monochrome photography

lens-artist: live and learn

As an autodidact, individuals who choose the subject they will study, their studying material, and the studying rhythm and time, in 2018 I began blogging a 52-week Photo Study that explored topics such as visual composition, creativity, point of view, the photographer, street photography, contemplative photography, landscape photography, and developing a personal style,

YOUR FIRST 10,000 PHOTOGRAPHS ARE YOUR WORST.” ~Henri Cartier-Bresson

After reading Henri Cartier-Bresson’s quote, I realized that one may just mindlessly click away 10,000 times with hope that…maybe, just maybe…accidentally…one image will be an A+ A+ A+ photograph (see the movie, “A Christmas Story”).

Then…a shower thought…maybe that one triple A+ image really only arises after 10,000 intentional shutter releases.  Can you just image being present to,  thinking through, and connected with each transient moment 10,000 times?   In reality this would be like setting out on a  journey of 10,000 steps knowing that one will never reach their destination.

Yet, what is an important part of a 10,000 endeavor?  To create a triple A+ image?  Or to undertake a photo study journey accompanied by fun, education, knowledge, experience, and exploration?  I’ll go with the fun of creating and opening myself to the beauty of Mother Earth so this photo study blog journey is an encouragement to–not create a triple A+ image– but to be more intentionally present with each click of the shutter.

Thank you Tina (travels and trifles) for this week’s photo challenge to explore and share one’s lifetime journey of learning.

lens-artists – quiet hours

There is a profound moment … a second or so before the sun’s light peeks above the horizon … when a quiet stillness embraces the soul.  And then … a single bird’s singsong begins a welcoming of the dawn followed by the distant scent of a coffee … releasing me from the solitude of night.

Thank you Stupidity Hole’s for this week’s lens-artist challenge – quiet hours.

lens-artist: reflections

In this hour of longing 
Reflection brings to mind each day gone by
And in each one 
Was less of sorrow.*

“… the dream interpreter interpreted my dream, but I could not realize this. Only the sorrowful reflection in the mirror was realized unaltered. …”**

Anne from Slow Shutter Speed invites lens-artists to explore images of reflections

*The Diary of Izumi Shikibu, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

**cited: The Sarashina Diary, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

lens-artists: first thing i thought of

This week Tina (Travels and Trifles) invites lens-artists to share photographs that bring a bit of humor into their lives. As I have found that photo walks are like treasure hunts where each click of the camera is tucking images into a bag of treasures … only to be opened when one is at home. The images below brought moments of humor that I hope you enjoy.

Only if I could poppy speak.

Yep! A foretelling of academia!

How does a children’s slide become the Fantom of the Opera?

Ready, set, and off flying she goes!

lens-artists: breaking the rules

Ritva writes that “we work so hard to learn the photography rules, at least I do but now it is time to BREAK them!! The problem is just that in order to break a rule, you must know that there is a rule in the first place!”

The composition guidelines (rules) used within this image:

Sub-framing – a picture in a picture is a technique which invites a viewer’s eye into an image through the use of natural or man-made elements. This invitation to the viewer to be guided from the foreground to the background also adds depth to an image. They may take multiple shapes or forms and may either dominate an image or constitute a small component in a wider composition.

Does the composition of this image invite you to be guided from the foreground to the framed tree in the left upper corner?

Rule of odds – guideline created by how the composition within an image may gift us with the balance we unconsciously seek

Does the three blurry bells gift you with a sense of balance? Or does the line composition have a negative affect on balance? I find that my head tilts in an attempt to fit the image into a sense of expectation.

Rule of thirds:  the element of composition that begins with dividing an image into thirds, horizontally and vertically, creating nine imagined sections.

This image is created with five layers, do you find that the composition may have some how upset the rule of thirds?

monochrome madness: mirror

Who speaks the sound of an echo?

Who paints the image in a mirror?

Where are the spectacles in a dream?

Nowhere at all — that’s the nature of mind!

                                                             ~Tree-Leaf Woman

The morning’s sun light created a reflection of a room while the actual image within the photograph is transformed into a ghosty presence.

Margaret’s (From Pyrenees to Pennines) Monochrome Madness: Mirror