the garden

experiment 13

Quick! look away, click to another page if blurry images hurt your eyes.

Yes...this post looks like the image as i created it.

a miniature spruce with glowing maple:

experiment 11 & 12

P.S. Monday afternoon:

due to some technical difficulty i cannot control, the images originally posted were, as Marly points out, "vertiginous." To the point of giving me a headache when i looked at them this morning. Strange, that i did not have that experience last night while making them.

oh well.

i save one...just so you can see what we are talking about.

My apologies...look at larger version if you wish to feel as though you are on a wild carnival ride while in a still image.

Yes, i tweaked contrast on this
but the image was created in camera, not in Photoshop

this next one is a replacement

much less motion
thank goodness.
Both are still the same maple tree featured in yesterday's experiments

 

i guess this all brings up the question: "what are you trying to do with these experiments?"

answer: see things differently...find new ways of interpreting beloved imagery into new, but still pleasing patterns.

experiments 6,7,8,9 & 10

i've been  playing with light and color again

a maple tree in brilliant morning sunshine
(larger versions should open, with a click)

October 17th

the light was wonderful
the air soothing
and the anemones, glorious.
In other words, i reveled in their company
 and captured dozens of images.
i finally trimmed them down to  8 images and
hoped to create a nifty slide show with some
really nice transitions, fades, etc. but the
software is not cooperating...so i had to settle for something more basic.
Click here, to view a slide showbut not the slide show i had hoped to post here.

i know that i should have edited more...
down to just one, two or three
but i couldn't.

October 12th

Except for a bit of bright coral
along the scalloped edges
the face of the leaves on this tropical plant are
a rich, but not terribly exciting brown and
in my opinion
best used as a foil for vibrant dahlias
or shocking salvias
or candy-pink hibiscus flowers.
That all changes when one happens to walk beneath the leaves
and look up

Be sure to click on the image, and view it larger.

October 10th

Frost was forecast, so
Jo gathered the fresh roses that had just opened.
Precious little pale pink buds and flowers
with short, slender stems.
"What to do?" thought Jo
Where to put them? Not enough little vases
No wide, shallow bowl that fits.
Then she unearthed this deliciously heavy
glass vase.

She hates it when i photograph her hands.
i'm sorry, Jo
but it is diminished without you.

October 7th

walking along
this oak leaf on the bluestone patio
stole my attention
the curve of its dry tips traced elegantly by the
long rays of the autumn sun
into crisp shadows

Please Act Soon to Protect All Artists

Please click on this link and tell congress NO!

This seems for real...this web site gives details.

someone is lobbying to change the copyright laws to benefit thieves and hurt artists. so please check it out, and contact your congressman...they put in a handy link for you so it's nearly an automatic thing!
Thank you, for taking the time...all artists depend on copyright protection for their livelihoods.

experiments 4 & 5

i went outside intending to let the wind move the grasses
but, wouldn't you know
the air was still.
so
i let the hands and the camera capture invisible lines
traced by 'Karl Foerster':

this one is kinda cool

you can click on the image, if you are so inclined, to see it larger
however, Typepad, this blog's host, for some unknown reason, won't give us a full view of the image

 

 

but this one is my favorite of these trials

likewise, click, if you wish

i suppose that after lots of experimentation
one might be able to predict the results
but for now
serendipity is very satisfying.

experiments 1, 2, & 3

Tracing the word photo.graph
we step back into Greek:

phos = light
graphis = stylus, paintbrush
or
graphê  = representation by means of lines or drawing

in more poetic English = drawing with light

Inspired by other photographers showing their experiments on the Internet
with very slow shutter speeds while intentionally moving the hand held camera
(there are dozens over at Flickr...where, in all the silliness, seriousness and playfulness
a person can learn a lot, go cross-eyed, and often grow whoozy from exploration).

i've been experimenting, too
attempting to capture images that express more literally the notion of
drawing with light

The word drawing
in my head
always means a moving hand
so
when i found myself eager to look at things from a fresh perspective
this question naturally took hold:
what will happen if i let the light reflecting from a plant draw upon the sensor in my digital "paintbrush+canvas" ?

Here are the first 3 successful attempts
and yes
from the garden
specifically, strong summer light on the
green and red leaves and stems of a banana plant and
the dark shadows of giant spruces behind.

These are cropped from the full frames
and adjusted slightly for "light/dark" in Photoshop
but otherwise, created in-camera.

Very, very slow shutterspeeds
and moving hands:

a couple more experiments will be posted tomorrow