The last of us — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/250
Just a guy getting in the very last his purple coneflowers have to offer. My potted echinacea are last men standing (barely), and I wanted to get in some eleventh hour shots before final decay.
As afternoon light was pouring in over the rooftop I grabbed the camera and went for a slightly upward perspective shooting from a crouched position. With one good flower left I wanted to really go for a sharp cut-off with respect to depth of field, drawing attention to the ends of the front four petals. From there I’d let a low key workflow and buttery bokeh tell the rest of the story.
Tucked away in there that’s the fall — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/250
I’m not sure why but when I see pine cones I automatically make the association to Fall. A quick googling tells me this is the time of year said cones are approaching their max size and thereby most noticeable (even though the subject here is a little guy—no more than an inch in length), so I reckon it’s as simple as that. Not much mystery to this passing observation.
I’ve had my battles with the Fall but this year I’m going to focus on its upside. Most notably: the pictures I’m going to take. Heading into Fall and Winter I know that fog, foliage, amped up sunsets, and snowfall are in store for my camera and I. And moving out of Summer, which for me is the least interesting time photographically, I am excited at what the future holds. I’ve been jonesing to get out there and shoot more. Here comes my chance.
Working under cover — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/400
Yellow daisies. Shoot ’em while they last.
Last week I was taking advantage of the late afternoon sun to create some dramatic flower macros with my Black-eyed Susans backdropped by a Japanese Maple. Some folks find too much sun a bad thing with their flower macros while I find it to be a most useful ally. It affords me stark contrast in lighting, muting the background to a smooth, dark bokeh.
Now that’s all well and good but it wasn’t until I got behind the viewfinder that I saw what was really going on down there; roughly a dozen as of now unidentified insects dutifully consuming what I can only guess is some kind of sugar on the flower stem—please someone correct my ignorance: I’d love to know the type of bug, and what they were doing there. Thanks! Their legs were awful close to an ant’s however the abdomen was much different; oblong, elongated and raised toward the rear.
At the end of the day shooting macro once again reminds me just how much is going on right under our very noses (all hail the mighty cliché). This is what drove me to become a photographer. Before I ever dreamed of shooting wide angle landscapes it was macro and macro alone that fueled my initial instruction and experimentation behind the lens.
Just last night — 14mm | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | EXP 30 sec
It wasn’t until my buddy Jon and I were heading back over Manahawkin Bay en route to the mainland by way of the causeway bridge that we took note of the sky; brightly lit low hanging clouds were racing across it, seemingly illuminated by the light pollution below. Once back at my house we quickly decided to make a run for Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area for photographs. I hadn’t been night shooting in a while and was more excited by the idea than usual.
Once there the clouds had filled in a bit more than we would have liked. And the bugs? Well, they were doing annoying bug things. But after about a half hour some clearing came to bear and brought some stars into the exposure. This shot was my last of the night and it just so happens to be my favorite.
Stylistically I am drawn to deep brooding imagery crying out to the darker corners of the human condition. For me there is almost always an immediate emotional connection to the pain, an empathy of sorts. You see it is not lost on me that our deepest struggles, our rawest emotions, can fuel the creative process and become something more. Something beautiful. Perhaps even more important than the art we create is the catharsis that it brings to ourselves and to others.
Welp. Here I am. Breaker of Rules. Destroyer of Conventional Wisdom. Over and over you’ll hear keep those horizons straight! and get those power lines out of there! And that’s all well and good. Rules exist for a reason. They keep us focused and give us a proven roadmap for success. So whether it’s the rule of thirds or don’t shoot in bad light—ahem, midday—we’re given useful constructs for our photography. And I appreciate that but sometimes you’ve just got to throw the rules out the window.
Just the other day I was chasing down a sunset at my usual Cedar Run Dock Road jaunt and could quickly tell it wasn’t going to materialize into much. Instead of setting up my tripod and stubbornly waiting for the color drama that would never be, I opted for the change-up and went old school handheld. Bugs be damned I was just going to have some fun photo walking for a few minutes. I began taking shots at odd angles using non-standard compositions. To remain off the beaten path I used Trey Ratcliffe’s Adobe Lightroom preset, The Navigator and rendered this post-apocalyptic look.
So get out there and shoot what you feel. Rules be damned, I dig it.
What? More black and white purple coneflowers? Can’t stop, won’t stop.
This is a natural successor to my shot last week; all the same principles applied rending a stark low key macro study of the echinacea flower. Approaching the shot from an angle this time allows the eye to travel through the shallow depth of field—in and out of focus—settling at the center point. It amazes me that this flowerhead was roughly the size of a nickel, and that despite its relative smallness it’s able to pack in all those stamen over such a small area. Not only that, it’s able to still create the feeling a room between them. No personal space issues here. As always nature is pretty cool.
My potted purple coneflower wins my appreciation this day. I spent a chunk of my afternoon shooting macros of a nascent cleome in my side yard making what I thought were good shots. They just weren’t as intricate and gripping as this echinacea. From the moment I saw this on my rear display I knew I was going black and white. This is a look (style?) I want to continue to develop; stark, low key still life studies with deep shadows, purposeful highlights, and enough contrast to let the negative space breathe. Photographs that accentuate clean lines and sharp edges that reach out for attention.
And just to editorialize on this image for a little bit, this totally makes my mind think of the wondrous reality that is spacetime. The fabric of space is so well represented in the stamen here; with all in its invisible grasp falling ever closer to its lightless, collapsed center.
It starts with one — 100mm | f/4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/400
The daisy is one of the favorite flowers. Simple, plentiful, hearty yet understated. I have two small daisy patches in my front flowerbed and since getting into this whole photography thing they’ve proven some of my favorite flowers to photograph. The reason? Versatility. From bud, to opening, to full blossom, to death, the daisy’s life is an interesting one. A watchable one. Eminently photographable and pure in its plainness, simple white daisy I will always watch you.
On a personal note, this kind of photography excites me: black and white, minimal, low key and emotive. It’s a style I wish to further develop. For me it sorta has this voodoo it factor and this is getting somewhere in that realm for me. My thoughts are vauge if only because my vision is as well.
