Denis Oliver, master

I will put it right out front: I failed. And it is my favorite new thing to do. Okay... while failing may not be exactly new to me, enjoying the freedom to fail is a threshold I've crossed & am glad of it. In this particular case the failure comes in the form of not actually making much effort at all to create a new interpretation of the work of a master. I can't put his picture side by side with mine as an offering for comparison.

But, I can offer an exhibition or two by Denis Oliver (I didn't copy-n-paste his work into this blog as during my attempt to do so I received a kind message asking "please do not copy" and did NOT fail to honor it). What I allowed myself for this stage of the challenge is to start simply by letting his work inspire me, taking whatever effect it does.

The first link above is to Denis Oliver's "Nature" gallery. The first two pictures below were inspired by that gallery (particularly by "How Many Lifetimes" & "Skyflakes"). The second link is for the "Landscape" gallery and was the inspiration for the third submission.

I loved this challenge. I could not come anywhere close to reproducing/understanding how Oliver captures the sky in his landscape work. I really really want to make the claim that I just need a better camera! But that would defeat the pleasure of being a novice & flubbing. What I learned was to pay more attention to how the background looks when I'm working with shallow depths. And I had a serious lesson in the preparation (lifetime long?) for photography. When the sun came out & the clouds looked promising, I raced around town trying to find a location from which to shoot while we still had daylight! Photography, as the name implies, is light-written, but it also must be an art form controlled by the god Kronos!

I challenge myself to make a more in depth study of Oliver's work & in time, Kronos willing, I'll offer that side by side comparison.

DO NOT DENY IT

AS I REACH

ONCE, THEY SANG

Master the Master and Cool Colors

Well it has been an interesting adventure this week!  I can't say that I mastered the master (Andy Goldsworthy) but I certainly have come to appreciate how hard he must work at creating his ephemeral sculptures.  I tried to create several 'copy cat' versions and none came even remotely close to the reality I had envisioned.  Add that I then had to beautifully photograph said creation and it was all a bit much for me.  I did give it a whirl though and had fun trying a variety of different options.  Below is my closest rendition.  First photo below is obviously the master himself, second is my feeble copy.

To be totally honest I was so absorbed in trying to master a master this week, that I had pretty much decided I was going to completely ignore "Cool Colors".  Then the fates intervened.  I woke this morning to the most amazing pea-soup fog, thicker than I have seen for a very long time.  I dropped Kelly at school then raced home, got my camera and set off on a fog-filled photo journey.  While these may not in fact classify as cool colors, I wanted to share them anyway. I figure they are close enough? Cool and mysterious?  Cool and eerie?  Cool and misty?

seasonal warmth

Like you, I didn't tackle primary colors, though I like the idea of it. I did play with it last year in our 365 game. And... for warm colors I had desired to get some outdoor, sunset-y kinds of photos, golden hour stuff. But the snow arrived and though a sunset may have still a warm glow, the wind has been wicked & I never made it outdoors! So, I looked for warmth at home.

 

Warm colors

Ok, I confess that I had absolutely no clever ideas for primary colors, so I just ignored it.  Warm colors, however, were pretty easy given the time of year.  I decided to try to work on my night photography without a tripod - playing with the iso/shutter/aperature in an attempt to get a decent working pic.  I take pics each year at our local pumpkin festival and inevitably I can't get the right combination so the pictures all come out blurry.  I think I did a little bit better this year...perhaps the ratios are finally sinking in.  At any rate, so as not to bore you with a thousand glowing pumpkin pics, these are our three pumpkins which we submitted for the festival.

Abstract, Nature & Abstract Nature

As it turns out, this was a great topic for me this week.  I had been trying to get to this particular sculpture park for a few weeks now and the cosmos finally aligned properly so I could get there yesterday.  I think the fates decided to be kind to me by giving me these topics this week and then having the weather cooperate long enough (though it was iffy at times) for me to snap some images.  I am not sure what I would have submitted if my planned visit had fallen through because I had no other inspiration but this one.  I ended up with so many great shots that I had a hard time narrowing down my choices to submit just a few.  These were my favorites....

abstract

I didn't think I'd come up with anything for this topic... but... I was wrong.

more indulgence outside of assignments

The day after cooking at home for the folks, we treated them along with the extended family to a brunch in honor of their 50th. I didn't stick to the assignments at all, but I did learn a bunch by taking loads of pictures in effort to record these precious days spent in celebration. One thing I haven't practiced, & didn't even know I was missing by focusing on the nature/art shots that capture my attention, is timing. There is a lag from when I hit the button to when the shutter does what shutters do - which created many shots worth shuddering over! I missed so many unrepeatable moments. Makes me realize that there is a unique skill that wedding/event photographers possess.