Hello to all and welcome!
I can't really say what you should expect to see here as I've never before tried blogging or anything similar. It'll have to be a work in progress. I'll probably talk about photography in general (and mine in specific) as well as point out different things that are going on that I find interesting or worth commenting on. If anyone (assuming anyone actually ends up reading this) has questions or suggestions on topics, feel free to let me know.
I'm here you're with me, here at the beginning of all things.
Roger
p.s. Comments and feedback are very welcome.
Photos of the Week - Find something new
This past weekend was The Raptor Center's fall release. I love attending these. There's a thrill to getting up close and personal with gorgeous birds.
But, this was the fourth or fifth release that I've been to. And I've been at a dozen or more events that the Raptor Center puts on, all of which include them bringing in birds. Many times the same birds. So, finding new and interesting ways to photograph them can be a challenge.
This year I decided that I wanted tight close-ups, straight on if possible. Especially of the owls
This is exactly what I was hoping to capture. Eyes and beak. Only a tiny bit of cropping and straightening was required to get the eyes level.
Here's a bald eagle. Same concept of getting as close in as I could, but the shape of the head and distance from the bird made this the closest I could get. The sun/shade contrast really makes the image for me.
I like this one because it reminds me of many postage stamps I've seen over the years.
Finally, here's a saw-whet owl. These are the smallest owls in Minnesots. And CUTE!!
I don't know what kinds of shots I'll try for next year, or next event. Hopefully I'll think of something new or different.
Photo of the Week - Big Picture
I'm a detail person. I notice the small things and react to them.
In a work situation, this can be a good thing because it leads me to find and catch mistakes or inconsistencies, and to ask enough questions to understand what needs to be done and why.
In photography, it can be an issue.
My photographic process is to generally wander around somewhere until something interesting catches my eye. Some detail in a scene strikes me. That, then, becomes the subject of my photograph. Anything that does not help highlight that subject then is removed or de-emphasized as much as possible. This translates to zoom/cropping in the camera and determining the correct depth of field.
The problem with this approach is that you can lose sight of the big picture. There is not only the flowers that you see, but the entire garden in which they are planted. You can literally miss the forest for the trees.
Here's an example:
I was walking along a beach in Mexico when I came across this scene. Pelicans and seagulls in abundance. So, carefully (since I was using film at the time and didn't want to scare them away), I start shooting.
I love the pelicans and make sure to get some good shots. Together and separately. Maybe get some of the seagulls and/or the rocks (I can't find all the slides from the trip, so those aren't here to see).
And, I love these portraits.
My point, though? You can guess what the last photo I took was, right? It only occurred to me after spending a long time taking in all the details that I should try and capture the entire scene. The first photo in this post was the last one I took. And, in some ways, it is the most essential because it conveys the setting; what it feels like to walk along the beach and come across the scene.
Always try to remember and capture the Big Picture.
Photos of the Week - Heron
This past Monday was a gorgeous; sunny and warm without being too hot. So, I decided to go down to the Arboretum and see if I could get some interesting shots while wandering around. Maybe the hummingbirds would be around the dahlias again (as they were around this time last year). Plus, it had been a couple months since I had done any shooting down there.
It was slightly discouraging. There might have been one hummingbird (or a big dragonfly or something else entirely), but it flew away before I could get a good look at it. The dahlias were nice, but mostly the same as the past couple years. A couple of butterflies were around, but not many and not staying still long enough to shoot. The rose garden is nice, but I wasn't seeing anything new (or in a new way). In fact, the most interesting thing I saw was that there were irises growing in the Iris Garden (interesting because I thought they were dug up and saved or sold after they were done blooming).
And then I saw it. About 10 feet in front of my, at the end of the Iris Garden. A Great Blue Heron slowly strolling along. I'd never seen one at the Arboretum before, and I don't think I'd ever gotten this close to one anywhere. So I start taking some pictures and trying to get a better angle on it without scaring it away. Just as I was getting there, it jumped...onto the dam in front of the Iris Pond.
I'm not sure how to describe the feeling, standing 10-20 feet away from a gorgeous bird who is just standing around, occasionally trying to peer through duckweed to see if there is anything to eat. Watching as it gets tired of that and decides to preen and scratch, because it feels good and comfortable.
(notice on the one above that it is actually the lower eyelid that is partially closed)
Some days you just get lucky. Monday was one of those for me.
Photos of the Week - Is the past in color
As I mentioned previously, I took a lot of photos out at Fort Snelling a couple of weeks ago. It was a brutally hot day, but worth it because they were having their annual Civil War celebration going on, which included 200 reenactors. You get a good sense of the history of the place (and learn all sorts of interesting facts as well).
I did notice something weird, though, when I started reviewing the images I took...most of them didn't look right. The ones that were just shots of the fort were fine, but any that had historical elements seemed off. So, I played around with them a bit and discovered that they looked best if I processed them with a sepia tone. Straight black and white wasn't good enough; it had to be sepia.
It even goes a bit further, because the ones I posted last week, with their more painterly quality, were much better in color. Partly that is because the flaws that make them interesting to me are exacerbated in sepia (or b&w). But, moreso, the idea that they are "painted" means they need to be in color, while photos from 100 years ago are sepia. It is the mental training we have unconsciously received by always seeing them that way.
Below are some examples to demonstrate what I'm talking about.
This first one is probably the best of the color versions. That said, the clothes just don't seem right. The color seems artificial for some reason (and yes, I did try playing with it but it didn't make a difference). The sepia toned version makes everything look "correct".
Fort Snelling Cannon Fire sepia
These next two really shouldn't make any difference since they are basically landscape images. Still, the sepia gives a better sense of the "historic".
These last two, for me, have the most dramatic difference between the two. The color image is fairly boring. It just shows the standing rifles (or muskets). The sepia one has a better feel to it for me. Maybe it is in the way the grass and dirt blend into the background (where the green grass stands out more).
Photos of the Week - Happy Accidents
I decided to go visit Fort Snelling last weekend. While I have been to the lower section by the airport (with the barracks, officers houses, polo fields, etc.), I had never been to the fort proper before. Plus, they were having a Civil War weekend, complete with over 200 recreationists demonstrating all kinds of period drills and activities. While I got some shots I'm very pleased with (and will discuss/share next week), it is the couple below that, in some ways, I'm even happier about.
In general, I like my photos sharp, at least somewhere in the image. Selective focus, of course, can lead to portions of the image being out of focus (generally a blurry foreground or background). Then there are the shots where I've intentionally done something to make the image more abstract. A lot of the time this involves rotating or moving the camera to cause streaks and blurs.
And then there are ones like these. The ones that are purly accidents. The ones you composed just like you wanted but, for some reason, the camera wasn't still when you clicked the shutter. I love these. They have a painted, impressionist quality to them that transcends both painting and photography. They are sharp enough that you can get all the details, but at the same time, there is a motion or life to them caused by the camera shaking or moving that tiny bit. Put them on canvas, or watercolor paper, or anything that has an inherent texture, and they would come to life even more.
I just wish I knew how to do this intentionally.
Fort Snelling painted soldiers
Fort Snelling painted soldiers