Broadened re-focus

Obsession:  n.

1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.
2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

  Something to know about me: I suffer from the above with almost every new idea I concoct.  Sometimes it shows itself in the exponential growth of an idea until it becomes so irrational as to be unattainable, and is lost in the discouragement that comes from the prospect of perusing the impossible.  Other times it causes an idea to become so engrossing that it crowds out all else in my mind, such that I manifest more of the outward emotional symptoms of the condition; becoming preoccupied, distracted and even irritable when forced to deal with anything else.  More specifically, and to the point, pertaining to my photography, I can so focus on one goal or facet of a particular pursuit that it crowds out all others, and limits my thoughts or creativity that might otherwise come to that pursuit, resulting in a similar discouragement mentioned above, and the subsequent slackening of said pursuit.
  Such was the case last week with my photography.  I was so engrossed in the "topics" I was pursuing that I failed to realize the basic pursuit of just taking more pictures for the love of, and growth in, doing so.  It took seeing something unique that renewed my passion to just take pictures to break this obsession, which happened Saturday morning as I had an hour to kill between meeting with the men of my church (technically for our church, "care") group and going to that caffenol event I mentioned previously.  It seemed that last weeks winter storm had deposited an amazing amount of snow and ice at the inlet of Kenosha's North harbor, resulting in a huge icy mound at the end of the boardwalk against the green navigation light, and what appeared to be a miniature glacier just outside of the middle of the inlet.

  I ended up taking a bit more than an hour on the walk out to the end of the inlet, and Bridgette would have killed me had she seen me descend several of the ladders over the side of the pier to capture the ice formations I found there!  As it was, a couple who live in the apartments across the street saw me do so, and came out to check on me when I didn't emerge for several minutes.  I was grateful for their concern; not everyone these days would think to do that, let alone take the time to come out into the cold, cell phone ready, for the concern of an others welfare.

 

C'mon in!

  So not only did I get some great photos, defy death and experience some rare humanity, but got to share about the blog with a few people.  On top of that, turns out the Kenosha Photo Group's treasurer had the same idea, and he and I ended up striking up a conversation as we shot the aforementioned icy mound.  And now, at least for now, my obsessive mindset is broken and I feel free again to pursue my photography as I had intended, and will not bind myself to a singular subjective focus.  All in all, quite a productive and fortuitous endeavor!

  As for the meeting that followed, I must admit to being a bit disappointed.  Not for any fault of the group, but for that of my conditioned defined at the top.  I simply grew my expectations beyond what the meeting was intended to provide, and I had the experience of any new member of a group as an outsider amidst long-time acquaintances, observing far more than contributing, simultaneously feeling out and being evaluated by the group upon which I had intruded.  Once I realized this was the case, it was easy to accept, and it ended up being a good opportunity to meet more of the Photo Group in an informal setting prior to actually joining.  Having done so, I really am excited to become a member!  These people are experienced and very willing to share their knowledge, and I can tell I will be warmly welcomed.  My next opportunity to see them will be Saturday at the Water Works photo walk.  Should be interesting both in interactions and photographically.

  Outside of shooting the icy Kenosha waterfront, the week was productive photographically at home as I got plenty of shots of the kids, who were my source for the DPS weekly topic of "body parts".  Still, for the specific topic, I only got a couple.  Specifically, the younger two's hands at the piano or giving "knuckles" to an action figure, and Lainey's eye as she peeked out at me from under a blanket.  Total cuteness.

 In light of the week's subjects, I've created two new Flickr Photostreams:  Kenosha and Family.  You can see all my picks from the week there.  I think I've gone on enough for now, but I want to talk about a DPS article soon, so expect that perhaps this weekend.

-JMo

Lesson Re-learned

  The big news around here, and everywhere really, was the blizzard.  When I heard about it on the radio Sunday night/Monday morning, I thought of the berries I had seen on their stalks next to my porch, and realized that if I didn't get to shooting them, the opportunity would soon be lost.  So out came the sled and on went the macro, and down went I to get the shots.  Having the edge of my sled to steady my hand on, I took the time to play a bit with different apertures to vary the depth of field pretty widely, and it went quite well.  I did notice, however, some pretty significant dust spots on the images taken about f/16 and up, but it didn't look too bad, and cleaned up nicely with Lightroom's spot removal "brush" tool:

Bad spots!

All better!

Wheeee!

  Lo and behold, the weather people were right, and we all got dumped on.  I don't know our official total accumulation, but I do know I don't remember the last time I saw snow like this!

  Nothing like a detailed background to make you forget you have a sensor you haven't cleaned in something like a year.  So, blissfully forgetful of the crud lurking in those shadows, I proceeded with an idea of mine that I had mentioned I was working briefly in the last post; making an abstract photo out of an ordinary household item.  I would tell you what I shot and how I set it up, but that takes all the fun out of it for me.  I like making abstracts for the simple pleasure of keeping people guessing what it is!
  Anyways, this subject is white, and completely devoid of detail.  And I was shooting with the macro lens again.  At f/22....

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! DUST!!!!!

   Yuck!  Unfortunately, Lightroom's spot removal tool doesn't do so hot with such plain surfaces, and basically converted all the dust spots into little shaded circles.  Not to mention all the finer spots (note the very upper-left) that I could never clean up with any brush tool.  Off to Photoshop we go!

