More Imagination Please...

Out of the Blue

If you haven't been to my Facebook page recently, you might wonder why I'm posting satellite images from space...

Where Two Worlds Meet

Cool images right? The roiling frozen ocean in the first one. A distant deserted valley colliding with a body of water in the image directly above. Dry and hilly terrain flanking two distinct roads in the photo below.

Paths Divided

Wow, Christine... when did you have time to fly to the space station? 

Those of you who have been on my Facebook page in the last 24 hours know exactly what you're looking at... the rest of you aren't sure but you're pretty certain that in between my last blog post and today's that I did NOT take up space travel. You can click on each image to see it enhanced. What you see is an abstract study of frost on a window and this photographer got excited about it. When was the last time my imagination soared? How about yours?

Whatever you see in those images right now is why this is so fun and so rewarding by the way. Three minutes ago you were contemplating how to start your day, or how spend your next break at work, or if you really want to fold another basket of laundry, and within the first minute of perusing the blog you suddenly had your imagination engaged... and as imagination is usually apt to do, you were transported with very little coaxing.

I've been asked before about the point of abstract art by folks who "just don't get it". To which I always answer with another question: Well, what's the point of imagination?" The answer I get ranges from 'it let's you explore life unhindered, free of stress, open to magical possibilities' to 'it's what lets the giant box the refrigerator came in turn into the invisible plane you fly as a superhero!'... 

Both answers are correct. And that's Abstract art too. For the viewer, it can be whatever you want it to be. Or you can use your imagination to gage what the artist's intent was... and you might get it right, or you might not care if you do at all... what matters is if it stopped you even for a moment and made you mull the possibilities over, got your imagination going, musing, or transported you elsewhere. And do you walk away slightly altered... ?

And for the creatives, for the artists, abstract is the chance to take what you love about compositions, and the power of shapes, lines, and colours, or the lack thereof, not to mention the medium itself, and infuse it with whatever strikes your fancy. It can romp, it can be expressive, it can be purely aesthetic, a puzzle to be solved,  or it can have important concepts needing to be conveyed. 

Or it can just be some everyday winter frost on a window pane photographed out of context. Personally I say let the 5 year old superhero out, and wreak havoc. Your art will thank you every time.

And all our 5 year old selves chant, "MORE IMAGINATION PLEASE!!!"

Life Vs. Photography

"Pretty in Pink"

Things have been sporadic here at the blog this year. As a mom and wife who is trying to build a portfolio and career in photography, sometimes life wins out and photography takes the backseat. Not for long mind you, but it happens. And it's not a bad thing. My family has to know I'm there for them no matter what. So I'm in a season where I work on my photography in and around my other aspects of life. If you're a parent and a spouse, you totally know what I mean.

And I don't care if you do travel photography (one day, one day), baby portraits, commercial, or fine art... at some point we realise just how big a balancing act it is. In fact anyone who works from home will understand. Heck, anyone who works, period, will understand the juggling skills you need to balance your vocation and your family life. After seeing some remarks and comments on various blogs and sites and emails from frustrated parents/spouses/photographers, I thought I'd post these thoughts on the blog today. When it's life verses photography, sometimes life wins hands down.

So what am I trying to say today....?

I just want to say, hang in there. Find a way to work on your dream while waiting for the laundry to dry and the skunk aroma to work it's way out of your dog again. Set up your day so you have even one hour to be creative, then go back to deciding what's for supper tomorrow and where your youngest might have left his new glasses when he went to the mall. Make sure your family knows that they can even join in on your learning process... make them your models, give them a cool job to help with on your next shoot even if it's a (gasp) school day, or make a day of scouting new locations together, and get their input on what looks exciting.

Hang in there and keep shooting. Keep shooting and keep sharing. Keep sharing, then let life win out for a bit. It's going to happen whether you want it to or not.

Thanks for the ramble gang! And don't give up!

Channeling Escher Again ~ Mono Monday!

Which Way Up?

I'm short on time today... was playing with some old architectural photos from last December. Thought I'd post one for you here.

I'll let you decide what to make of it.

Try something, anything, creative today... it's good for the soul.

Thanks for the short ramble! Have a good one!

Banishing "The Box" ~ Floral Friday!

"Whirligigs"

(1/8 sec.@ F/16, ISO 100, 50mm fl, overcast morning light, handheld)

I had to banish the blahs. You all know the blahs... when that creative muse doesn't show up, when inspiration and creativity elope to some far off destination without warning. When you'd rather let your kids challenge you to the 57th round of Mario Karts instead of pick up the camera or editing. Nothing piques your interest, nothing seems brilliant enough, and every idea feels like it's been done before so why bother?

