I took this picture for an online photography contest. I think the theme of the contest was ‘doorways”. I came in 4th place of about 60 or so entries.

This picture was really tricky. I had about 100 takes until I found one that I liked. I did very little editing (cropping and some darkening), so what you see is pretty close to the original. One of the tricks when doing a partial silhouette like this is to examine your background very carefully. I had some elements (like the ceiling fan), that I was stuck with. But I had some elements like clothing and debris that I was able to remove to clean up the pic. Another element that I spent a lot of time with was the position and location of the model. I fussed with her hair and arms multiple times. I would have like to show more neck, but that didn’t work out like I hoped (the models head ended up taking on a monstrous size. In the end, what really sets off the pic for me is that I left as much of it to the viewers imagination as I could by working with the elements I had: model position, foreground (doorway), and background (bed).

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took this picture for a college photography class in 2008. This is actually around picture 5 in a series of 10, that involved the subject admiring balloons and eventually just walking away (unscripted). The title of this post is joy because of the emotional charge of a child and handful of balloons.

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I took these pictures for a class that I took at the State Univ. of New York. The assignment was to select a color in use that in pictures representing low key and high key. I wanted to have a little fun with the assignment so I decided to tell a story of the domino bullies and the tic-tac’s. The first picture is to represent three of the domino bullies cornering a tic-tac. You can all imagine what happens next. The nex picture is to represent all of the tic-tac’s finding one of the domino’s all alone

To take the pictures I used a zoom lens at around 200mm to partially blur the background, and limit the depth of field.  My aperture F-stop was around 4 which left my depth at around 3 inches. From there I had to wiggle around on my belly on the sidewalk to get the picture into focus and hide unwanted background elements. I can only imagine what my neighbors thought of me laying on the sidewalk with a camera, can of tic-tacs, and 3 dominoe’s. Now that picture would have been priceless.

In the end, I was pleased with how the pictures turned out. Not fully from a quality standpoint, but I was more happy that the story conveyed through the pictures and most of my classmates really “got” what I was trying to do.

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The inspiration for my self portraits was Hippolyte Bayard, and “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Hippolyte Bayard was one of the inventors of photography and likely the inventor of the self portrait. He was not only a genius inventor, but his photography was beautiful, symbolic, and very artistic.

The picture of me leaning against the wall is symbolic of the fact that I am pretty laid back and don’t take myself too seriously. The wall is to symbolize strength and independence. I consider myself very independent and self-reliant. However, this comes at a price in that I’m often reluctant to let people help me, and sometimes I create a wall around myself.

The first and second picture go together. The second picture is me sitting on the same wall from a different angle. This is symbolic of my inability to choose a side on most issues. I am proud of the fact that I’ve been very open minded and can see, and relate to, both sides of an issue. Unfortunately, this is another alienating feature of mine because so many people seem to always want to pick sides but I am never really able to side with either.

The picture of me next to the stream is symbolic of my love of photography. I wanted to use water because it is often used in religion to symbolize renewal (baptism). The water was too cold for me to get in (considering I had another hour or two worth of pictures to take), so I decided to stand next to it. Getting into photography was my first real endevour into the arts. I was never good at drawing and my poetry is really just a blend of short-verse creative writing, so photography was a real breakthrough for me. It gave me a new lens for viewing life, and gave me a deeper appreciation for the beauty of nature and life in general.

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Silly Girl -

WHAT is so funny about having your hair draped across your face?

My Dear Child,
You sleep so peacefully. Sleep for you is the great forgetter. When you awake, you’ll forget about the fights with your sister or the trouble you got into when you drew on the walls. All your pain and frustrations will drift into the darkness. Sometimes I worry that there are so many things that I have left to teach you. In reality, I have so much to learn.

• http://www.betterphoto.com/home.asp
• http://www.popphoto.com/Features
• http://www.stuckincustoms.com/10-principles-of-beautiful-photography/

My Favorite Photography Blogs:

• http://www.dianevarner.com/
• http://www.durhamtownship.com/
• http://www.stuckincustoms.com/
• http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/

Photographers that Inspire Me:

• http://www.manipulator.com/
• http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/porter/
• http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi3/osullivan_sld00001.html

The scene for the pictures is a remote spot in the woods alongside a reservoir near my house. I choose to take the picture in the late evening/night (6:30-8:30pm) because of the effect darkness in the woods would have on my senses. Nightime in the woods is very spooky and noisy, I liken it “natures rush hour”. We live with our eyes, and as light is removed we have to begin thinking outside the box (I can’t see the lake, but how can I show people its there?). To further illustrate this face, I made a few notes about my surroundings for 5 minutes:

• woodpecker pecked twice,
• crickets cricketing
• birds flying
• birds singing
• wind blowing
• leaves rustling
• leaves falling
• trees swaying
• trees creaking
• trees groaning
• sun is falling
• sky darkening
• clouds passing
• a plane flew by

The three scenes should be viewed in order and are meant to capture the flow of emotions that I felt. That of peace with nature, fear of darkness, and finally appreciation of the beauty of a full moon reflecting on the lake. In addition it symbolizes the progression of our spirit in life: of wonder, fear of the unknown, and finally acceptance.

My first image is “Spirit Trees”. I chose to use this picture because its rather pleasant, and has a spiritual, oneness with nature, feel to it. I used a wide view, mid ISO, 1/3 second shutter speed, and post edited sepia and soft. The purpose of this photo is to capture the role that the trees play on the scene.

My second image is “Spinning Out of Control”. I chose this picture because it captures the emotional feeling of being in the woods as darkness takes over and you no longer have light to make you feel safe. I used a wide view, low ISO, 8 second exposure, and F2.8 aperature. I adjusted the tripod so the camera was pointing up, and then spun the camera in a circle while the shutter was open to give the feeling that the mind is spinning out of control. I softened the edges and shadows in post editing.

My third image is “Full Moon Rising”. I chose to use this picutre because it captures the beauty in the scene, and is meant to portray acceptance, accepting that even in darkness, light can still be found. For this picture I used a wide view, 8 second exposure and F2.8 aperature. I post edited the tint, softened the edges, and increased the brightness and shadows. Had my camera been capable, I would have used a 20-30 second exposure at low ISO.

EDIT: The story behind “Spinning out of control”:

I knew of a place a few miles deep into the woods where I could get some good photos for a college class in photography that I was taking. When I got to the spot, I couldn’t get the photos I wanted so after messing around for a while I decided to hike back to the car. Well, I thought that I would be ok because I had hike on the trail a few times before and understood the lay of the land. However, as the darkness started to fall, things started getting spooky. Emotion brings out the best in any artistic persuit, so I decided to take advantage of this fact and snap a few shots trying to convey the fact that I was starting to lose control.

Well, it started getting really dark and I could hardly see the trail ahead of me. This sounds pretty bad, but I was getting spooked by the squirrels (yes those cute little creatures with the long furry tails). They really freak me out when they start kicking up the leaves right next to you. I started going primal. This in itself is pretty scary because it really brings out the beast inside. I could feel all of the hair sticking up on my skin and my adrenaline was pumping really hard. I hiked through the woods like this for about an hour and it was such a rush.

For those of you interested in primal feelings, look up books on native american spirituality or Tom Brown.

Journal

how i love your pages

waiting to be filled up with adventures

and thoughts and wisdom and emotions

but alas i can not do it

for the pen is mightier then the sword

but i can not put the sword down

and i am left stuck here

admiring your empty pages