Keeping It Simple

Keep it simple.  Alfred Eisenstaedt

This has been a basic philosophy that I have followed in my photographic endeavors.  What attracts my eye is often the simplicity of some object I see –whether it is something in a landscape or an everyday object that I come into contact with. I endeavor to eliminate unnecessary detail while trying to distill it down to the form, light and composition that attracted me to the subject in the first place.

The following images were shot mostly using window light - and Opteka Close-Up Lens filter +2 to +4 where required.   The camera is a Nikon 7000 with Nikkor 18-70mm lens. Very simple application of basic photographic techniques incorporating ISO, Aperture and a dash of imagination

Faces of Exit 270 Part 2

More faces of the people of Exit 270.  While most of my photographs are of still life, abstracts and various architectural shapes –I do like to step out of this comfort zone and try to captures the faces of the people that I share this exit with.

 

Soda Cans -a study

This is a series of images of empty soda cans.  It is an experiment in conscious perception –the processing of what I see into a visual presentation. This is my observation of familiar things and expressing the experience photographically.

Camera Nikon D7000 -70mm on 18-70mm lens –ISO 200 –F4.5 –F16 -Optica +2 close-up filter combined with Cokin Spot color 1 filter –B&W conversion in PS – all shot using window light

Light

Photography is light –and the act of “seeing” this light is what determines the photographic experience.  This experience of seeing is enhanced by the quality and direction of the light falling on a given subject.  I maintain that the simplest subject can become dramatic by the controlling of the light falling on it.  I have always found that what attacks me to a given subject is first the light and then the subject itself.  If you understand the quality of light -that shade on a cloudy day can render softness to an image, and direct sunlight coming from a side direction can accent detail –therefore when you choose to shoot is important.   Unlike the painter who can, through paint and pigment, choose how light is used in his work –the photographer is limited by time of day and quality of light that it produces. 

 

July 8, 2013

The Queen

In the Tohon O’odham Indian storytelling, the night blooming Cereus, or Peniocereus greffii –nicknamed “The Queen of the Night,” -has inspired folk songs, paintings, and even a perfume.  It blooms en masse for only one night of the year.  Slowly opening at dusk, the beautiful palm-sized flower is wilted within a few hours of sunrise.  It can only be found in Southwestern North America.