214. Evanescent - July 23-29, 2017
Darin-
An ice sculpture won't last long in the hot, California sun.
I wanted the warm background, but I think it would have been better if I had gotten that 'hot, California sun' in the shot, just to show what these little ice cubes are up against.
I'm happy with it, though.
An ice sculpture won't last long in the hot, California sun.
I wanted the warm background, but I think it would have been better if I had gotten that 'hot, California sun' in the shot, just to show what these little ice cubes are up against.
I'm happy with it, though.
Kevin-
Clouds form in the darkness obscuring everything from sight. You feel lost, unable to see or define anything in the world around you. But then there is a rumble... from... what? Some kind of growing form? Lights begin to dance in the clouds. The rumble becomes a shriek, like a howl, and suddenly, for only a moment, there is the flash of an emerging yellow form. Instantly the yellow passes in a blur - momentarily recognized, but what... was...? Was that a Cayman S? The menacing sound of the shriek climbs fast and faster, power building, but also growing quieter and quieter as the distance increases. In a moment nothing left but a dissipating cloud and memories of some evanescent dream that will continue to linger in the mind…
This is far from being the best WPOTM image that I have ever created, but it was definitely the most complex and time consuming one I have ever attempted.
It could have been simple. On Friday of last week, in West Des Moines, Iowa for the wedding of my oldest nephew I saw the sun hanging low, sharply defined in the sky in a way I have never seen it before. The reason, that I already shared, was due to the extreme humidity. It was an definitely an evanescent moment. Sadly even if I had captured the photo it was two days before Darin announced the theme.
On Sunday, the day I returned from Iowa, I briefly thought about driving down to Albert Lea, Minnesota as there appeared to be a good chance of fog, an evanescent weather event that can make for dramatic photos. But there was also a slight chance the fog could happen in the Twin Cities. I wussed out and stayed close to home, rising at 4:00 AM to drive to a couple of places in the pre-sunrise light that was beginning to appear. Sadly the few patches of fog I saw were only slight and not at all photogenic.
But that got me hung up on fog. So what if I filled the studio with smoke/fog from a machine and did a long time exposure of a blurring, barely-there figure? At the last minute it occurred to me that would likely set off the smoke detectors in the building, maybe even sprinklers. That could lead to other pissed off photographers and equipment damage. Damn.
Then a thought started about using a smoke machine when photographing my Porsche, and my brother Brad suggested taking the photos in my garage. Brilliant, smoke detectors are in the house, but not in the garage!
Researching smoke machine rental created a surprising discovery. One could be purchased via Amazon for the same price as a one-day rental.
But the smoke machine wouldn't arrive until Thursday. So on Monday I set up four strobe lights in the garage (one barely-there light in front of the Cayman S, one on each side, and one under the Porsche) and did test shots, playing around with lighting ratios.
The tests suggested that more backlight was needed for the smoke that wasn't yet there, so I brought two studio strobes, lightstands, etc., home, giving me six strobe lights in all and did more test shots.
Fellow "Photo Oldies" Pat Carney, Chris Grayczyk and Steve Rouch were over on Wednesday for our monthly lunch and suggested applying black tarps surrounding the car. I followed their advice behind the Cayman, but honestly the black tarp that was most needed, covering the garage ceiling and garage door above the Porsche, was beyond my physical capabilities. So there are some distracting reflections.
On Thursday the smoke machine arrived along with a gallon of "Fog Juice." On Thursday night the actual shoot happened. I was the camera guy. Brad was the driver. Michelle operated the garage door on cue. Earlier in the day I had walked Brad though what I needed him to do while "launching" the Porsche. I had washed the car and removed the front license plate. I had done the test shooting without the smoke and then I had filled the garage with the smoke prior to Brad's arrival. The garage door was opened and closed a few times and the car driven forward, but each time I also needed to generate more smoke in that garage. And I captured sharp frozen images as well as ones with motion blur from the car's lights (as shown). I ultimately went with the first frame we captured. All that testing paid off!
Nikon D4s, mounted on a a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 100mm, ISO 100, f/16 at 1/2 second.
