Mono Monday!

"The Power Grid"

Thought I'd post a fun shot from a recent challenge I'd taken on, with a good friend of mine last week. You can see Dave Pratt's work on Flickr.

I wound up in the very industrial section of Burlington Street in Hamilton and allowed all the unusual and interesting shapes along all the different power grids and steel mills to become subjects all on their own. I don't have anything overly wise to say today, but I think I'll let the photograph speak for itself.

It's the first official day of March Break for my family and I and I see pancakes in my future... so you understand why I'm keeping this short and sweet.

Have a great Monday gang, and thanks for the ramble!

Lines = Designs ~ Exploration Thursday!

"Up and Out"

This is the last reflective, sky bound, architectural shot for a little while anyway. Tomorrow I'm diving into what I'm learning about flash photography and apparently this has hit a nerve with many of you. I've gotten tweets and emails from many of you who have mentioned you'll be tuning in because of always having been confused or intimidated by flash... just keep in mind, I'm still figuring it out myself and have a long way to go, but I'll enjoy sharing the things that are beginning to make sense.

In the meantime, I love playing with mirrored effects in PSPx3 when it comes to architecture. You can focus purely on elements of design. I love that the patterns are made of walls of glass reflecting the sky. It's simple, but my screen comes to life with the pattern.

Off I go to decide which area of flash to even start with tomorrow... our jumping off point. And it would seem others have used a flash theme this week too... if you'd like to check out some tips from the master of flash himself, Rick Sammon, you can find his blog feed listed along the right side of my blog in the group of blogs I read or you can simply click here.

See you all tomorrow! Thanks for the ramble!

The City Within ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"The City Within"

Glass. Steel. Brick. Reflection. Blue. Design. Contrast.

The old being crowded out by the shiny and new. The warmth of the traditional surrounded by cool innovation. A glimpse perhaps at that which still stands the test of time, immovable and sure despite the glitz and glamour.

Or a just lucky reflection caught on a citywide ramble?

See what can happen when you look past the obvious? A whole other world is at your disposal before you even press the shutter.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"Unfinished"

I love lines. This is nothing new, I've mentioned this before. Primary diagonals or curving, repeating or contrasting, vanishing, vertical, horizontal... they excite me. Have you really thought about the way lines can be used to invite a deeper look at your photographs? The way they can control what the viewer looks at first? What they look at last? The kind of order lines can bring to the chaos of a potential scene.

Remember that show in the 90's "Whose Line Is It Anyways?" Where, without any preamble, the actors were given a surprise scene or significant line and they had to run with it, build on it, and find a way to spontaneously make it workable and enjoyable? That's how I often approach my photographic rambles. Especially when I'm scouting a place I've never been to with the camera. I get to a location, and whatever is at my disposal visually is what I have to work with. I make deliberate choices to size up what has the greatest impact, and I run with it. After doing this for the last five years, I've realized I size up locations very quickly, finding what will be of significance visually or what I really relate to, or what dazzles me, and I begin to build on it. I take the light and the weather into consideration, the other subject matter in close proximity, and then I decide where the most powerful lines and shapes are.

I zeroed in on the stark yellow line of unfinished balconies against the glass of blue sky on this unfinished condo the other day, while visiting a new location on one of my architectural rambles. I knew the colors would pop against each other, helping to define the central theme of the photo. I also knew that placing them on the diagonal in the frame (while often overused) would expand how the eye travelled through the photograph. I chose to place the yellow lines tracking across the frame in the primary diagonal, naturally causing the viewer to travel over and down naturally, with the contrasting blue spaces and lines tracking along the secondary diagonal up and out to the edges of the photo. By the time you're done looking at the photograph your eye has covered the entire image, other little details and items are brought to your attention with an element of discovery in place,  and will come back to rest on the balconies again, grounding a simple scene taken out of context and making it into a subject of it's own.

Whew! See what a little forethought concerning simple lines can do?

Thanks for the ramble folks! Now get out there and use lines to build engaging images, no matter what the subject matter!

And if you'd like to view this image slightly bigger, you can click on the image above or see it here.

Have a good one! 

My Favorite Bridge ~ Mono Monday

"Structured Beauty"

A short post today revisiting an older image. It's my favorite bridge in the greater Hamilton area to photograph and has been a popular print in my collection. If you'd like to see a larger version click here to visit my website. 

I love a subject with repetitious lines, and no matter what part of this skyway you photograph, you get 'em! They emphasize perspective and create elements your eye travels to throughout the image. I can't resist this structure. And the obvious choice was to go with B&W.

I'm on day trip with the family today, and of course I'm taking the camera... so I thought I'd make this a quick post and hit the road! But I really should go back to the Burlington Skyway soon, it's been too long since I last shot it.

Have a fabulous day gang! Thanks for the tiny ramble!

Manufactured Patterns ~ Exploration Thursday!

"City of Glass"

I love exploring Toronto. In fact, any big city will do when it's populated with the kinds of condos and skyscrapers that draw the eye all over the crowded skyline. Toronto has some especially cool modern architecture, and it calls my name frequently.

This was taken quite a while ago but remains a favorite. No the building was not on a tilt, that's me... but it was curved, nary a straight wall to be seen. The design established with this towering condo begged to be photographed. The patterns are like candy to the photographers eye. The fact that it's also unified in color due to all the glass reflecting the sky blues and water blues it looks out over, and in complete even shade made this shot a no-brainer. I remember how excited I got over just this shot. Which brings me to a story.