And I'd had a great week don't get me wrong. And I DID want to shoot something, the urge was waaaay deep down inside though. Then I remembered a little lesson I learned years ago. I was very focused on painting and sculpture but nothing seemed satisfactory. I'd labour days, weeks, months over something to get it exact but was always left wanting. It was enough to make me want to abandon art completely. Then an instructor on exchange from Europe noticed my struggle in class and asked me why everything had to be perfect. I couldn't answer. Why DID everything have to be perfect? Next thing I knew, he'd prepped my workspace with the sloppiest materials I'd ever seen together on one table with some plaster and said "Don't think anymore. Just create something delightful - for you."

Needless to say, when I abandoned myself to just enjoying the process I wound up creating an entire series of sculptures that even sold at the local art show before I could get them all out on the table for display. Banishing the pressure to accomplish the perfect piece gave me freedom to just enjoy being an artist. To break out of the box I'd put myself in. The blahs always seem to come in a box. Ever notice that.

I marched myself out to the front lawn yesterday determined to keep the blahs in the box and looked at my front garden. It occurred to me again that I haven't done enough artistic photography lately, that I needed to banish the typical approach to photographing the garden and just shoot with abandon and see what I end up with that delights just me. Just because. So I did!

The image above is one of a series I think I'm going to post - just because I truly enjoyed the process. I love the colors so vibrant and fresh after the rain we finally got. And because cone flowers are so stiff and sturdy looking I thought I'd do something fun to them, make them move or dance or twirl. So, I dialed in an exposure that would give me a slower shutter and give me ample time to move the camera around.  At times I knelt down and zoomed up into them, hovered way up over them and swung the camera back and forth across them, and for this morning's post I arched the camera from one side to the other almost in a circle. I immediately was personally delighted with this one... the composition is good (merely by chance, these don't always work, it's hit and miss... but soooo fun) and the speed at which I twirled the camera was just enough so you still have context.

And voila! Enjoying the process meant I could banish "the box". The muse eagerly returned, inspiration and creativity grovelled at the door asking for forgiveness, and my addiction to the Wii, banished. We spend a lot of time figuring out what our cameras can do for us - but have we spent enough time figuring out what we can really do with our cameras?

Thought outside the box lately? Need to banish it? Get out there and play. My playing wasn't anything spectacular... it simply brought me joy. Thanks for the ramble today folks, get out there this long weekend and express your joy while banishing "the box".

Daily Creativity ~ Mono Monday!

"Overshadowed"

(1/400 sec.@ F/11, ISO 100, 27mm fl, 18-55mm kit zoom, early morning bright light)

It's Mono Monday and I find myself dragging my proverbial feet... what to post, and what to say? I find I'm still in actual work mode this week and am having trouble stepping into "creative mode" from "working photographer mode". Not that I'm complaining, I love that I'm starting to see photography work coming my way. But, as it seems to come in waves, I find less and less time for "me" photography once again. And to be fair, I don't want to just post any ol' shot, or discuss any ol' topic on the blog simply because I have to. I want to post because I have something exciting to share with all of you or something new I've learned.

So here's what's going to happen this week. Even though I will be spending most of my day "in the office" editing, and when I say office I mean my lovely dining room/studio turned workspace 5 days out of seven, I will actually be started my day very early each morning shooting for just an hour. Random locations, random subjects, random weather. But it'll be for the sheer joy of photography. And those shots will go straight to the blog the same morning with perhaps some slight processing but nothing elaborate. It'll be the motivation to enjoy the rest of the day as well, knowing I've made time to be creative just for me. And in turn, my work related photography will be at it's best as well! Just thinking it makes me feel refreshed already...

I am reading a book right now called "The Practice of Contemplative Photography" by Andy Karr and Michael Wood. The entire book is a challenge to leave behind the conventional ways we label things we see through the lens, and to begin to look more creatively at the things around us. I'll be attempting to do just that every morning for one hour in my own neighbourhood. To broaden my perspective of what is subject worthy material. And to give myself the boost I need when working the rest of the day on more methodical projects. Those of you that feel drained when you can't get to your creative outlet in due time know exactly what I'm talking about!

So! Wonder what I'll wander across tomorrow? Stay tuned to find out...

Limitless ~ Exploration Thursday!