Clouds form in the darkness obscuring everything from sight. You feel lost, unable to see or define anything in the world around you. But then there is a rumble... from... what? Some kind of growing form? Lights begin to dance in the clouds. The rumble becomes a shriek, like a howl, and suddenly, for only a moment, there is the flash of an emerging yellow form. Instantly the yellow passes in a blur - momentarily recognized, but what... was...? Was that a Cayman S? The menacing sound of the shriek climbs fast and faster, power building, but also growing quieter and quieter as the distance increases. In a moment nothing left but a dissipating cloud and memories of some evanescent dream that will continue to linger in the mind…
This is far from being the best WPOTM image that I have ever created, but it was definitely the most complex and time consuming one I have ever attempted.
It could have been simple. On Friday of last week, in West Des Moines, Iowa for the wedding of my oldest nephew I saw the sun hanging low, sharply defined in the sky in a way I have never seen it before. The reason, that I already shared, was due to the extreme humidity. It was an definitely an evanescent moment. Sadly even if I had captured the photo it was two days before Darin announced the theme.
On Sunday, the day I returned from Iowa, I briefly thought about driving down to Albert Lea, Minnesota as there appeared to be a good chance of fog, an evanescent weather event that can make for dramatic photos. But there was also a slight chance the fog could happen in the Twin Cities. I wussed out and stayed close to home, rising at 4:00 AM to drive to a couple of places in the pre-sunrise light that was beginning to appear. Sadly the few patches of fog I saw were only slight and not at all photogenic.
But that got me hung up on fog. So what if I filled the studio with smoke/fog from a machine and did a long time exposure of a blurring, barely-there figure? At the last minute it occurred to me that would likely set off the smoke detectors in the building, maybe even sprinklers. That could lead to other pissed off photographers and equipment damage. Damn.
Then a thought started about using a smoke machine when photographing my Porsche, and my brother Brad suggested taking the photos in my garage. Brilliant, smoke detectors are in the house, but not in the garage!
Researching smoke machine rental created a surprising discovery. One could be purchased via Amazon for the same price as a one-day rental.
But the smoke machine wouldn't arrive until Thursday. So on Monday I set up four strobe lights in the garage (one barely-there light in front of the Cayman S, one on each side, and one under the Porsche) and did test shots, playing around with lighting ratios.
The tests suggested that more backlight was needed for the smoke that wasn't yet there, so I brought two studio strobes, lightstands, etc., home, giving me six strobe lights in all and did more test shots.
Fellow "Photo Oldies" Pat Carney, Chris Grayczyk and Steve Rouch were over on Wednesday for our monthly lunch and suggested applying black tarps surrounding the car. I followed their advice behind the Cayman, but honestly the black tarp that was most needed, covering the garage ceiling and garage door above the Porsche, was beyond my physical capabilities. So there are some distracting reflections.
On Thursday the smoke machine arrived along with a gallon of "Fog Juice." On Thursday night the actual shoot happened. I was the camera guy. Brad was the driver. Michelle operated the garage door on cue. Earlier in the day I had walked Brad though what I needed him to do while "launching" the Porsche. I had washed the car and removed the front license plate. I had done the test shooting without the smoke and then I had filled the garage with the smoke prior to Brad's arrival. The garage door was opened and closed a few times and the car driven forward, but each time I also needed to generate more smoke in that garage. And I captured sharp frozen images as well as ones with motion blur from the car's lights (as shown). I ultimately went with the first frame we captured. All that testing paid off!
Nikon D4s, mounted on a a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 100mm, ISO 100, f/16 at 1/2 second.
Paul-
I had originally wanted to experiment with the intervalometer or the multiple exposure features on my camera, but time constraints deigned otherwise. Which I suppose is both ironic and keeps with this week’s theme.
As I hit you all (perhaps some a little harder than others) with mediocre poetry last week. I promise I spare you any pedantic prose this during this one. (I’m lying.)
It seems like evanescence is to personal experience what entropy is to a closed state—and I’m not referring to North Korea, okay? That is to say no matter howacute the memory—whether it is that the brain strives to etch in current and tissue, or the one the subjective heart tries to archive—things change and Time has its way with us all.
What we think are years are reveal themselves to be fragile, encapsulated moments.
What we think are moments seem, in retrospect, the briefest flashes to illuminate what our eyes might catch. Don't blink.
The unavoidable impermanency of it all makes one wonder what we are actually able to snatch out of the Now and hold in our hand, save inside a cigar boxcache, or commit to written passages.
In the moment, or after a million millennia, everything still fades. Going, going…
Best to enjoy the show while the curtain is still up and the projector is running.
