Doorway in Siena

Sometimes what looks like a lucky shot is really created from experience and learning what works and when.  I created this image one evening while walking along the many photographically interesting streets in Siena, Italy.  By the way, if you ever get to Florence take a side trip and spend at least a day in Siena.
   I say what looks lucky, because of the incredibly balanced lighting.  The spot lights aren’t blowing out on the carpets, the ceiling isn’t hidden in shadow and the outside is exposed well.  There are few times of day when everything balances out like that; usually before the sun comes up and shortly after the sun goes down.  This was shot about 15 minutes after sunset when there was still enough exterior light to give us details on the outside, but not so much as to create a too dark interior.  Waiting any longer would have resulted in not enough exterior light, which would make us blow out the interior detail or silhouette the outside.  Definitely time for a tripod.  Shot at f16 for maximum sharpness and depth of field, this was a 3 second exposure and the small aperture created the star effect on the lights.
   I’m a true believer in not putting hard elements in the center of a photo, but sometimes it can’t be avoided.  Luckily the door frame is black so it doesn’t draw all of your attention and the line of track lights on the ceiling help lead your eye back and into the arched doorway at the far end of the room.  Now, I kind of wish I had pulled back a bit and included more of the arch above the door, but that would have meant including the entire door frame.  I think that would have boxed in the photo and created a sense of being outside looking in.  Instead, leaving the door frame out helps to welcome the viewer into the room.

Spring Green

   Sometimes a subject can be as simple as a colour.  After a week driving the Pacific Coast Highway, from Los Angeles up to Oregon, I was running out of time and had no choice but to head straight home to Seattle.  The fun was over and I had only the boring drive up I-5 to look forward to.  Within a few miles of getting on the freeway, I came around a bend and just had to stop.

   Spring is a great time for photography with the flowers blooming and trees covered in all their new green. I like this photo because it shows the transition from Winter to  Spring, bringing with it a hope of new things to come.  Even more so because of the beautiful side lighting.  Shadows and highlights make a photograph...it’s brings out depth and defines dimension. 
   There wasn’t much thought put into this image, but I still like it.  At first I wasn’t all too keen on the tire tracks running up the side of the clearing, then I realized it was something that would allow the viewer to place themselves inside the photo.  I think this is just one of those classic “what a great place for a picnic” shots.  We can all imagine grabbing a bottle of wine, some snacks, and your girlfriend or wife (or boyfriend/husband for you girls out there) and sitting down at the base of a tree to enjoy the last of the evening suns’ rays. 
   Nothing too technical here; sometimes a photo just works.

Impressionism

   Did I mention I like water?  That I like blurry things?  Just like there is a time and place for tack sharp detail, there is also a time and place for blurry, moving stuff.  Of all the painters throughout history, Monet is without a doubt the one that really affects me. 
For me, Monet’s work can be moody or happy, colorful or not, personal or general.  But what it isn’t about, is  details...it’s more about shape.  Let the viewer fill in the details.  We really don’t need them.  Art is about impressions. 
While hiking Oregon’s Eagle Creek trail I stopped at a wide spot to rest and dip my feet in the coolness of the creek...a reprieve from the 100+  Summer day.    As I sat on a rock I relaxed and allowed myself to be engulfed and mesmerized by the sound of the rushing water.  Sitting there, I wondered if I could capture what I was feeling in a photo.  I’ve said before that water gives movement to light and that’s what I was looking for.  I wanted the water to carry the light from one detail into another, to move across elemental boundaries. So I chose an area with small rapids where the white water could introduce tones to the greens and blues reflected from the surrounding trees, canyon walls and the sky.
   Honestly, I don’t remember what my shutter speed was for this but I’m thinking it was between 1/2 and 1 second.  This was purely an experimental photo and I tried numerous times to get just the right blur.  I wanted the look of brushstrokes in the water; something that rose above the level of a simple photograph and approached a different medium.  The resulting image is all about color, shape and direction.  As I look at this photo again it makes me want to seek out more opportunities to create impressionistic images.  I hope you appreciate it as much as I do.

Blurry Beach

   Okay, let’s just jump right into this one.  What’s the most important part of this image?  I really can’t decide, so let's break it down to it’s elements and figure it out.  So, what are the elements?  Water, sand, rock.   Black, white.   Stationary, motion.  Sharpness, blur.  Hard, soft.  Did I get them all?  Feel free to add a few more.
   Movement here isn’t just about the water shot at a slow shutter speed to show it’s motion and direction.  It’s also about the line of rock that brings your eye into the photo at the bottom left and moves it up and in along a diagonal.  Diagonals lines, after the “C” and “S” curves, are one of the most dynamic lines you can incorporate into a photo.  On a side note, the rocks are also in groups of three.  We tend to visually like groups of odd numbers.  Admittedly, that’s just a happy accident, but it’s probably something that attracted me to this shot in the first place.
   Next, we have the contrast between the hard and soft and the black and white.  We can consider each of these as supporting actors in the photo, with the soft/white set contrasting the hard/black set.  An interesting thing here is that even though the water is moving from right to left as the wave recedes, the line this motion creates moves the eye in the opposite direction bringing you into the image. 
   The black sand here acts as the canvas upon which the rest of the elements can layer.  Sometimes working as a background to soften the brightness of the water, sometimes working as an element on its’ own. 
   Oh, and remember when I mentioned the “S” curve?  There’s one here too.  Starting from the set of rocks at the bottom and moving along the white/black line as it undulates from lower left to upper right.  And don’t even get me started on the Fibonacci Ratio and the Golden Mean.