Tiles #2

This photo was taken at a bed and breakfast outside of Eugene.  It was a very rustic place with an interesting history and fantastic food.  The owner and proprietor was kind enough to give me free reign to walk around the property and I took full advantage.

With the shallow depth of field it's difficult to discern whether you are looking through the window or seeing a reflection, adding interesting framing to the character of the barn.

Reflections afford a lot of opportunity for creativity. It's fun to isolate the reflected objects in windows because it renders the window or mirror itself very soft.

The day was overcast and the lighting made it difficult to find interesting photos.  It's on days like these that getting creative and focusing on details can deliver much more interesting results.

Ideas and Imagery #100

Newport, Oregon is home to Yaquina Head Lighthouse, formerly known as Cape Foulweather.  At the time we started our coast vacation last summer I had only seen the lighthouse from the park and the beaches to the south.

The place we stayed had access to the beach on the north side of the lighthouse, providing a new perspective. 

When we arrived I was sure that upon seeing this great new view that I would have a lot of opportunities to get a great shot.  Anyone familiar with Newport weather in the summer might have tempered my expectations. 

Every day we started with fog until 11:00 am or later, followed by beautiful sunny 65 degree weather.  Around 7:00 pm each evening as the sun started to sink, the fog would begin to creep back in, making it less than ideal to shoot. 

This shot was from the one day that the fog held off and the sky cooperated with a nice color.  I was happy to have at least one shot of the lighthouse from this angle to show for a weeks worth of trying, and in my opinion it was worth the wait. 

Tiles #1

I participated in a project in 2014 based on assignments from the On Taking Pictures podcast, which I listen to every week.  The assignments continue, and while I participate much less frequently now, the "Square" assignment from a year ago was one that put some boundaries around my love of abstraction.

From that project I have since built up a body of work that now comprise my "Compressions" and "Tiles" projects.  My Tiles project is mostly built around shooting to create square images instead of the native 2:3 ratio shots that are indicative of the 35mm sensor.  While I share some of the photos between the projects, not all of the tiles are abstractions.

This is one of the original shots from my Square assignment last year that inspired me to create this work.  I am drawn to strong colors and shapes, which are very dominant in this and other photos from the day.  I also like the three dimensional features of the electrical lines and piping, the horizontal bar below, and the three diagonal posts in the upper right corner that act as visual anchors and add interesting lines and shapes.

Projects like this are a nice change from the landscapes and object photography that I regularly shoot, and I hope that over time one type of photography will inform the others.  If nothing else, it provides me something to shoot when the lighting is terrible or if I find myself far removed from more traditionally photographed subjects.

Ideas and Imagery #99

Balance in a shot is important, and is a large part of what makes this shot work.  I have spent a lot of time shooting bees over the past few years and many of the pictures feel repetitive.

It's not that I don't know this going in.  It is hard to find shots that are different when you are shooting a subject as shot as bees on flowers.  I don't know that this shot is one that I think is extremely rare, but I do like the symmetry of it.  Every once in a while I will crop to the 16:9 aspect ratio.  I think it really suits this composition well and helps to distill the photo down to its core elements. 

I like the idea that there are two different kinds of bees sharing the landscape, trying to do what they do...collect nectar.  They seem oblivious of each other, but with similar focus and body positioning.

Pollinator health will be an important ecological issue over the next decade, so I am happy to show them in a good light.  They need all the help they can get.

Ideas and Imagery #98

It's been nice to take a break for the holidays to enjoy family and other facets of my life.  Time away from shooting helps to keep things in perspective and gives me a much needed break from searching for photos.  I have been plenty busy with everything but shooting, but am happy to be picking up my camera again.

This shot was from another break I took with my family last fall to Hood River.  There are plenty of orchards in the area, and this one operated a very large fruit stand.  I really liked the light coming into the bins of apples and pears, but what drew me in was the intersection of the cardboard boxes.

The combination of the lines of the boxes leading my eye around the image with the distinctive quadrants of fruit in each made for a really simple and interesting photo.  It'll be a while until we can revisit this Fall orchard, but in the meantime I can remember from this picture in anticipation of returning for more fruit and more photos.

Ideas and Imagery #97

Taking photos during 4th of July fireworks displays is one of my favorite photographic endeavors.  We happened to be on vacation in Newport, Oregon over 4th of July this past year, giving me an opportunity to shoot outside of Portland.

I spent time scouting out locations for the show, and ultimately decided that it would be great to get shots of fireworks over the Yaquina Bay Bridge.  We arrived a few hours early and got settled along the jetty, hoping the fireworks would be shot close enough to the bridge to get a good photo.

