Making Pictures
When I look around me, I seem to see things in snippets. A striking shadow, an odd reflection, a stark contrast.
If you think about it, and look around, you’ll probably see them too. As I’ve said before, ‘There is never nothing going on.’.
Reflections on Reflections
I periodically get fixated on reflected images. The way an image reflects, in glass, on water, even reflected light dancing on a wall, get my attention.
One of my favorite images (not mine) is a reflection. I am impressed by this image (click to see a larger version). It was likely a picture taken at opportunity. Not set up, not preconceived, just there. The person that took it just happened to have their camera, and, first and foremost, they saw and were taken by the image.
When I first viewed the image it took a moment to understand what was going on. On the inside of a window, there is a reflection of a ping-pong table that creates the illusion of a gigantic translucent paddle and ball affixed to the wall of the building across from it.
Profound Insights About Glass
Glass, classified as an amorphous solid, can also be considered a liquid. A very, very thick liquid.
If this doesn’t ring true for you, look at original window panes on a very old building. Something on the order of 100 years old or more. If you look at the pane from an angle you’ll notice that the bottom is thick while the top may be paper thin. It’s settling.
This provides, especially in old blown or rolled plate glass as opposed to modern float plate, some very interesting effects and distortions.
I live and work in a building that was constructed at the end of the 19th century and a few panes of the original glass remain. It makes for some interesting shots. You’ll also see similar effects in large sheets of glass, they tend to distort slightly due to their own weight.
Getting Perspective
Things fading to infinity, a line that stretches to the horizon, image as metaphor for time, for space, for life. This is a thing that, as far as I am concerned, often creates a striking image.
Something about a seemingly endless ribbon of road evokes emotion. At the very least, it can certainly put a serious dent in a person’s sense of significance.
Perspective, while always creating a feeling of depth and distance, sometimes creates an impression of speed and motion. If, for instance, I took the image at right and applied a little ‘editing magic’ to it, I can create a definite impression of forward motion.
The image at left has a ‘Radial Blur’ effect applied to it, you will actually get much the same effect if you take a photograph from a moving vehicle using a slower shutter speed on your camera. You can click on either image for a larger version.
Freezing Time
I have always liked ‘Perfect Moment’ photographs.
You’ve seen them, the bullet passing through the apple, a high diver just entering the water perfectly, the
water droplet suspended forever above a rippled surface. I never realized just how hard it was to get one.
The bullet through the apple shot and the water droplet were actually taken with a motion picture camera at something like 400 frames per second. Now, considering that normal motion picture cameras shoot at about 30 frames per second and a good quality still camera shoots at 3 frames per second, that’s damn fast.
Not being the ‘Oh Well’ kind of person, I’ve kept trying, with some minor success. I have succeeded in
capturing a reflection of some apparently psychic and camera shy pigeons (they always seem to quit their cavorting when the camera comes out) reflected in their daily swooping ritual and a few other interesting images.
You remember those snippets I mentioned? We recently had a freezing rain where I live and it produced some
beautiful ice encased trees. When the inevitable melt started a few days later, a drip off of a neighbor’s awning caught my eye. In a series of about 100 rapid fire photos I managed to catch some images that I found rather pleasing.
Although not on par with the high speed special (expensive) equipment required stuff, I like them.