Art

Whose Art?

A friend presented a project on nostalgia.  She set it up in an old house and created a story of the imagined tenants living there.  It was one of the best projects that I have ever seen and as I am such a nostalgic person it really touched me.  I took many, many photographs in the house and yet I have some issues about them.  I took the photographs, played with the images in photoshop until I was happy with the effect and yet I don’t quite feel that it is my creation because each aspect of my photographs was already somebody else’s art.

 

Infrared Photos at the Schomberg Fair

Country fairs are a lot of fun and I went to the Schomberg Fair with three cameras.  I took the Fuji digital infrared, the Fuji HS10 and my Leica loaded with slide film (thinking of polaroid transfers).  The first thing I saw when I walked through the gates were the teams of draft horses and I thought that the infrared images would do a great job capturing the atmosphere of a fair…a bit of magic and nostalgia…timelessness really.

Inspiration

I love this photo and a friend reminded me that it was my way of seeing things that created the image, not necessarily the fact that I used a digital infrared camera (which I love very much by the way!).  Everybody is unique in the way they see and do things.  As a photographer I have always liked something that is just a tad edgy or weird.  Not so much that it disturbs but just enough that it is thought provoking.  I never know exactly what I want to do but when I see something that grabs me I actually feel something (that I can’t describe in words) but I know I have it.  If I don’t get that special feeling then the resulting shot will only be so so.  Amazing how that works.

More Thoughts on my New Camera

My new camera (Fuji HS10) is great although I only seem to use the panorama feature!  The images are very easy to crop, and when I have enlarged some of them on the screen everything seems quite sharp.  Of course I like to gild the lily somewhat and often incorporate a bit of gaussian blur into the picture along with using the overlay feature from Filters in Photoshop.  I wish I could explain it better but I picked up the technique from an article in a photography magazine. I followed the instructions word for word (only three instructions!) and was surprised and very pleased that it worked.  Unfortunately the camera’s vertical panorama feature is not working at all for me.  A friend of mine who bought the same camera and is at least a million times more advanced than me in the technical field is having the same problem and it seems that no matter how slowly or precisely or even quickly the camera is panned, the vertical panorama feature does not comply.  Fortunately I am much more interested in the horizontal view.  The camera is quite amazing and if only I could tear myself  away from the panoramic mode I can start experimenting with the other  features.  Here are a few more images taken recently.

 What I like about panoramics is what I like about my own photography.  Although these are recorded moments in real time there is still something quite mysterious and other worldly in the final picture.  And now that we have Photoshop there is no end to our ability to add little surprises into the images.

 

 

Everything has potential to be a panoramic!

I really love taking panoramic photographs.  Something is not working on the camera as far as vertical panoramas are concerned – it just doesn’t work so I am waiting for the Camera Show to come to Toronto on May 13th and I will hopefully be able to talk to the Fuji people and find out what’s going on.  In the meantime here are two more experiments.

I took this photograph in Starbucks.  I was wondering if I could get my friend’s face in the foreground, while getting all the background details and keeping everything in relative focus.  I like this portrait.

The other day I was at the stable where I ride and liked the look of the tack hanging from hooks and was pleased to see that the camera captured the inside of the  barn.  I really like the slightly weird appearance of a panoramic photograph..I like the curve and would not try to straighten it out in photoshop.  That’s one of the reasons why I like a panorama – it’s not quite real.

 

My  new camera is a Fuji HS10.  It is relatively inexpensive and has so many features that many wonder how “they” did it.  One of the features is a panoramic sweep and as I love panoramic images buying this camera was a no brainer (along with the 24-720 mm. zoom and ability to produce great images in very low light).  I love being able to see the whole story in a panoramic photograph and I think I would like to do some portraits this way – it just gives a more complete story about each subject.  In any case I have been experimenting and so far have come up with the following.

This  was taken at a friend’s condo in downtown Montreal – I was doing a lot of practicing and of course making things more difficult as I usually do but finally it all came together….press the shutter, release the button and sweep the camera following the arrow in the viewfinder and voila!

Taken in Lower Westmount in Montreal just before Spring became evident.  I like the starkness of the trees against the sky.

