45. Abstract in Nature - April 20-26, 2014
Byron-
I realize that this topic was my idea. I obviously didn't have anything in mind when I suggested it because I found it a very challenging topic. I thought I would wander around a park looking for natures own abstract art. Instead, Winter isn't ready to loosen its grip (much). Wandering in a park didn't seem like fun so I wandered closer to home and looked at what was remaining of Winter. In a parking lot, on top of what was once a great mountain of snow, I found a patch of white snow contrasting nicely with the surrounding dirty snow. I'm always amazed at how detailed Nature is. This picture could have been taken from 20,000 ft showing a snow covered hill. Instead, I'm about 2 ft away. If I had moved in closer there would be even more detail. It's not like photography were you eventually run out of resolution and pixels (or film grain)
I like the photo but I was shocked when I saw the cameras settings. I was shooting in Aperture priority. Somehow the ISO was bumped up to 3200 (I never shoot greater than 400) and the shutter speed was 1/1600 sec. I guess one of the great features of digital photography is that you can concentrate on the subject and let the camera figure out the technical details. I think I gave my camera too much freedom. I will rein it in from now on.
I realize that this topic was my idea. I obviously didn't have anything in mind when I suggested it because I found it a very challenging topic. I thought I would wander around a park looking for natures own abstract art. Instead, Winter isn't ready to loosen its grip (much). Wandering in a park didn't seem like fun so I wandered closer to home and looked at what was remaining of Winter. In a parking lot, on top of what was once a great mountain of snow, I found a patch of white snow contrasting nicely with the surrounding dirty snow. I'm always amazed at how detailed Nature is. This picture could have been taken from 20,000 ft showing a snow covered hill. Instead, I'm about 2 ft away. If I had moved in closer there would be even more detail. It's not like photography were you eventually run out of resolution and pixels (or film grain)
I like the photo but I was shocked when I saw the cameras settings. I was shooting in Aperture priority. Somehow the ISO was bumped up to 3200 (I never shoot greater than 400) and the shutter speed was 1/1600 sec. I guess one of the great features of digital photography is that you can concentrate on the subject and let the camera figure out the technical details. I think I gave my camera too much freedom. I will rein it in from now on.
Deron-
This is a photo of what is known as 'Black Jesus' (abstract) and I have him standing in a bed of flowering weeds (nature). Black Jesus is a natural stain on the side of Big Rock at Lake Perris in Perris, CA. Big Rock is a popular climbing spot and most weekends you can find daredevils, all roped up and with chalky hands, climbing to the top of this 180-foot granite rock.
This is a photo of what is known as 'Black Jesus' (abstract) and I have him standing in a bed of flowering weeds (nature). Black Jesus is a natural stain on the side of Big Rock at Lake Perris in Perris, CA. Big Rock is a popular climbing spot and most weekends you can find daredevils, all roped up and with chalky hands, climbing to the top of this 180-foot granite rock.
Paul-
Lincoln has very much an organic feel to it. The city grows, spreads—finds empty space on three cardinal directions and occupies it. So much so that, over time, to say such and such a place is the center of town is like trying to paint a moving target. The setting of this photograph makes my point. It was taken at the Sunken Gardens—not so much because anything is submerged there (though there is a lovely reflecting pool) but because you walk down tiered inclines to get to the bottom. I would say it’s pretty much the center of town and it’s a beautiful place. Well-tended, dotted with terrific sculptures and a veritable explosion of color and scent in the summer. People regularly get married in the Sunken Garden. Children take day trips there. And lots of old people sit and think about whatever old people sit and think about. It wasn’t always so beautiful. Once it was a dump. Literally. Many years ago the place that now holds flowers, shrubs and trees was at the edge of town. Probably a little beyond it, because the town dug a crater there (a big one) and that’s where the trash was hauled to. If I was more inclined (and presently I’m not) I would tell you precisely when the town bumped up against the refuse pit and people started think twice about the final resting place of their collective garbage. At some point—again, I plead laziness for not telling you when—a lot of the trash was removed, a lot more of it was compacted, and great heaps of earth were unceremoniously piled on top. Then came the beautification project and the rest of the story is lilies and daffodils.
Since the sunken Gardens—and the Rose Gardens across the street from it—have a lot of delightful sculptures, I was pretty sure I could go there and nail this week’s theme. Which, truthfully, is not truthful at all. I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot because I took a similar shot—on my back, just as I took this one—about ten years ago. When I saw the theme was “Abstract in Nature,” this enormous cupola was the first thing I thought of. What I did not see ten years ago (for lack of looking) resides near the lower-left corner of the image. You can see a structure that looks like part of a fortress. This is the Nebraska State Capital…well, a rendering of it anyway. Kevin and Byron have seen the real thing and may possibly be aware of the smutty nickname the towering edifice bears. Well-turned-out gentlemen that I am, I shall refrain from mentioning it here.
Every fiber in Ambroise’s lonely soul cried out to speak the words he knew others must never hear. He longed to share it…to give sweet sound and poignant exclamation to the knowledge he carried, but dared not. So he kept his silence close like a sacred thing held in one’s hand and did not express what herein follows for, after all, he was a mime and there was a crowd gathering: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm telephoto lens at 14mm focal length; 1/250 sec. at f10; ISO 200; the camera is hand-held; the photographer is on his back.”
