One of a Kind

One of my favorite photographs is one I took a number of years ago while I was still shooting with film...slide film actually.  It is one I have featured a time or two already...maybe you've seen it...It is a photo of a common Queen Annes Lace silhouetted against a setting sun.  It is a very striking image primarily because of its simplicity and I have used it to illustrate that concept numerous times.

Oddly enough, I've never been able to duplicate that photo with my digital camera...trust me I have tried.  That fact proves a number of points...one in particular being that each photograph we take is a unique capture of time and place.  Odds are I will never be able to duplicate that shot exactly primarily because digital images tend to be a bit different in their technical merits than images taken with transparency film.  Slide film has a different richness and depth to it that digital just can't quite catch up to.  I'll probably never go back to shooting film because of the cost factor more than anything and because digital images provide so many advantages over film that the slight technical differences between them is not enough to warrant that kind of retrograde switch.  Even so, I have often felt that shooting transparency film will make a better photographer out of someone than digital.

There is a story to how I captured that one image, a story that illustrates the need to understand how to see photographically and how as a photographer you do what you have to do to get the shot.  It was a typical late summer day in Kentucky and I found myself driving over to an area I had visited several times.  In this area one can find multitudes of photo opportunities all within a compact area.  There are fence rows, high vantage points, a small creek, rolling hills, and country flavor all around.  On that day I had been shooting for several hours late in the afternoon and was reaching the end of my film stock.  It was late in evening and the sun was a few minutes from dropping behind the ridge that stretched across the west end of a pasture that spread out across a shallow valley.  Along the old road and fence were hundreds of Queen Annes swaying in the gentle breeze.

I stopped along a wide spot in the road hoping to capture one of those amazing Kentucky sunsets, but the sky was very hazy and the conditions just were not going to develop the way I hoped for.  I was down to my last shot on that roll when I noticed a single Queen Anne standing straight and tall on the other side of the barbed wire fence.  I bent low to take a look and realized that if I could get into the right position I could line up the flower head against the glowing disk of the sun as it hovered above the ridge...but I'd have hurry to catch it just right.  I only had the one shot left, so I made a quick evaluation of what I needed in exposure value and bumped the compensation factor up by somewhere around a +1.0.

I'm always amazed at just how fast the sun sets when it gets close to the horizon and I really only had at best less than a minute to get the shot lined up.  Problem was I couldn't get into position quickly enough without crossing the fence and by the time I might have tried I would have missed the opportunity.  So, I quickly disconnected the camera from the tripod and leaned through the barbed wire fence and stretched as far as I could to line up the shot.  It turned out I just could not quite lean far enough to center the flower head on the suns disk.  I was straining so hard to maintain my balance I was about to fall and or get a cramp...so I lined it up as best as I could and fired off the shot.

A few days later after I picked up the processed slides, I thumbed through all 36 exposures and frowned at most of the results...then I came to the very last one...my Queen Anne shot...and I knew at first glance that my days work had not been in vain.  It was the only image from the batch I did anything with.  After scanning it I placed into Photoshop...made a few minor tweaks...and the rest is history.

Close...but not the same.

Seems the fact that I was unable to center the flower on the sun proved to be a blessing disguise as the actual image proved to be much more dramatic being offset the way it was.  Over the years, it has become one of my favorite shots of all time.

As I mentioned previously, I've tried to duplicate that shot with my digital camera...to no avail...but in doing so I have come to the realization that sometimes we just get lucky.  That one quick shot proved to be one of a kind and any attempts to duplicate it could never really surpass the effects of the original.  Maybe someday if the right combination of circumstances presents itself, I just might be able to come close...but until then, I'll just enjoy the original.

Keith

Thru the Lens - A Life Lesson II

Over the years I've discovered that photography often lends itself well to teaching life lessons.  Most of the time they may seem simple on the surface, but when you begin to look more deeply into the possibilities, then it actually makes a lot of sense.

