Silhouette!

I love silhouettes. One of the reasons is that we are forced to only look at the shape and form of a thing. No distracting colors or facial expressions or details. Just the form. I have found some of my favorite photographs to be silhouettes. I think the reason is because there is a simplicity and power in silhouettes if done well.

I like clarity, simplicity, efficiency in communication. Silhouettes do that. The form of a thing is either a strong image or it's not. It either tells a story through its shape or not. There's no hiding the essence of a thing with a silhouette. Sure, all of the shiny, surface, cosmetic aspects are blackened out. But the essence, the form of the thing itself cannot be hidden, in fact, it is revealed.

What if our lives were silhouetted? What shape would they take?

Light On Cement Plant

"Maybe I'm not very human. What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house." - Edward Hopper

Have you ever worried that your photography or anything else you do is just not interesting to others?

I say, be selfish! Who cares what they think?! If you like to go out and take pictures of the setting sun bouncing off of a Cement Mixing Plant, then for Pete's sake go out and do that - and do it with gusto!!

Edward Hopper's artwork may not be the most dazzling art in the world, but I find myself continually being drawn into his work. His work leaves you asking, "What just happened a moment before?" or "What is about to happen?" And sometimes it's just a painting of sunlight on the side of a barn. I can still look at it for a long time and enjoy it.

Anyway, my point is that even though his work is simplistic on the surface, he clearly was very devoted to what he wanted to do and didn't waver in his commitment to it.

So this post is just an encouragement to be true and committed to what interests you, without regard to what other people think. I will try to do the same and not be ashamed to spend a wonderful afternoon taking pictures of a sunlit Cement Mixing Plant.

1+1+1=...1

This photograph was achieved by using a 6 second shutter speed and every two seconds panning the camera a slight turn.

Maybe it's just me, but to be able to turn one object into 3 objects in real time is amazing to me. Just one more example of the endless creative possibilities with Night Photography.

I've been writing a lot about photography as a metaphor for how we look at ourselves and our world. I think this image serves as a reminder of ...possibility and hope. If we only see things as they appear at a surface glance, we miss so much of what things can be. If we fail to experiment and challenge ourselves, we miss out on the possibility to create more of what we already have, already do, already are.

I would love to hear how photography has helped you to see things in a new and different way.
Keep Looking,
John

Bending Light!

This image of the Urban Light Sculpture at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art was achieved by simply moving my camera around in patterns while shooting on a slow shutter speed. I could have done this for hours creating all kinds of different designs. (In fact, I did spend about an hour just goofing around with this technique in this one spot.)

I'm still fascinated by the ability to "bend light" in photography. I just think it is amazing and so much fun. Just the concept of bending light is kind of a mind-blower to me.
One thing I find interesting about it is that the dazzling effects are achieved simply by the camera "looking" at something a little longer than normal (or a lot longer than normal).

That got me thinking, how would our view of things change if we took a little more time with them? Looked longer. Looked deeper. Looked at, around, through, under, above them. Up close and then far away. We might have a deeper understanding of our subject (people or things) if we did.

Whether it's through a camera lens or just your own eyes at your world, look longer. And see what you didn't see before. I like that quote, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

Night Photography Series!

I'm going to be doing a series of Night Photography posts for the next 3 or 4 posts since I've gotten some exciting results for just a little knowledge and a little experimenting.

This image of a part of Griffith Observatory was a lesson in being open to whatever life gives you. It was an overcast night which was initially disappointing to me as I was hoping to capture some great shots of the Los Angeles city lights below.

However, the overcast sky in the background of this image adds a certain haunting quality to it that makes for a different take on this beautiful structure. More and more I find that the more interesting photographs in my shoots tend to be accidents or ones that I initially thought I wouldn't like. What has been your experience with "accidents" and conditions you initially thought were undesirable?

p.s. - due to the overcast of this particular night, I almost didn't even go. Lesson learned= take what life gives you- sometimes it knows better than you.