This was taken at friend and mentor Bill’s house…he was in the kitchen making one of his delicious coffee’s just before we sat down to talk about the pros (no cons as yet) of this amazing camera!

 

Self Portraits

I don’t do too many self portraits but I  think they are fun and probably revealing.  One of the reasons why  I like digital photography so much is the instant feedback that I get whenever I take a photograph.  I do not like using a tripod – you just can’t be spontaneous although spontaneity wouldn’t be a deal breaker in a self portrait.  Let’s face it – I’m not going anywhere and I’m easy to find.

One thing that I’m trying to do is to carry around my P&S at all times and not miss my life happening around me.  Here are a couple of photos that I took  recently.

I was having a coffee one morning and I saw my reflection in the window almost like a ghost.  I think I believe in ghosts but I’m not sure if I believe in anything else, i.e. a higher entity and I often have very deep thoughts about this.  I find this image very meaningful from many points of view, and by the way, aside from the usual cropping and saturation there was no other Photoshop manipulation.

How many of us have done a self portrait by taking a photo of our mirror image?  Too many to count I’m sure.  I was trying to be a bit original in this mirror self portrait.

A self portrait doesn’t have to show your face…

Artful Manipulations via Photoshop

I just discovered a way to change the look of an image giving it a dreamy, somewhat surreal look.  As I have mentioned before I do have a working knowledge of Photoshop but working with Layers has often confused me.   Whenever I see a photography magazine that shows how to do something that I am interested in, I will buy it.  The May/June 2007 issue of Photo Techniques had a tutorial article on recreating the hand coloring effect using Photoshop techniques.  I have done a fair amount of  hand coloring using fiber based darkroom prints and Marshall’s oils and pencils, and I did not feel that this particular Photoshop method recreated a traditional hand colored look.  But…I loved the effect!

I never thought I would say it, but digital manipulation of an image is art.  Never say never.

Before…

After…

Polaroid Transfers and Emulsion Lifts

I was so disappointed when Polaroid went out of business and I was no longer able to buy Polaroid 669 film.  I have always loved Polaroid transfers and emulsion lifts and some years ago took a short course, purchased a Polaroid slide printer, bought film and watercolour paper and was ready to go.  I already had hundreds and hundreds of slides and if I wanted to photograph something special for a transfer I just went out and bought the film.  Making a transfer is not difficult, but like a recipe the best results happen when steps are followed carefully and specifically.  Below are some examples of transfers, lifts and transfers that have had some hand coloring applied with pencils.  Fuji does have an instant film suitable for transfers but apparently part of the procedure has to be done in absolute darkness.  Even though this seems a bit tricky I will try it.  Why give up something that I love just because it’s tricky?

Pigeons Rule!

A few years ago a friend and I were downtown at Queen’s Quay when some aggressive pigeons decided to see if they could pick up a few snacks.  I saw a picture opportunity and one of my favourite photographs resulted from the pigeon encounter.  Note the shocked look on one of the onlookers!

 

Photoshop Saves the Day!

I’m quite attracted to the image below…I love the little triangle of light in the shadows on the right side.   Photoshop helped me to isolate the light – I used the Clone tool and was able to hide some distracting props lying on the floor .

My Photoshop skills get me by…I still have some issues with Layers but I can certainly transform a photograph and end up being quite pleased with the results.  When I did the dance photography for the Women in Dance event I was concerned because the lighting on stage was so tricky.  A dark background and one spotlight created a lighting nightmare.  I wasn’t allowed to use a flash and the fastest lens I had was a 50 mm. 1.8..not bad but a 50 mm. wasn’t going to cover everything.  I made a decision that I would go with the flow, be creative, believe in myself (very important) and let Photoshop fill the gaps.  And that’s what happened.  My first chore (and it was a chore) was to eliminate messy backgrounds, clean up the scratched stage floor, call on Curves and Filters and lo and behold I felt that the photographs had some oomph to them.  Here are a few….

While I was doing the photography I was muttering to myself that dance photography was just too difficult…after playing around with the images in Photoshop I found myself feeling inspired and motivated and thinking that it had all worked out and I wouldn’t hesitate next time an opportunity presented itself.