Lincoln has very much an organic feel to it. The city grows, spreads—finds empty space on three cardinal directions and occupies it. So much so that, over time, to say such and such a place is the center of town is like trying to paint a moving target. The setting of this photograph makes my point. It was taken at the Sunken Gardens—not so much because anything is submerged there (though there is a lovely reflecting pool) but because you walk down tiered inclines to get to the bottom. I would say it’s pretty much the center of town and it’s a beautiful place. Well-tended, dotted with terrific sculptures and a veritable explosion of color and scent in the summer. People regularly get married in the Sunken Garden. Children take day trips there. And lots of old people sit and think about whatever old people sit and think about. It wasn’t always so beautiful. Once it was a dump. Literally. Many years ago the place that now holds flowers, shrubs and trees was at the edge of town. Probably a little beyond it, because the town dug a crater there (a big one) and that’s where the trash was hauled to. If I was more inclined (and presently I’m not) I would tell you precisely when the town bumped up against the refuse pit and people started think twice about the final resting place of their collective garbage. At some point—again, I plead laziness for not telling you when—a lot of the trash was removed, a lot more of it was compacted, and great heaps of earth were unceremoniously piled on top. Then came the beautification project and the rest of the story is lilies and daffodils.
Since the sunken Gardens—and the Rose Gardens across the street from it—have a lot of delightful sculptures, I was pretty sure I could go there and nail this week’s theme. Which, truthfully, is not truthful at all. I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot because I took a similar shot—on my back, just as I took this one—about ten years ago. When I saw the theme was “Abstract in Nature,” this enormous cupola was the first thing I thought of. What I did not see ten years ago (for lack of looking) resides near the lower-left corner of the image. You can see a structure that looks like part of a fortress. This is the Nebraska State Capital…well, a rendering of it anyway. Kevin and Byron have seen the real thing and may possibly be aware of the smutty nickname the towering edifice bears. Well-turned-out gentlemen that I am, I shall refrain from mentioning it here.
Every fiber in Ambroise’s lonely soul cried out to speak the words he knew others must never hear. He longed to share it…to give sweet sound and poignant exclamation to the knowledge he carried, but dared not. So he kept his silence close like a sacred thing held in one’s hand and did not express what herein follows for, after all, he was a mime and there was a crowd gathering: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm telephoto lens at 14mm focal length; 1/250 sec. at f10; ISO 200; the camera is hand-held; the photographer is on his back.”
Kevin-
This was a challenging week's theme for me. But when heavy and cold rain started falling I thought that perhaps I would try to photograph the raindrops hitting the water in a nearby lake, since few things in nature seem as abstract to me as the randomness of raindrops.
I bundled myself up as best as I could (winter weight coat, rain jacket, boots, etc) and went to a nearby lake, found a good dock to photograph from and tried to capture some images. I was very fortunate that my particular Nikon model and the 85mm lens I had mounted are weather proof, as I was absolutely soaked and the entire exterior of the camera was as well.
I brought everything home, got cleaned up, went to my Digital Darkroom computer and downloaded at the images. Blah, I had nothing even worth saving on the hard drive. Delete. Try again.
So I bundled myself up again and went back out into the (even heavier now) rain, with a different lens choice (24-70mm zoom) to try again. I should add that it was so wet and raining on to the camera (which was of course pointed down) so hard that even trying to examine the screen on that back of my Nikon to review images was impossible. But fortunately, these images turned out much, much better.
I liked the shot, but I still wasn't completely certain that I had captured something that I could feel proud of. The next day was much nicer with warmer temperatues and actual sunshine. I had spotted some tall grasses while driving around and thought they might make a nice image. So I went back and shot a bunch of images of the grasses blowing in the wind.
They were okay, but I still wasn't happy (not enough movement). So just before sunset I returned to the same area again, this time with a 3-stop neutral density filter attached to my 70-200mm Nikkor lens. That plus the fading light at sunset allowed me to choose and even longer exposure, as what I wanted were the grasses really moving in the breeze, creating the abstraction in the image.
So four total trips (none more than a mile from my house), two absolute soakings, lots of photographs captured. I liked both resulting images, but I think I'm going with the raindrops on water image for Abstract in Nature. ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/125th of a second. 24-70mm Nikkor zoom set to 70mm. Nikon D3s, tripod mounted.
This was a challenging week's theme for me. But when heavy and cold rain started falling I thought that perhaps I would try to photograph the raindrops hitting the water in a nearby lake, since few things in nature seem as abstract to me as the randomness of raindrops.
I bundled myself up as best as I could (winter weight coat, rain jacket, boots, etc) and went to a nearby lake, found a good dock to photograph from and tried to capture some images. I was very fortunate that my particular Nikon model and the 85mm lens I had mounted are weather proof, as I was absolutely soaked and the entire exterior of the camera was as well.
I brought everything home, got cleaned up, went to my Digital Darkroom computer and downloaded at the images. Blah, I had nothing even worth saving on the hard drive. Delete. Try again.
So I bundled myself up again and went back out into the (even heavier now) rain, with a different lens choice (24-70mm zoom) to try again. I should add that it was so wet and raining on to the camera (which was of course pointed down) so hard that even trying to examine the screen on that back of my Nikon to review images was impossible. But fortunately, these images turned out much, much better.
I liked the shot, but I still wasn't completely certain that I had captured something that I could feel proud of. The next day was much nicer with warmer temperatues and actual sunshine. I had spotted some tall grasses while driving around and thought they might make a nice image. So I went back and shot a bunch of images of the grasses blowing in the wind.
They were okay, but I still wasn't happy (not enough movement). So just before sunset I returned to the same area again, this time with a 3-stop neutral density filter attached to my 70-200mm Nikkor lens. That plus the fading light at sunset allowed me to choose and even longer exposure, as what I wanted were the grasses really moving in the breeze, creating the abstraction in the image.
So four total trips (none more than a mile from my house), two absolute soakings, lots of photographs captured. I liked both resulting images, but I think I'm going with the raindrops on water image for Abstract in Nature. ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/125th of a second. 24-70mm Nikkor zoom set to 70mm. Nikon D3s, tripod mounted.