As we sat there waiting, the fog started to roll in very slowly off the ocean.  But as the sun started to sink, the fog grew steadily, and it was apparent that it might become an issue.  The fog combined with the show starting 20 minutes later than advertised had me thinking that we might not even see fireworks if the fog got any thicker.

When the show started, I couldn't see the bridge anymore from the darkness and fog.  I was relieved when I saw the first familiar explosion emerge, and while visibility was not great, the first half of the show was fairly visible.

I had hoped that the fireworks combined with the bridge would make a great photo, but the bridge was all but invisible and the fireworks for the most part weren't high enough to clear the bridge deck.

I had my camera set to take wide angle shots, but realized very quickly that my only chance at getting decent photos was to zoom in on the section of the bridge that the fireworks were closest to.

The fog eventually settled in enough to where we couldn't even see the second half of the show.  At that point we left, having fun, but also underwhelmed with our first coastal fireworks display.

I did, however, end up with a few really great shots.  This is my favorite of the bunch.  I love the silhouettes of the two watchers on the bridge, and of the bridge itself.  I was fortunate that from my position, the two figures were standing in the center of the action.

All in all, what I feared to be a short and less than photogenic fireworks show ended up yielding one of my favorite fireworks shots.  It's great when a plan fails miserably and the end results are better than what you envisioned coming in.

Ideas and Imagery #96

Taken during my "On Taking Assignments " project, this photo was a result of my efforts for the Multiple Exposure assignment last November.  I can tell you that I started nowhere near where I ended in my 4 hour search for inspiration, which should give you comfort in knowing that I saved both you and myself from some really terrible ideas.

It isn't uncommon in my experience to suffer a lot of unimaginative and poor shots when trying to take an idea and break it down into something that not only works, but works well.  I find that this is common no matter what type of photography I am undertaking.

In the end, good shots are as much perseverance and effort as they are inspiration, and I rarely get to the point of inspiration without the effort up front.  This shot is a perfect example of what can happen when you push past early failures to get to the really good stuff just on the other side.

Come Visit Me at the Three Rivers Artist Guild Holiday Art Show & Sale

Three Rivers Artist Gallery Holiday Show, December 5-6, Oregon City

I am pleased to be showing and selling artwork at the Three Rivers Artist Guild Holiday Art Show & Sale.  The event takes place at the Pioneer Community Center in Oregon City on December 5th and 6th.

I plan to attend the entire event, so be sure say hello.  There will be many different artists who practice different mediums in attendance selling their work, and 10% of proceeds are used to support local artists through the programming the Guild provides.

I will have canvas and matted prints available for sale as well as greeting cards.  Check out my Prints page for an idea of the sizes, formats, and prices of work I offer.  I am looking forward to seeing you there!  Be sure to save the postcards above for dates, times, and directions.

Ideas and Imagery #95

This osprey was building a nest on this structure next to the Oregon City bridge.  Although they seem to want to build nests atop the structure they rarely finish or inhabit them.

There must be something about the location, be it the non-stop din of Highway 99, the city lights, or the unsuitability of the structure itself that makes abandonment of the nest inevitable.

While I knew that it would be short lived, I certainly enjoyed watching this bird make trips into the trees, only to emerge several times with new materials for construction.  There are numerous other photos I took of this process, but none I liked half so much as this shot.

The silhouette in this picture against the cloudy backdrop really made the photo about the construction of the nest.  I love that the four elements (bird, branch, nest, and structure) were all lined up to tell a story.  The gesture of the bird and its curved wings add a soft touch to an otherwise stark photo.

A simple story simply shown is the most effective kind, and distilling a frame to its core subjects usually results in a more effective final shot.

Ideas and Imagery #94

It's been a few weeks since my last post.  I have been working on a large project that culminated last week with a large event, followed by some well needed decompression.

Compression is a good topic for this photo, which I shot with a long lens.  When you are zoomed into a subject you notice a phenomenon called compression where all of the subjects in 3-D space are "compressed" into a 2-D perspective.  This flattens the depth in the photo, which can be really effective. 

I have been using compression to try and present shapes, colors, and patterns in space as a single planned composition. This shot is so far the best example of that process hitting the mark.

I am really pleased with the spacing and colors here, which end up being more interesting as a group than they would have been if taken separately. 

I've started a project of sorts that will try to expand upon this idea.  I'll post more results as I start to build this project and present it as a whole.  For now I just wanted to share this shot and explain what I am looking to create.