a photo study: high-angle photography

This week’s photo study was motivated by Ted Forbes’ (The Art of Photography) photo assignment that explored high-angle photography.

High-angle photography is created when the photographer is situated above her subject(s)–upper floors of a buildings, at the top of stairs, up on a ladder, holding the camera above the head–and the camera is focused downwards. It is often used for the group shot as it is the best way to include everyone in an image and brings about a dynamic element not found in an eye-level image.

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Ricoh GX100  f/2.5   1/143s   5.1m   80 ISO

It can also be use for a standard portrait where the subject’s eye are looking up at the camera; yet, it has the potential to have a person appear small, vulnerable, weak, subservient, confused, or childlike.

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Nikon D750   f/4.1   1/500s   46mm   100 ISO

A sense of solitude and isolation can be evoked when photographing from the vantage point of looking down from the upper floors of a building. It also has the potential to bring about a sense of freedom, transcendence, and omniscience as you, the viewer, are invited to be see the whole picture. Also from this perspective, people’s faces and expressions are less likely to be part of the image and, because they are less likely to be aware of your camera, poses and actions will be more natural.

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Ricoh GX100   f/3.9   1/125s   10.5m   80 ISO

When compositing from buildings, interesting images are created through the use of lines, objects, and patience to wait until someone walks into your canvas.

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Ricoh GX100   f/4.1   1/200   5.1m    80 ISO

I found that street photography from “high above it all” is less likely to stir up the same degree of anxiety that I experience with eye-level photography.  Would love to see your images taken from this perspective and to read about your experiences.  Let’s tag wit #aphotostudy.

I hope you enjoy these amazing examples of high-angle photographs.

ribbons & bubbles

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Nikon D750   f/3.2    1/2,000s     50m   800 ISO

“Mind is a river of psychological phenomena that is always flowing. In this river, the arising, duration, and cessation of any phenomenon is always linked with the arising, duration, and cessation of all other phenomena. To know how to identify psychological phenomena as they arise and develop is an important part of meditation practice”

Excerpt From
Awakening of the Heart
Thích Nhất Hạnh

hidden inspiration: shadow dancing

streetnoontues-8 Richo GX100   f/5.1  1/320  5.1m  80 ISO[/caption]

Marcus, Streets of Nuremberg, invites those who are interested in street photography to “try to shoot people who are engulfed in their every day business, unaware of the photographer aiming the camera at them. Obviously, using a longer lens (or zoom) does help not to get too close. But even with a wide angle lens, the camera up at the eye, you can wander through shops, bars or your local market, looking for interesting scenes, people, gestures, colors, patterns – and press the shutter when something catches your eye and gets your creative juices flowing. Move naturally, shoot, and trust me you will not be noticed.”

a photo study: contemplative photography

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iPad     f/1.8   1/130 sec   ISO 64

“The object is of secondary importance to how I see the object.  …concentrated looking is the way to get past labels and our preconceived ideas of what interests us.  Looking slowly and in detail, …gives way to interlocked abstract shapes, energetic textures, ranges of colors, spaces in between things, sharp edges, and soft shadows.  This way of seeing objects turns any item into an interesting subject.”

~John F Simon, Jr (Drawing your own Path)

I began this week with a posting of a 20 minute photo project with an egg and then went on to a second project…20 minutes with two eggs, a white small dish, a white tea cloth, a white pitcher, a small ball.  Images edited in Snapfeed.

Limited resources has the potential to awaken creativity.

iPad…f/1.8 1/30 sec ISO 20
iPad…f/1.8 1/30 sec IS) 25

The third mediative photography project…one hour photographing an egg and a small white dish…2 minutes with each image before clicking the shutter.   Images edited in Snapfeed.

iPad f/1.8 1/1,050 ISO 64
iPad f/1.8 1/370 sec ISO 64
iPad f/1.8 1 sec ISO 64
iPad f/1.8 1 sec ISO 64i

Creativity begins as we begin to think differently, move out of our comfort zone, start to use our head over the camera, and go beyond all apparent possibilities.  

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iPad f/1.8 1/50 sec ISO 64

A closing note: My restless soul resisted the idea to photograph an egg for an hour with a  point and shoot camera (I substituted the point and shoot with an iPad).  As a consequence, I began with two separate 20 minute exercises and then found the inspiration to set a meditative app for an hour with bells to chime every 2 minutes.  Now I’m wondering what images would have emerged if I challenged myself for 2 hours…

Are you up to this challenge…one 20 minute photo session, two 20 minute sessions, or an hour?  Let’s tag with #aphotostudy.

the sounds of children…

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As I sit before my computer, the multiple sounds of children at play come through the open windows of my home and every once in awhile I will hear a toddler cry and for the duration of the distress I too will feel concern.   A single child…

These children have families who are able to afford a country day school and who will spend the night in the safety of their own homes are in sharp contrast to the lives of children now scattered across the United States…miles away from their families.  I cannot fathom an environment of 4-15-50 children crying and calling out for the comfort of an parental embrace.  Cries unheard…

I am totally perplexed at the rationalization, justification, and denial of the decisions and actions of adults, many of whom are parents themselves, to remain deaf to these cries and to deny the bond between parent and child.

The Women’s Refugee Commission has noted:

“Over the past five years, the United States has seen a shift in the demographics of migrants encountered at our borders—from a majority of adult males, often from Mexico, seeking employment, to families, children, grandparents, aunts, and uncles fleeing together, seeking protection in the United States, coming mostly from Central America. Tragically, U.S. immigration enforcement policies, instead of shifting to adapt to this significant change, have continued to try forcing a square peg into a round hole, and in doing so have compounded the vulnerabilities of families and protection-seeking migrants. Instead of promoting family unity, we as a nation are breaking families apart.

[Betraying Family Values]  documents the ways in which family separation is caused, both intentionally and unintentionally, by the U.S. government’s immigration custody and enforcement decisions. It explains how the government’s lack of consistent mechanisms for identifying and tracking family members result in family members being detained or removed separately and often losing contact with each other. Because the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies currently have little policy guidance on humanitarian considerations during enforcement actions, many families are needlessly torn apart.”

https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/rights/gbv/resources/1409-resources-for-families-facing-deportation-separation