Flux Incarnate

Needless to say, I find myself in an inchoate state of photographic growth. Meaning, there are acquired skills trying to reach another level of development. However, the threat remains ever constant that I may make wrong choices and not grow at all. Is this what is called “creative tension?” If it is, then, I guess, I have it. But it beats being stagnant!

The photographic tension revolves around developing an “eye” to discern subtle changes in a photograph which either makes it or does not make it “exceptional” (that is, not ordinary). This involves a multitude of parameters to juggle all the way from capturing, processing, and then printing the photograph as seen by my eye.

“Having put my hands to the plow” re photography, the challenges remain forever great to overcome obstacles to achieving a continued process of seamlessly capturing what I perceive worthy of capturing, i.e., the ephemeral moments of my life.

The foregoing is an attempt to explain the complex state I am in…somewhat perplexing but also exhilarating in its aspirations.

The currently posted photo is of a White Pine by my house in the very cold and snowy January of 2018. My challenge to my self this month was to get out in the cold and capture the extraordinary in the ordinary. Whether I met that challenge is open to debate. However, the effort was none the less sincere. The main object was to capture a Snowy Owl (maybe I still will), but I will settle on the smaller creatures of creation, in its stead. The photo was taken with a Canon 5DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @214mm, f/8, 1/640″, 800 ISO, post processed with Adobe Camera Raw, DxO Optics Pro 11, Gradient Map in PS, Color Efex Pro, and Viveza.

Staying Alive

Whether I want to admit it to myself or not, the whole issue before us (myself, my loved ones, and the living creatures around me) is how to stay alive!

After 70+ years of life I have found that the most prominent element of what is around me is: staying alive. I have somewhat subconsciously realized this all of my life, but now it has reached critical importance. Probably because there is only so much time left for me to expend (?use up?). In other words, time is running short, as it were.

Okay. Maybe this is a bit over the top as far as blog dialog is supposed to go, but in the Winter of Our Discontent (read as God- Forsaken-Curse-of-a-Present-as-this) and as far as a Winter as hard as this (despite the denials of which the current President is saying regarding Global warming), then this is quite reasonable to say that I am in a phase of a somewhat gray-view of reality.

“So What!,” says the countering voice within me. “Falling in Love is Miraculous. It is realizing this fact that is important.  I am in love with my wife. As always, I am involved with carrying on the process that I started when I was an infant, namely—living the wonders before me.”

I shoot photography to capture/steal moments. Moments which exist within a fraction (sometimes) of a second, but which are revealing and transcendent.

The currently posted photograph was taken in early morning at the beginning of January 2018. Life has been harsh this year with frequent winter storms of snow and wind. I have been feeding the birds, but the larger animals are on their own. Hence, the coyote seaching for his breakfast meal. It’s been hard for me watching this display of life trying to survive this winter: this ranges from Hawks killing other birds to survive to smaller birds fighting to get seeds from a feeder. That being said, the photo was taken with a Canon 5DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, f/9.0, 1/500″, ISO 2000, post processed with Adobe Raw, DxO Optics Pro 11, gradient map in PS, and Silver Efex Pro.

More Versace

It’s been a fascinating month of photographic growth.

I embrace this monika phrase (of growth)  simply because it capsulizes this process of capturing the ephemeral into a static frame, which is the moving process of understanding the dynamic process of trying to capture the un-capturable. Now, that is a phrase sequence which I wish did not happen. But, be that as was it may, I have re-visited Vincent Versace’s approach to photography…which, in my estimation, is profound in its simplicity.

Be that as it may, I have re-read Vincent’s book, Welcome To Oz 2.0, and have absorbed another 10% of the incredible  amount of insight/information in it.  This process has allowed me to get to the point of achieving the images I believed I was taking when I pressed the shutter button on my camera. I have another 80-90% of the Versace Process to go, but I am optimistic.

I have found that the Spirit which invades Vincent invades me. I may not have the talents/skills of Vincent, but I will  proceed onward.

The current photo is of Occupessatuxet Cove, taken on December, 2017, toward the evening. I like the composition of the shot but the technical precision of the  shot is missing. The phot was taken on a Canon 5DS, with a EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens @ 400 mm, f/8.0, 1/160, ISO 640, post processed with Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop Creative Cloud,  using a gradient map and Nik Color Efex Pro.

Rediscovering Versace

 

About two years ago I made a significant jump in advancing my photographic skills by reading two books, Welcome to Oz, and From Oz to Kansas, by Vincent Versace. They were encyclopedic books to get through since they contained both a broad and specific attention to detail, outlining what it takes to make a good photographic print, i.e., a process starting at how you conceptualize what you want to take a photo of and proceeding all the way through to the final product of making  the print.

I started on the journey two years ago of trying to master those techniques/skills and am still trying, but with the satisfaction that I am making progress. At the start of incorporating the points that Vincent presents in his books I chose the strategy of only adopting some at a time since the points are numerous. I believe I understand what I am doing now more than I ever have—some of this is conscious and some unconscious— but I think there is direction in what I am doing and not just random growth.

In any event, I have come to the realization that I can not only take photos and then just have digital representations of them (i.e., digital files). I must make prints to make any appreciable progress. I hesitated in buying a printer primarily because of the cost factor, but decided the time was right now since Canon offered a deal that was hard to resist; essentially getting a professional printer (Canon Pixma Pro 100) for a quarter of the cost. I could not go wrong.

I am quite happy with my decision not only because it is a quality printer (at an extremely attractive price) but also because it has allowed me to control more of how I can fashion in print the vision of what I actually saw at the moment with my camera. More will follower later regarding this.

The photo of the Northern Flicker was taken during an early December snow, and was not planned but hastily taken by sticking my head outside to my deck quickly so as not to frighten my feathered friend. A Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm was used with settings of f/6.3, 1/500″, ISO 1250, post processing with Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop CC, DxO Optics Pro 11, using a Gradiant Map, and Nik Color Efex Pro.

Transient Moments of Beauty

For some reason the Muses have overtaken me at this most dark time of the year and have seen fit to energize not only my physical body but also my creative spirit. I am amazed at this occurrence, for truly I am repelled from the very cold that has enveloped New England in these  winter months. But as I have observed the many creatures of nature and seen that they have embraced the challenge of being outside and facing the brutal elements of wind, temperature, and precipitation, I have become emboldened from their example.

What I am trying to describe is that I have been going outside into the winter elements to capture the fragile and quickly vanishing moments that have been occurring. Naturally, I have chosen the various twilight times, simply because of the muted light, and, from what I discover, the increased activity of the various creatures at this time of day.

I have been rewarded beyond what I would have expected, having captured some very special moments of nature. The photo posted here is a very common view of marsh grass, but the hues and shades of stillness were uncommon features the eye may truly miss if not captures by the camera. I have been trying to capture these moments in my latest quest to explore photography.

Without getting too philosophical I will say that I am drawn to the in-between shots or phases of an event that is happening. For example, in regards to a person, if that person is looking at something, and then turns to look at something else, I am interested in the transition phase of the movement (aka photo shot).

The currently posted shot is on the shore of Occupessatuxet Cove, around the time of sunset in mid December — an enchanting time. The shot is of marsh grass (actually an invasive species, not good for the ecosystem). But, attractive, nonetheless.  A Canon 5 DS was used, with a Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens @ 400mm, f/5.6, 1/500″, ISO 1600, post processed with DxO Optics Pro 11, Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop CC (2018), and Nik Color Efex Pro.