"Locked In"

(1/320 sec.@ F7.1, ISO 250, 100mm fl, 55-200mm zoom vr, bright morning sun)

I love photographing the city. I've said that before. So when the chance came this week to head out with the camera I made a decision to leave my wide angle in the kit, and only use my telephoto. No matter what. Why? Because limiting myself to one lens forces me to look at things differently. That limitation brought me limitless opportunities to be creative. It was energizing!

My wide angle is my go-to lens for so many subjects and scenes, that I sometimes forget I have other lenses in my bag. I get comfy. Or perhaps more accurate is that I get lazy. So once in a while, to break out of the routine I keep placing myself in, I try exercises like this one. I either limit myself to a type of gear, or I limit myself to a central theme. I should know never to be surprised at how fun and varied the results are.

The shot above had all the things I like in a details shot. Rusty, weathered iron gates across a defunct storefront. A big ol' lock that would never turn now for a key, and difficult light adding to the urban decay feel. I pumped the color cast a bit in Nik Effx plug-in Brilliance/Warmth while in PSPx2. Then it was done. And I'm pretty pumped about the other gems I'll have for the coming weeks too.

Put a limit on how you shoot, and force yourself to think more creatively. The possibilities for great shots that express how you see things around you are limitless!

Creativity ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"Brilliant Gerbera"

Freedom to be creative. That's what getting my first DSLR a few years back meant to me. My original camera, a point n' shoot, would be considered a dinosaur now. And it was restricting. I would get all these photography books out of the library that would talk about bokeh, aperture, depth of field. And quickly figured out that my tiny little digital couldn't offer me any of that. Point n' shoots have come a long way since then, but I knew when I held my first DSLR that I now had the power to be creative.

To this day I love the deliberate use of a wide open F-stop. Soft shapes with very selective detail, a single subject with a twinkling bokeh as the backdrop. A large aperture on my telephoto as close to a subject as it will let me get (in the case of the posted photographs today an F/4.5) means I can use almost anything as a background. In the image above it was my dining room wall, in the following photo it was a rather abstract oil painting I produced a few years ago. Anything that would contrast nicely with the reds.

"Come Away With Me"

I guess what I needed to remember this week, is how easy it is to play with settings in your camera and create some dramatic photos out of simple ideas. Some great light and a shallow aperture are sometimes all you need. Watch your meter carefully, and away you go. I'm amazed at the amount of people who never leave the comforts of automatic. But a few simple basics and you'll be on your way to learning what your camera really can do for you. And then how to creatively express yourself. I myself have gotten away from doing some close-up work... so I think I'll take the next couple of weeks to find some inspirational subjects to zero in on.

Personal projects! Let's get creative! Thanks for the ramble folks! Have a super day, and get out there with your cameras... in manual for a change!

Dancing Tulips ~ Experimental Thursdays!

"Beauty When They Sway"

(5.sec @ F/8, ISO 100, zoom back to 110mm fl, 55-200mm zoom lens, spot metering)

Our image today is a result of a floral shoot I did over the weekend. I was feeling poetic, creative, artistic. And bored. Yup, you heard me. Things felt stale, photographically speaking. If novelists get writer's block, I guess photographers get ... camera block?

Meeting deadlines, having routines, and setting personal goals can be great, till they begin to stifle your passion and your delight with what you love doing. Creative types especially fall prey to this. If we're not careful, the practical takes over and we lose inspiration to keep exploring. Especially if what we love pursuing is also our full time vocation.

Was making great progress on learning some new lighting, which angles and POV's worked best, and looked beautiful with the tulips I'd set up on the seamless. But flicking back through the camera to see the contents I'd created, everything looked elegant but stiff. Dare I say it... boring. Ugh. Not one spontaneous image amongst them. I was so used to being in work mode that my playful side had disappeared.

So, I placed the tripod close, dimmed the lighting a little and using a long exposure and anchored camera, I began zooming in and out of the frame with my telephoto zoom. When you do this as the camera is still taking the shot, you get a blur effect. Results are fairly spontaneous, you'll always find a rather abstract yet delightful surprise lurking in your collection of shots. And it was fun. I personally love abstract art, especially work based on nature itself. I chose this one to show, because the initial subjects are still fairly sharp considering what I was doing with the lens, and a very subtle wash of color fills the background. Later I applied a bit of a displacement layer in PSPx3 to create an artistic 3D shaping to the front subjects. It adds a soft definition. What do you think? All I know is that I spent just as much time playing with my camera as I had being serious, and the change felt good.

Don't forget your initial passion for what you love. When it shines, you feel motivated and rejuvenated. Throw your reserve out the window and play. Your photography will thank you for it.

Thanks for letting me ramble, have a good day exploring what you love!