Taking this shot, I was standing inside the courtyard entrance of the building. People were coming and going, and some stopped to turn around and look up to see what I was getting shots of. Most went on their merry way. But one lady with her 7 year old in tow stopped, came back to me and asked if she could see what in the world I found so interesting. I told her I was a photographer, and that the city was full of these fantastic designs. My subject for the day was manufactured patterns. I showed her this shot I was already dying to get home and see enlarged and her comment was "I don't get it." She began to walk away, but the little guy with her took a final look at my screen, looked back up at the building they were going to enter, looked back at me and called out, "That's cool lady!"

I hope he gets a camera for Christmas.

Patterns in the city. They inspire me to look waaaaay up, for crazy lines, for great shapes, for elements of design that shine. And when I find the perfect mix of those requirements I snap a photo and say quietly to myself,

"That's cool lady."

It's one of the easiest ways to learn more about your style, your way of seeing, and your camera, so get out there with those cameras this week gang. Send me a heads up if you get something cool and we'll feature your shot here on the blog!  Seriously. For real. Ya wanna?

Have a good one folks, and thanks for the ramble!

Closing In On Design ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"The Single Rental"

(1/320 sec.@ F/13, ISO 400, 200mm fl, Exp.Compensation -0.7, late day sun)

Whew. Where to start today? 'Cause I've been challenged to take on a big topic! Composition. Now, I wasn't exactly double-dog dared or anything quite that serious, but when I say I'll do something, I like to follow through on it. So here we are, on my 100th post no less attempting to share my thought process when I'm considering composition. This might be one wild ride. Here we go.

Because of my art background, Elements and Principles of good design have been lodged in my brain from an early age. And you should become familiar with them at some point, you'll see your images improve. I tend to lean towards looking for good line, shape, texture, and color automatically as I look around me for subject matter or interesting scenes. These are the elements that people are most familiar with whether they know it or not. The other elements (to be broached tomorrow) are size, value, and form. The image today has the first four elements prominently used here. Repetitive shape immediately gets your attention, then you'll notice lots of lines taking your eyes up, down, and across respectively. Those lines on the roof allude to smooth cool textural details, and we also see texture in the wire over each dove cote, not to mention the single cote with the texture of the only nest inside in the bottom right corner. Wow, those elements are really hard at work already... and this is why. Combined, they contribute to principles of design needed to make your composition work on a new level.

You mean to say there's Principles of Design too? I warned you this could get wild, *wink*. Look again at today's image. When you really look hard do you also see balance, contrast, harmony, and rhythm? If so, that means that the combination of lines, shapes, colors and textures have worked together to utilize principles of design. Didn't see that one coming did you? You did? I knew you would.

The pattern created by the rows of dove cotes, each one the same color yellow against the slate blue/grey, gives the composition a sense of harmony and rhythm. Not to mention balance since I chose to emphasize the symmetry of the roof top, every dove cote evenly spaced. The image pops with contrast because of the shapes dotted out across the composition, and the black of the mesh fronts against the yellow. The yellow also contrasts enough against the blue roof. And the textures also contrast nicely, the roof looking smooth and cool, and the cotes textures looking more rough and warmer in hue. Tomorrow we'll try to include the other two primary principles - center of interest, and movement.

Still with me? Gosh I hope so. All of that was to say this; most of these things your eye can pick out every time you assess a scene in front of you. Why, because these are things the human brain desires and uses so it can make sense of whatever you look at. When I looked up at the roof of Dundurn Castle's tower, my brain registered that this was the prominent feature for very practical reasons... and the artistic side of my brain took over, assessing if it was aesthetically pleasing to look at over and over. Certain things began to assert themselves and I was careful to compose around them in the best way I could. Of course, you don't have to concretely think these things every time you raise your camera... after a while, from shooting and composing long enough, this all becomes second nature. The more you look around you, the better you'll see engaging compositions no matter what the subject matter or where you are.

I recommend always taking time to look through your picture files. Single out the images that stand out as being stellar compositions or just seem to have a wow factor. Compare what elements worked together well. Decide which principles had to be used to make the composition come together too or best portrayed your personal vision for that photograph. It's your personal vision that brings it all together and makes it meaningful by the way. In the end, perfect composition can only do so much. There needs to be some soul poured into each image too... perhaps more important than all the rest.

Hey, we did it! Day one on composition is done, with day two to come! Thanks for the very specific ramble gang! Hope I didn't let ya down! Have an awesome day folks... now get out there and think about seeing great compositions wherever you are.

The Power of Shape ~ Wide Angle Wednesday!

"Stratosphere"

Reading primarily about the building blocks of a composition right now. More specifically, how the combination of light and shape determine how an image feels. And perhaps even more importantly, how to stop giving labels to the subjects around us and instead photograph them as abstract forms.

The great Freeman Patterson likens it to going back to having the mind of a child. In other words, dust off those imaginations!!! You have to stop seeing a thing as it's label, and begin to look through the lens as an explorer.

In design, primary shapes are powerful, and represent structure, rules, and indestructibility and order. Primary shapes get your attention! These would be any subject that resembles a circle, square, or triangle. They really get your attention when one shape is the theme throughout. Look at the image I posted for you today. When you look at it, do you only see a hydro tower? Or are you seeing the myriad of triangles? In fact, the entire composition of smaller triangles when looked at as a whole, is one giant triangle or pyramid... do you see it?

Having difficulty finding things to aim your camera at? Turn off your analytical brain and start seeing things in a different context. The context of shape.

Thanks for the ramble today... I dare you to head out later with the camera and find some cool shapes to explore!