Some granular comments: Nikon D5200; 18-55mm focused at 40mm; ISO 640; -1/3EV; 1/200 sec. at f/6.3; aperture mode; matrix metered; limited to 21-point AF area; auto WB. The camera was mounted on a tripod.
I had originally wanted to experiment with the intervalometer or the multiple exposure features on my camera, but time constraints deigned otherwise. Which I suppose is both ironic and keeps with this week’s theme.
As I hit you all (perhaps some a little harder than others) with mediocre poetry last week. I promise I spare you any pedantic prose this during this one. (I’m lying.)
It seems like evanescence is to personal experience what entropy is to a closed state—and I’m not referring to North Korea, okay? That is to say no matter howacute the memory—whether it is that the brain strives to etch in current and tissue, or the one the subjective heart tries to archive—things change and Time has its way with us all.
What we think are years are reveal themselves to be fragile, encapsulated moments.
What we think are moments seem, in retrospect, the briefest flashes to illuminate what our eyes might catch. Don't blink.
The unavoidable impermanency of it all makes one wonder what we are actually able to snatch out of the Now and hold in our hand, save inside a cigar boxcache, or commit to written passages.
In the moment, or after a million millennia, everything still fades. Going, going…
Best to enjoy the show while the curtain is still up and the projector is running.
Some granular comments: Nikon D5200; 18-55mm focused at 40mm; ISO 640; -1/3EV; 1/200 sec. at f/6.3; aperture mode; matrix metered; limited to 21-point AF area; auto WB. The camera was mounted on a tripod.
Jerry-
I repeatedly went back to google the definition of evanescence - "After you lose a loved one, often you're gripped with a fear of evanescence, or the rapid fading from sight or memory of that person."
My thoughts went to our family photos, which my wife has displayed on several walls of our home. For this photo, I used the D750 with a pinhole attachment/"lens" to give an otherworldly look.
The exposure was 10 seconds at about f180. ISO was 1600.
I repeatedly went back to google the definition of evanescence - "After you lose a loved one, often you're gripped with a fear of evanescence, or the rapid fading from sight or memory of that person."
My thoughts went to our family photos, which my wife has displayed on several walls of our home. For this photo, I used the D750 with a pinhole attachment/"lens" to give an otherworldly look.
The exposure was 10 seconds at about f180. ISO was 1600.
Don-
This week I shot two different cactus plants opening. I wanted to create
a time lapse slide thingie with music in Lightroom. This is a picture from the
second one I did. It was the last of 57 pictures that were 10 minutes
apart.
My thought was that these flowers opened around 5 AM
and a couple hours later were already withering up. A short life. I'm thinking
this is an example of Evanescence.
This week I shot two different cactus plants opening. I wanted to create
a time lapse slide thingie with music in Lightroom. This is a picture from the
second one I did. It was the last of 57 pictures that were 10 minutes
apart.
My thought was that these flowers opened around 5 AM
and a couple hours later were already withering up. A short life. I'm thinking
this is an example of Evanescence.
Byron-
Earlier this week I decided on using a soap bubble as my subject. I found a site that featured 2 self described nerds that created 2 recipes for the liquid needed to create soap bubbles. I choose the recipe that created more durable bubbles instead of fragile ones. It involves glycerine, gelatine and dish soap. Using Byro-Engineering I created a loop of wire to act as the bubble formation device. My first attempt yielded few bubbles. The soap film would burst "right out of the gate". When I did get a bubble it was very impressive. Being alone, I discovered it was impossible to create a bubble and then photograph it. I made 2 changes. I made the loop smaller and I enlisted the help of Erleen. I also re-imagined my photo so I would capture it as it is about to leave the loop of wire.
ISO 200, Lens 50mm, f2.8, 1/2000 sec
Earlier this week I decided on using a soap bubble as my subject. I found a site that featured 2 self described nerds that created 2 recipes for the liquid needed to create soap bubbles. I choose the recipe that created more durable bubbles instead of fragile ones. It involves glycerine, gelatine and dish soap. Using Byro-Engineering I created a loop of wire to act as the bubble formation device. My first attempt yielded few bubbles. The soap film would burst "right out of the gate". When I did get a bubble it was very impressive. Being alone, I discovered it was impossible to create a bubble and then photograph it. I made 2 changes. I made the loop smaller and I enlisted the help of Erleen. I also re-imagined my photo so I would capture it as it is about to leave the loop of wire.
ISO 200, Lens 50mm, f2.8, 1/2000 sec