My Blog (and I) have been off-line for a while, as my family and I enjoyed a well-earned vacation. This short entry, to recouple myself to the Blog world, is titled "Artist at Work" - and contains a wink, ";-)" - at the end because I am decidedly poking a bit of fun at myself. While I aspire to one day attain the right to call myself an "Artist," I have also retained enough objectivity in my short life to appreciate I have a way to go to get to that point.
The image shown above is a before and after shot. The before shot (on the left-hand-side) exists by courtesy of my beautiful (and brave) wife, who was with me on the Florida beach as yours truly was (incredibly, and somewhat idiotically!) taking a series of Hiroshi Sugimoto-like long-exposures of some pylons sticking out of the water as it, the beach, and my wife and I were pummeled by close-to-hurricane-level winds! The after shot (on the right; "after" referring to the physically banged up state my wife and I were in after braving the inhumanly vicious winds!) was among the several images I somewhow managed to capture without my hat, camera, tripod, and bag being blown half-way to Cuba.
Suffice it to say that I now understand two things about my photography (and physical state):
1. That it is not why I take the pictures of the things I tend to take the pictures of (leaves, reeds, vines, dilapidated buildings, ...) that people stare at me when I take pictures with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity; rather, people stare at me with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity because of how I take my pictures.
2. The reason my back (and neck, and shoulders, and knees, and ...) seem to hurt all the time has less to do with the inevitable age-creep (I'm only 45 for Goodness sake;-), and everything to do with the contortions I put my poor body through to get that next shot! (The irony is that my body, in the act of capturing the beauty of dilapidated buildings, is itself succumbing - rapidly - to the same entropic decay!)
When I said to my wife (while laughing at what I thought was a "fluke" picture of me in a comically and awkwardly wrenched position), "Hey, you were lucky to catch me like that!"... it was my turn to stare at my wife (with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity;-) when she gently, but firmly, assured me that I always look like that when taking pictures. Whether I am in a mini-hurricane (as above), or precariously balanced on a ledge on some cliff in Hawaii, or delicately (and typically not all-too-well) poised on one leg on a small rock in the middle of a babbling brook, I'm always scrunched up like a pretzel!
The "Artist at Work" indeed!
Thursday, April 20, 2006
"Artist at Work" ;-)
My Blog (and I) have been off-line for a while, as my family and I enjoyed a well-earned vacation. This short entry, to recouple myself to the Blog world, is titled "Artist at Work" - and contains a wink, ";-)" - at the end because I am decidedly poking a bit of fun at myself. While I aspire to one day attain the right to call myself an "Artist," I have also retained enough objectivity in my short life to appreciate I have a way to go to get to that point.
The image shown above is a before and after shot. The before shot (on the left-hand-side) exists by courtesy of my beautiful (and brave) wife, who was with me on the Florida beach as yours truly was (incredibly, and somewhat idiotically!) taking a series of Hiroshi Sugimoto-like long-exposures of some pylons sticking out of the water as it, the beach, and my wife and I were pummeled by close-to-hurricane-level winds! The after shot (on the right; "after" referring to the physically banged up state my wife and I were in after braving the inhumanly vicious winds!) was among the several images I somewhow managed to capture without my hat, camera, tripod, and bag being blown half-way to Cuba.
Suffice it to say that I now understand two things about my photography (and physical state):
1. That it is not why I take the pictures of the things I tend to take the pictures of (leaves, reeds, vines, dilapidated buildings, ...) that people stare at me when I take pictures with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity; rather, people stare at me with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity because of how I take my pictures.
2. The reason my back (and neck, and shoulders, and knees, and ...) seem to hurt all the time has less to do with the inevitable age-creep (I'm only 45 for Goodness sake;-), and everything to do with the contortions I put my poor body through to get that next shot! (The irony is that my body, in the act of capturing the beauty of dilapidated buildings, is itself succumbing - rapidly - to the same entropic decay!)
When I said to my wife (while laughing at what I thought was a "fluke" picture of me in a comically and awkwardly wrenched position), "Hey, you were lucky to catch me like that!"... it was my turn to stare at my wife (with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity;-) when she gently, but firmly, assured me that I always look like that when taking pictures. Whether I am in a mini-hurricane (as above), or precariously balanced on a ledge on some cliff in Hawaii, or delicately (and typically not all-too-well) poised on one leg on a small rock in the middle of a babbling brook, I'm always scrunched up like a pretzel!
The "Artist at Work" indeed!
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4 comments:
If you exercised more, did a little yoga, and stretched, I bet you'd feel better. It wouldn't help how you look, but then again, who knows?
ha ha ha
Nice picture.
I wonder though why you showed how you took the picture (right, finished product) and not simply the final photo and let it stand as it is. Why tell us what you went through instead of just seeing the end result? Does the process of what you saw, what you did to the image, somehow make the image more meaningful? I mean, I like knowing what the image is and how you took it.
Please respond to your blog comments so I can see them when (if?) I return.
Like your blog, by the way. Good pics, and comments. Keep 'em up.
To "Anonymous":
The reason the B&W "final" image is not shown "by itself" is, simply, because the point of this blog entry is neither to show nor ruminate about the resulting "picture" - per se - rather, it is to recount (what to me, at least) is a humorous peek into what sometimes (in my case, almost always) happens "behind the camera."
I'm glad you enjoyed the picture though, and thank you for for kind words about the Blog in general. Assuming my "Sugimoto-like" exposures really did come out half-way reasonably (I do not yet know), rest assured one or more will be featured either here or on my on-line gallery. When they do, *they* (and not my anecdotes) will dictate the form they appear in on line.
Andy,
Thanks for your comments about my recent images. I was always curious if there was ever any sort of pattern in my work, it is interesting to hear your opinions on it. I have been recently trying to think of some ideas to start up a series, I haven't been able to find something that I am that passionate about to photograph that intensly. I really enjoyed your most recent post, to me watching the photographer in the action of creating photographs is of must interest. I also really like what I see of the images you created that day, I would love to see more! Keep up the amazing work, it is of much inspiration.
Matt
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