Monochromatic

Black and White or Sepia are both monochromatic or a single color. The images in this blog are monochrome rather than in color.  There is a reason for this.

When first learning how to draw you learn about lines, shading, form, light and shadow through using values of black and white.  Learning to draw in black and white before learning color theory and painting allows one to build on the basics, before adding more advanced techniques.  Learning how to see in black and white also helps photographers for the same reason.

When working in black and white the quality of light will be good or poor, the composition will be strong or weak, there is no compensating for poor composition in black and white, as there is in color due its emotional component. Using a monochrome setting in your camera will help you to create a solid foundation.

Camera as a Journal

With the idea of a camera as a journal, I photographed the people nearby while waiting to take public transportation on a rainy day.

Visual Storytelling

"These are not diaries these are journals.  I want to know about the world you inhabit, the people around you, who are they, how do they behave.  Language and behavior that's all the actors got to work with, so keep your eyes open, observe, record.  How is emotion expressed thru action, gesture.  Understand other people and you'll begin to understand yourself."     ~ the movie Fame 2009

I used to think of photographs as individual stand alone pieces, which they can be, but they also can be strung together to tell a story.  How you place images together changes how the story is read.  When I started photographing weddings I realized it was more about the story than a single image and I began exploring the idea of visual stories.

Use your camera to journal about the world around you. Photograph the people, their interactions with others to discover their story. If you prefer places to people,  choose a space in nature and photograph it over time. How can a place tell a story, what does adding the element of time do?

Inspiration

I believe you can find inspiration anywhere. I find a lot of my inspiration from books and movies, as you can tell from the quotes used in this blog. Other times, I find inspiration in the people around me and in the random acts of kindness of strangers.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Be open, inspiration can strike anywhere and anytime!

View Points

A statute of an angel caught my eye while walking through beautiful Piedmont Avenue Cemetery.  The angel below, sits outside of a mausoleum on a hill overlooking the cemetery. Walking up the stairs for a better view this is what I saw.

Approaching from the front at eye level

Crouching down low and looking up place emphasis on her beautiful hands 

Changing point of view to a higher one, a whole new image emerges

A final image, taken at eye level

Up high to down low

"Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light"

~ the book Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

How we approach our subject or life can be straight on or from different perspectives. When we shift our point of view, we can discover the unexpected.

The tendency to photograph from eye level is how most people approach an image. Shifting our approach to a child's point of view or down low to the ground can add new observations and change the scale of objects. Things that were small become large like in the movie Antz, where a simple backyard full of grass becomes a jungle like obstacle course.

Another point of view is the bird's eye or from up high.  The world seen from the skies above transforms farms and fields into a patchwork quilt, new lines and shapes emerge that are not visible when looking straight on.

Try exploring the world from a range of point of views, down low to up high and the in-between.

Oh so framed

Here are some examples of frame within a frame

The arch echos the curved shapes inside

Columns frame the trees in the background

A mirror lets me take a photo of myself

A frame within a frame

Now that we are aware of the edges of the view finder, which are literally the frame, we can explore placing a frame within your frame.
The use of a shape to frame your subject is like the echo in a tunnel, it gives something back.  It can be a window, a mirror or a doorway. Anything that creates a shape will do, so think out side the box or in this case frame.

Being framed

We all have the tendency to see something of interest and just put it smack in the middle of the picture. That is okay, but then you need to go further. Move beyond the initial interest to a space of exploration. Try various compositions to see which one works best. That is the difference between taking a image and creating one.

Here is example:

First image with the rose in the center

This composition explores the lines of the branches in contrast to the light value and texture of the rose

Notice the horizon line in the background

To frame or not to frame

Painters have a canvas, photographers have the view finders frame. The viewfinder's rectangular shape is our canvas and we should put thought into every aspect within this rectangle. The arrangement of all the different elements, from the placement of the subject to what appears along the edges, is what composing is all about. A well composed photograph is like a great piece of music, it sings.

Take the time to frame each one of your images, be aware of the edges including only what you want and nothing of what you do not want. Give your Photoshop crop tool a vacation - compose in camera.

Choice

In photography as well as in life we get to choose.

We get to choose what we include and what we do not inside the frame.

A camera frames the world in which we see, it becomes our frame of vision. The choice of subject matter, what we choose to include and the subjects placement within the frame is what makes each photographers vision unique.

What do you choose?