowlight shots or I didn't have the focal range I wanted; perhaps the reason you get more pleasing shots with cellphone is the way you compose the shot. Do you use the viewfinder or the LCD monitor when you compose your images, perhaps that small technique is enough to change how you are capturing images.

Keep in mind that unless you are using a tripod, composing your images with DSLR handheld and using the LCD monitor will probably add a few more issues to your shooting style; mainly adding a bit of camera shake if you hold the camera further away from your body.

[Mike Buckley]

I completely agree with Donald's posts.

I notice that one of your concerns or at least interests is whether we like the images. Personally, I only shoot for me. If others like whatever image I make, that's fine. But if I like a particular image that nobody else likes, that's also fine. So, coming up with an image that has feeling requires only that I have feeling for it. My way of expressing such a feeling is that the image moves me.

For what it's worth, your images consistently move me. However, if they don't move you, that's definitely an issue worth confronting.

Relating to all of this, check out the two quotes automatically displayed at the bottom of my posts.

[AndrewMcD]

Hello Shane,
The iPhone camera is responsible for my becoming "serious" about photography. About 2 years ago I found myself using the iPhone on a daily basis. With the iPhone always at hand I found myself looking at my surroundings in a new and fresh way. I started seeing things that moved me or aroused my visual curiosity enough that I felt compelled to take a photograph; not in the hope of documenting the event but with the desire to convey the emotion I felt. Late last summer I found myself feeling stale and struggling with composition. I subsequently enrolled in a MOOC (a free Massive Open Online Course) in "iPhoneography". The return to the iPhone camera as a means of expression and consciously concentrating on composition was both refreshing and helpful for improving my composition. What was particularly valuable in this exercise was that I shook off the staleness, the excess of concern that each image be perfect (which of course was never happening) and returned to looking at things in my own way.

I try to tell myself that I do photography for myself and to a large degree that is true. I enjoy the entire process; the capture, the post processing, the printing, and the sharing with others. All of that I do for myself; BUT, if my images never stirred another human, if nobody ever expressed an emotion to what I presented I expect I would soon lose interest. There is a wonderful satisfaction when an image turns into something I imagined but in the end if there is no audience that is moved by my work then where is the art? That is a rhetorical question of course and expects no response. Keep in mind that my comments are all entirely without any education, training, nor tradition as an artist of any sort; so take them for what they are worth.

The first of your two iPhone images I think is terrific. As with much of your work it moves me. The B&W processing fits the mood of structured chaos and stimulation that life in the city evokes for me.

I find I like the second image better without the power lines. I suspect you structured the image with the parallel lines of the power lines balancing the diagonal line of the structure at the bottom? I find my eye stops before it gets to the power lines at the top. The structure at the bottom looks a bit like a roof and chimney with the swirling colors being smoke and gasses from the chimney creating a nice flow from lower left to upper right and stopping at the diagonal lines at the top.

I'm not sure how useful all this may be to you but it has obviously been thought provoking for me!

Andrew

[Mike Buckley]

if there is no audience that is moved by my work then where is the art?

There are many cases of classical music that were hated at their premiere performance and later came to be regarded as masterpieces. Sometimes your art has to wait to be appreciated.

[ShaneS]

What a thoughtful group of responses that I am sure to ponder for some time to come...I am beyond appreciative of the time that you took to respond in such a manner.

Donald said:

I suppose the closest I can come to an idea is that you stop trying to be 'the photographer' and just be 'Shane, the person taking pictures'.

and

I wonder if when you've got the 'big camera' in your hands, you're not 'feeling', but instead trying to 'get it right', but with the iPhone you are doing the feeling bit, because you're not worried about the 'getting it right' bit?

Mike said:

I notice that one of your concerns or at least interests is whether we like the images.

I think that you both bit the nail on the head with your comments. I'm an accountant by training (read rules) and while there is a strong creative streak in our family it is what I would call a functional creativity and less focused on creativity as a means of expression. So what I am searching for is something that 'goes against the grain' in many ways and I am in unknown and uncharted territory with a minimal foundation to build upon and no rules to guide my journey (the latter being the tough part for me).

Andrew said:

The return to the iPhone camera as a means of expression and consciously concentrating on composition was both refreshing and helpful for improving my composition. What was particularly valuable in this exercise was that I shook off the staleness, the excess of concern that each image be perfect (which of course was never happening) and returned to looking at things in my own way.

I'm glad that I am not the only one thinking about and struggling with this Andrew. I I am really thinking about what you said about making images for yourself but really wanting some sort of acknowledgment that the work has value. Are we seeking the right audience or does that even matter?

Maybe to point is to selfishly pursue our passion and let an audience find us....

John, I might just try shooting with live view on the 'big camera' to see if it impacts the imagery I create. Thank you for the suggestion. The only downside to this (and it made me chuckle) is I only have one battery (live view sucks battery life) and my attempt at getting a spare at a reasonable cost is being thwarted by current airline regulations...just a minor obstacle though

Kay, thank you for the suggestion of 10 images within 10 feet. An interesting test of the ability to 'see' and look more closely at our surroundings for sure!

Christina, it is nice to get some validation that what I saw came through in the first image so thank you! It is my favorite of the two and I may play with the second image a bit more in both the processing and the crop.

Many thanks again to you all...Aloha