Mucha better!

  The context-aware healing brush was far superior, and the "Dust and Scratches" filter took care of the finer spots like a champ.  I have read that it typically lessens detail, but, lucky me, there really isn't any here!  I don't think I could be happier with the way this project turned out, and this is the shot I submitted to Popular Photography for their monthly challenge, along with a photo of how I set it up.  Guess you'll have to wait until they publish that one to see it....

  So the lesson I had to re-learn is: Clean your sensor!  After taking a reference shot, I saw how bad the damage really was:

   Out came the cleaning kit, and two swabs later, things were much improved:

  So, take heed!  If you haven't done it before, there are dozens of articles on how to.  It's not as scary as I've heard some make it out to be!  And if you want to see it done, I plan on bringing my kit and camera to an event at Caroline's Coffee in Kenosha called Caffenol.  I'm really looking forward to getting plugged in and meeting other photographers, and hope I can help a few out with the demonstration.  Wanna come?

  This week's DPS subject is "body parts".  I don't have any specific plans for this yet, but I do already have a shot of Zach, our youngest (in the blue snowsuit above) giving "knuckles" to an action figure.  We'll see what else happens.

Lastly, if you want to be utterly overwhelmed with photos and information, check out DPS articles Links, and "best of 2010" blog list.

Have a great week, stay warm, and I hope to see you at Caroline's!

-JMo


  

January Clips & links

  Since March of 2009 I have been keeping a notebook of clippings from the photo magazines I have subscribed to, at present they are Popular Photography and American Photo.  I strongly recommend this for everyone; it's a great way to stay inspired and keep things to try around.  Popular Photography is geared towards tips, techniques and gear, American Photo is more of a chronicle of photography in America, featuring photographers, their work and stories and the culture in general.  I also recommend Digital Photo Pro, though the covers and feature articles can be what I consider smutty, their articles are really outstanding.

  I also though a few articles from Digital Photography School have been pretty good this week, so if you haven't been there yet, let me point you to them more directly.  We'll start with the clippings, though.

  This month's all come from American Photo.  The first is a line from a Joe McNally article about using a single flash for portraiture:  "...in the natural world, as we all know, there's only one light source: the sun.  And Mother Nature does just fine with it.  Photographers, take note."  This is the second article I've read in nearly as many months that talk about using flash to emulate the sun.  Makes sense, no?
  The second is a quote from Robert Voit, in an article on his work photographing cell tower "trees":  "I'm not so blue-eyed as to think that I can change anything in the world with my pictures...It's just big fun to point out these things that go on in our world.  The craziness is so funky, you don't need Photoshop."  Not only do I agree, but anyone who tells me I don't need Photoshop gets kudos from me!
  Next is from an article on Sandra Phillips, senior curator of photography at the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art who said, "The language in which we have framed photography—we 'catch' a subject or 'shoot' a person—has a kind of aggressiveness that hasn't been fully understood.  And I discovered that in the 19th century, when the camera was made portable and small enough to conceal, there was an immense wave of people making photographs without acknowledging their subjects—much like with cell-phone technology now."  I think this is just how photography is, and will likely always be, but it is interesting to think of how we can de-humanize our subjects and turn photography into something cynical.  For me, this will be something to guard against.
  Another quote came from Kevin King, inventor of the Radio Popper:  "...I was always willing to stop to find out, 'well, how hard is it really?' before deciding I couldn't do it.  You might discover the solution is a lot easier than you thought."  I need to apply this thinking to all of life, but it certainly couldn't hurt my photography!
  Lastly, their winner of the photojournalism category for photos of the year is Jen Judge, whose picture of a nurse with a Haitian child with cerebral paulsey really struck me.  No words for this one, just incredible images!

  I don't feel that my clips from Popular Photography are worth posting, but they did have some great images to showcase highly recommended lenses that have caused me to add them to my wish list, like Nikon's 24-70 f/2.8 ED and their 14-24 f/2.8 ED.  Did I say "wish list"?  I meant the "when I win the lotto list".
  For you zoo frequenters, there was a great photo of a lion that won the December photo challenge, taken by Martin Knippel, who said that "the animals always look so bored.  It's a challenge to give them a spark of personality."  So next time you're at the zoo, take that challenge for yourself.
  This month's challenge is to take a household item and turn it into an abstract photograph.  I'm working on this one.

  As for those Digital Photography School articles, the first is one for all you who are curious or on the fence about shooting RAW files instead of jpeg's.  I can tell you, once you do and see the benefits in your editing, you won't go back!  However, if you don't edit at all then you may want to stick with what works for you.  Either way, check out this article for some thoughts on the matter, some tutorials and free editing software.
  There was also an excellent article on enhancing your creativity.  Since one of the recommendations is "break the rules", I think this one is for those who know and follow the "rules" already, so if you don't, don't take this as license not to learn them!
  This might be my favorite article today, one on how to stop being a "luck photographer".  It involves a lot of "learn" and "try" points, so be prepared if you're serious about starting to take pictures "on purpose"!
  The last and most recent is another on boosting your creativity, excuse me, your "creative mojo".  This one is a bit more practical, and will encourage you to get out and shoot.

I hope these are helpful; they are to me!
-JMo