for the love of lines

I often don't know how to get inside a photograph. Do you know what I mean? I stand on the edge of an event, a protest, a gathering... and I don't always know how to best jump in. What do I focus on? Where do I choose to look? It takes me some time to get comfortable and find my focus, narrow my view down to a few frames that tell the best story.

Photography is a powerful tool. We wield our cameras with the possibility to share perspective. When I am outside of my comfort zone {gulp!} I often don't know where to begin. The job seems too big. When I feel myself in this struggle... that's when I most want to push myself with my photography and break through those walls.

I am totally drawn to the old bricks of this port city. The age and weather begs to be seen and shared. I stare up at these buildings; covered with ivy, dripping with story. My feet freeze below me as I stand for a minute trying to figure out how best to frame the shot. Shooting buildings {for me} is outside my comfort zone. They just stand there unwaivering! No chasing needed, they are proud and strong and never blink. So why is it that they make me cringe?

I think figuring out your boundaries is a great step in improving your photography. I am constantly on the lookout for the learning curve. I like its steepness. I like being schooled; and depending on the day, coming away from an event with a memory card full of garbage is a good thing, albeit frustrating. It only forces me to try harder next time. To seek inspiration.

And so it is with me and buildings. I try to come at them from different angles. To find the love of lines. To create something abstract from brick and mortar. That is the challenge. And so I seek out inspiration in different forms.

Share with us today your perspective. What lies outside your photography comfort zone? How often do you attempt to shoot it? How do you begin climbing that learning curve?

Comments

[Marcie]

I think I'm always looking to push the limits and boundaries - a different angle..a different point-of-view..a different way to see and capture beauty:
http://marciescudderstudios.squarespace.com/home/2011/10/3/tattered-lace.html

Love the brickwork in your image..and - for a moment - I thought those curved window heads with the green were eyes and eyelashes looking at me.

[Mira]

I really like this photo a lot; probably becasue lines always get my attention. What is outside my comfort zone? Right not it's the editing process. I tend to like classic edits that are timeless and less obvious but lately I am forcing myself out of a comfort zone. I am not very comfortable with edgy post-processing and that's what I am forcing my self to do a little bit more than usual. In my last post, I've applied different textures to all four photos from Florence, Italy. http://www.miracrisp.com/2011/10/snapshots-textured-postcards-from.html

[Ingunn]

Your composition makes this image much stronger, and I think you found a very good solution to your challenge. Great photo! My biggest challenge is photographing people, I think. It is intimidating and difficult. However, a recent workshop gave me some confidence to try harder to make portraits.
http://maketakephoto.com/blog/2011/10/1/portraiture.html and http://maketakephoto.com/blog/2011/10/2/photography-workshop-in-oslo.html

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[pthurmond1]

Food and people! I have a really hard time with both of these. You have seen all of my "people" pics in the past(which is not a lot). So I thought I would show you my ONLY food pic. HELP!!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50901045@N02/6088156419/in/photostream/lightbox/

[marina]

such a beautiful photo, Meredith! I love the tilt, the processing, the repeating patterns of the windows, the odd writing. such an inspiring aim yours of creating something abstract from brick and mortar! can I borrow it?
I am allowing myself to be pulled outside of my comfort zone by Tracey's weekly prompts in Picture Inspiration. this week the prompt is "fly on the wall". photographing walls and buildings is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I like to play along and learn from the amazing shots shared by all the wonderful people participating in the course.
this is the shot I decided to share for this week's prompt, after having taken more photos of walls in the last few days than in the previous 5 years:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mar_s/6207008636/in/photostream/

[Angie]

I visited The Lake District recently (a national park in the north of England) - it's a beautiful place and somewhere I'd never been before.

Shooting landscapes is something I've had a stab at before but never really embraced - it's what the situation clled for though!

Me and tripods just don't get on so all the photos I took were hand held - It was certainly a novelty dialing-up the aperture to the high numbers, that felt really strange.

Here are some of the many, many shots I took...
http://www.angiemuldowney.co.uk/2011/10/take-a-lake-break/

[Anna]

Meredith,
Love the composition that you came up with and the unusual angle that you've chosen in this capture!
I like to explore a subject from different angles, compositions, view points, etc. The goal always being to figure out what is most significant to me about the subject. I may be drawn to the color, pattern, shapes, feeling, or meaning of a particular place or object.
The blog post that I've chosen illustrates this process, to some degree. The first shot is more conventional, the next focuses in on the curves, composition, end of the season feeling and the last, a B&W, is all about intriguing pattern and values.
http://vandemarkdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunflowers.html

[Brenda]

What an amazing photo - as architecture is my "thing", I love the texture and colors of this brick as well as your unusual perspective.

In Kat Sloma's excellent "Find Your Eye" course, we were challenged to step outside our comfort zone - here are two posts about my frustrations (and joys) with that process:

http://www.gottgraphicsdesign.com/2011/08/26/the-comfort-zone/
http://www.gottgraphicsdesign.com/2011/09/02/trip-the-light-fantastic/

[autumn sun]

shooting architecture is definitely out of my comfort zone - and I am clearly not good at it. i struggled with the light and dark areas. i need a lot more practice and any tips offered.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnsun/6207068445/

[Corinna]

I'm with you -- nature, people, macro? yes yes yes! But architecture and still life vex me to no end. Some days I get happy to dive in to that, and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised... but some days it's just, ugh... Can I shoot a human being again?
http://www.birdwannawhistle.com/blog/2011/5/12/deep-breath.html

[DebC]

Food. I'm always outside my comfort zone when photographing food.
It's always been a challenge for me.
http://simplify-daily-life.blogspot.com/2011/10/20111004-textured-eggs.html

The brick buildings photographed for this post . . . well, they are just great!
I love the angle, the colors, the processing effects.
Wonderful.

[Meghan @ Life Refocused]

I LOVE this photograph, Meredith!!

[Libertad Leal]

This is a great shot Meredith! I know what you are saying. For me is people (specially strangers) and urban/architecture photography. With people I juts feel totally intimidated and with urban I just feel overwhelmed. But I try:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertadleal/5504610205 Sunny Sunday in Downtown Houston

http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertadleal/5887749873 Lovers by the sea

http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertadleal/5535793476 My oldest daughter

[emily]

very inspiring, well as usual! ;)

[Baby by the Sea]

Photos of buildings, like the fabulous one you took, always make me think of what great inspirations they'd be for a quilt. Oh, to be a master quilter. My challenge is landscape or 'distance' as I call it. I always have to hold myself back from focusing in, walking towards. It's like everything changes from the lens frame. So I look with my eyes, commit to liking what I see and hurry-to-click. Does that make sense? It starts with believing in what I see....I'm trying.
Here's an example:
http://www.babybythesea.net/2011/09/this-moment-walking-home-from-school.html

[JEANNE]

Hello Meredith! I really like the photo that you posted on this. The lines are great and really bring your eyes to the same place. Also, great colors! Right now, I am really trying to work on my post processing, and have a long way to go. Enjoy working with textures also, and am trying to learn more about what things go well with the photos that I am using! Fun, but not within my comfort zone yet. Jeanne

[JEANNE]

Oh, and wanted to share some of my texture shots done recently on one of my blogposts. Forgot to add it in my comment.... Working hard on improving these.
http://thebutterflymetamorphosis.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-am-grateful-for-color-in-my-life.html

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