One thing I preach when it comes to photography is that 'Quality of Light' is much more important than Quantity of Light.  Being able to recognize the difference comes with experience and more importantly, is more often found by simply slowing down.  But, the term Quality of Light also carries with it other connotations.

Living in the country, Kris and I love to sit on the porch in the rocking chairs on a summer evening when the heat of the day is beginning subside and the air becomes cooler.  We enjoy listening to the sounds of the evening as the night critters begin their symphony.  Across and up the road a little ways is a small pond that is filled with pea-frogs who with their high pitched chirping fills the evening with their song.  As the glow from the day fades into night, so fades our stress levels and a calming, peaceful feeling begins to prevail.

From my own experience and talking with friends we hear how chaotic lives become.  Although all of us experience chaos from time to time, my wife and I have come to realize that you just have to make time to slow down.  If not by choice, then sooner or later circumstances or health will slow you down...usually when you least want it to.  Case in point being my coming down with shingles a few weeks ago...still fighting some of the effects of that even now.  Guess I just let things chew at me inside longer than I should have and my body said it's time for a rest...if you're not going to do it yourself, then I'm going to force you to...and it did.

From our dining room a large window opens outward to the front porch and we often turn on the light in that room then dim it to a soft light so it will cast a warm glow into the night as we sit outside.  It's just enough light to break the darkness without creating much of a glare.  it provides a soft, calming atmosphere to our evening.  It is also what I call 'Quality Light'.

If we were to turn on the porch lights we'd have plenty of extra light that would flood the area...but we'd also have an excess of glare.  Within a few minutes hundreds of flying bugs and other critters would invade the area and before long what started out as a quiet evening would become an annoyance.

Life I suppose is a lot like that.  More than likely because of 'Glare' we allow into our lives, we miss out on opportunities to enjoy the stillness that we need.  The more 'Glare' we allow to flood our lives...often mistakenly believing we need it...the more 'Life Bugs' tend to come around and mess things up.

I think it is much better to tone it down...use the soft subtle light that God's presence in our lives gives to us that glows from within to light your way. There would be much less glare, more than enough light, and a lot more peace and quiet.  When the warm glow from inside the house casts its light across our porch all things benefit.  We are able to not only see more clearly the things near us, but it adds to the peaceful atmosphere of the moment.  When we allow God's love into our lives, that warm glow begins to shine from within and spills over to the world around us.  It does so softly, without unnecessary glare and by doing so calms not only our lives, but the lives of those who are near to us.

Taking a photograph during the middle of a bright day will generate a well lit snapshot...but will rarely create a photograph with artistic appeal.  Running around looking for something to photograph will more often than not result in not much return for the effort.  But, sit still for a while...just wait and watch until the light is low and soft...that is when the mood changes...the scene transforms into a image that presents itself from the realm of perfection.  'Be still...and know that I am God...'words that will serve us well if we only take time to apply them to not only our photography...but to our lives.

Just sit'n 'n Look'n

There are times I often just sit with my camera in hand and not move from one location.  Sometimes it's on my front porch...sometimes the swing in the back...other times I may be off someplace.  The reason I do this is to help hone my photographic eye.   When you sit in one place long enough, and start looking for something to photograph just from where you are at that moment, then it forces you to look for subtle details and focus in on simple things that you might otherwise overlook.

Photography is, after all, 90% seeing (or looking).  Many novice photographers will often neglect to look for smaller, more subtle things to photograph and instead concentrate on the big obvious things.  Certainly, big obvious things can make for some dramatic photographs, but my take on it is all those things are made up of a series of smaller things...which in many cases are actually more interesting and more importantly, more simple.

The most effective photographs are the one that retain that element of simplicity...not so much lack of complex details...but a simplicity that defines the most important elements that caught your attention to begin with.  Instead of the big complex sunset...photograph the effects of the soft warm light of a setting sun on objects around you.  Look for shape, form, and texture...and the interplay of light and shadows...color and contrast...line and angles.

It sounds simple and that's because...well it is.  You might be surprised at what subject matter will catch your attention and just how something that you might otherwise never give a second thought just might provide a really great photo op...

Keith