42. ESCAPE - March 30-April 5, 2014
Deron-
This was a difficult one. Do I go with dogs escaping through the doggy door, or a cyclist escaping the peloton? Do I go with... Well, I didn't have much else.
But then this tea pot idea came to me, so I went across the street to borrow their tea/coffee pot (not a coffee drinker)... Actually, the first one had a hole in the bottom and leaked all over my stove. Anyway, once I got the steam escaping, I started shooting, using different lighting techniques and different camera settings. The photo you see came with the tea pot lit from behind and a small light shining directly on the steam. I had another small light bouncing off the wall, but it didn't seem to do much. The D40 is set on shutter priority with... Ah heck, I don't know. I was just spinning the dial until I found what I liked. 4? 3? :)
This was a difficult one. Do I go with dogs escaping through the doggy door, or a cyclist escaping the peloton? Do I go with... Well, I didn't have much else.
But then this tea pot idea came to me, so I went across the street to borrow their tea/coffee pot (not a coffee drinker)... Actually, the first one had a hole in the bottom and leaked all over my stove. Anyway, once I got the steam escaping, I started shooting, using different lighting techniques and different camera settings. The photo you see came with the tea pot lit from behind and a small light shining directly on the steam. I had another small light bouncing off the wall, but it didn't seem to do much. The D40 is set on shutter priority with... Ah heck, I don't know. I was just spinning the dial until I found what I liked. 4? 3? :)
Paul-
“Escape.” I thought about this theme for quite a while. The word means so many things to so many people. Escape from a place. Escape from a condition or frame of mind. Escape from others as well as ourselves. Since it is not too far away from where I live, I decided to see what shots I might be able to get of Nebraska State Penitentiary. It’s the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska—opening in 1869. Until after World War I, it was the only adult correctional facility in the state. I’ve run into a little snafu approaching too closely to the facility before—it was the evening the state was going to put to death the last inmate that has been executed in was several years ago—and was told sternly to move to the other side of a nearby street. So I opted for a telephoto shot from about 500-600 yards away. The very last image I captured (on a whim) was the one I decided I liked best. As befitting such a somber setting and my take on the theme, I decided to go with black and white.
You can see the very top of one of the many guard towers that ring the facility just poking up above a hill that flanks one part of the penitentiary. To me it provides a nice balance: the viewer images what must be beyond the hill—not that you would want to get that close—and the inmates imagine lives life beyond the fences, coils of razor wire, and tall stone parapets. I’d image that, even for them, “escape” must take on many connotations as the reasons they were incarcerated there.
Leftenant Lawrence “Lucky” Vickers struggled bravely but futilely with controls of his beloved Spitfire as his crippled aircraft, riddled with bullets and bleeding fuel from the recent encounter with the Me109, dropped precipitously toward the limestone cliffs of Rocamadour. Gritting his teeth against the sharp pain from the bullet lodged in his shoulder, Vickers managed to slide back the canopy, release his harness, and bail out just as the Spit banked heavily. The hapless pilot hoped he had time and height enough to fully deploy his shoot, but knew he had neither. In the scant seconds remaining before man and machine slammed into the bucolic countryside, the former called to mind the face of his precious Jenny—the girl who waited for him back home—and mouthed the words he knew one day she would have wanted to hear:
“Olympus E500; 40-150mm telephoto lens at 150mm focal length; 1/640 sec. at f8; ISO 200; the camera is hand-held.”
“Escape.” I thought about this theme for quite a while. The word means so many things to so many people. Escape from a place. Escape from a condition or frame of mind. Escape from others as well as ourselves. Since it is not too far away from where I live, I decided to see what shots I might be able to get of Nebraska State Penitentiary. It’s the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska—opening in 1869. Until after World War I, it was the only adult correctional facility in the state. I’ve run into a little snafu approaching too closely to the facility before—it was the evening the state was going to put to death the last inmate that has been executed in was several years ago—and was told sternly to move to the other side of a nearby street. So I opted for a telephoto shot from about 500-600 yards away. The very last image I captured (on a whim) was the one I decided I liked best. As befitting such a somber setting and my take on the theme, I decided to go with black and white.
You can see the very top of one of the many guard towers that ring the facility just poking up above a hill that flanks one part of the penitentiary. To me it provides a nice balance: the viewer images what must be beyond the hill—not that you would want to get that close—and the inmates imagine lives life beyond the fences, coils of razor wire, and tall stone parapets. I’d image that, even for them, “escape” must take on many connotations as the reasons they were incarcerated there.
Leftenant Lawrence “Lucky” Vickers struggled bravely but futilely with controls of his beloved Spitfire as his crippled aircraft, riddled with bullets and bleeding fuel from the recent encounter with the Me109, dropped precipitously toward the limestone cliffs of Rocamadour. Gritting his teeth against the sharp pain from the bullet lodged in his shoulder, Vickers managed to slide back the canopy, release his harness, and bail out just as the Spit banked heavily. The hapless pilot hoped he had time and height enough to fully deploy his shoot, but knew he had neither. In the scant seconds remaining before man and machine slammed into the bucolic countryside, the former called to mind the face of his precious Jenny—the girl who waited for him back home—and mouthed the words he knew one day she would have wanted to hear:
“Olympus E500; 40-150mm telephoto lens at 150mm focal length; 1/640 sec. at f8; ISO 200; the camera is hand-held.”
Kevin-
I was trying to photograph our Weekly Photo Of The Month theme, but one of the letters in the theme got away (okay, call it an escape) leaving behind only the shadow of its former self!
Nikon D3s with 70-200mm f/2.8 lens set to 180 mm. ISO 200, f/11 at .6 seconds. Available light with a little blue-colored flash fill on the left side (I’m still learning, but this one feels better than previous attempts of adding a little bit of color).
I was trying to photograph our Weekly Photo Of The Month theme, but one of the letters in the theme got away (okay, call it an escape) leaving behind only the shadow of its former self!
Nikon D3s with 70-200mm f/2.8 lens set to 180 mm. ISO 200, f/11 at .6 seconds. Available light with a little blue-colored flash fill on the left side (I’m still learning, but this one feels better than previous attempts of adding a little bit of color).
Byron-
Sometimes when you live in a climate that forces you you be house bound. You dream about warm sunny weather and dry roads and fast cars. Then you look out the window and see the fresh 8" of snow that has fallen. An escape is necessary. Even if that escape is just reading about fast cars.
Sometimes when you live in a climate that forces you you be house bound. You dream about warm sunny weather and dry roads and fast cars. Then you look out the window and see the fresh 8" of snow that has fallen. An escape is necessary. Even if that escape is just reading about fast cars.