I've recently been traveling a little: took a three-day, high-paced trip around the Olympic Peninsula: lots of short hikes on the many beaches, through the rain forest, and in the mountains. I'll share a few from that trip over the next few days. It was a good trip, since I took over 1300 photos!
Upon returning to Astoria, I was greeted by a string of rainy, cold,
and/or gray days with highs in the low 60's. It wasn't feeling like summer. So on Friday I went out to Ft. Stevens State Park and spent a few hours shooting everything deliberately out of focus. I was shooting wide open with my Canon 70-200L at f4.0 to make sure everything would be blurred.
The first photo is influenced by the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto and is an attempt to portray the emptiness I've been feeling of late.
Several of the others, like the second and third shots, were attempts at shooting impressionist landscapes. With these I was trying to convey a feeling of being adrift in a dreary landscape. They may, in fact, be too self-indulgent and ask too much of the viewer. The person viewing these may not feel rewarded for the effort it takes to look hard at this type of photo. I'm still trying to decide how attached I am to these out-of-focus shots.
Some of the last shots I took that day were of a boy out in the water. It was cold for summer, low 60's, and the water was cold, but this kid was going swimming. He was a man on a mission, actively seeking something on the horizon and willing to brave the cold water: it was like he was living in his own decisive moment.
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7 comments:
Wow - I just discovered your blog. Amazing photos. What a talent you have! I can't wait to see more. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Jennifer--thanks for stopping by!
1300 photos in 3 days! On my most recent trip with about 18 shooting days, I took approximately 450 images. That's slightly more than I would have done with film, but nowhere near what many other people are doing. I guess my trigger finger is not itchy enough.
Regarding your Sugimoto (and other similar) images - I must confess that I'm never quite sure how to appreciate them.
Photographically? - "Nice use of rule of thirds" - doesn't seem relevant.
Emotionally? - "Makes me feel introspective" - maybe.
As an abstract? - maybe.
Image 1: I like it, but can't think of anything intelligent to say about it.
Images 2,3: These do not speak to me at all. If these were taken by anyone other than you, I would tell them to dump their cheap P&S camera and get something good. But I know better.
Image 4: Here, there's something to work with. Partially Sugimoto, partially something else. Give this a title like "Last Swim", and there's a range of interpretations possible: last swim of the day, last swim of the season, last swim ever ...
...vic
Vic, I can totally understand your response to photos 2 and 3. Some days I feel exactly the same way you do about them. Other days, especially in the context of 20 or 30 similar shots, I think they work . . . but other days, like today, I'm much less sure. And I acknowledge I could be completely off base!
I more sure about images 1 and 4. They certainly connect better with my Sugimoto inspired seascape series.
Since I spend much of my waking hours on vacations either wandering or hiking, I do shoot a lot of frames: I just want to wear out my shutter before I have to upgrade to the next camera!
Thanks for your comments, Vic!
I actually quite like photo 1. I'm guessing it's the same scene as photo 4 just without the boy but I find 4 to be a bit, well, snapshot-ish. As for photos 2 & 3, I like two because there is something to look at but I can't stand to look at photo 3 - that one makes my eyes spin giving me a vicious headache. Nice little experiment Bob.
Thanks, Serge. I like the first one best and the fourth one second best.
Hi Robert. I stubled over your blog link again tonight. I will have a look around if that is all right ;-)
How are things going these days?
And how many shots can one shutter take before it leaves this world?
Take care,
JH
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