i'm obsessed

Am I the only one that goes through phases—or maybe more appropriately, obsessions—in my photographic inclinations? A particular angle of interest, recurring subject matter or tiny detail of something specific that for one reason or another draws you in and urges you to recognize them? I’ve been in and out of different phases like this ever since I really got into photography. Some of my past focal fixations have included grain, blur, and toys. And don’t get me started on my passion for the blossoms and blooms that have not only piqued my interest but have held me and my camera captive for the last few months.

When it comes to capturing images of the details of my children, obsession is a mild term. With each passing day there seems to be something perfectly endearing to turn my camera toward. Right now, I’m all about my youngest daughter’s hair—her straggly, stringy, swishing, swooping, swinging hair. I am spellbound by the way it frames her face, wispy blonde strands getting caught up in her dark lashes, brushing her flushed cheeks. My urchin princess. I even cut it myself for fear some insensitive hair dresser might rob me of my photo fetish. See. I told you. I'm obsessed.

And you? I’m curious as to what you have been unable to keep your lens away from. Do you have a photo flavor of the month? Come on, show us your obsessions—we’re all friends here.

the sparkling fifth

Sarah Jessica Parker has said of the characters in Sex and the City: There’s not just the four of us girls. There’s a fifth, and she’s New York City, and she sparkles.

Here, there’s not just the one subject—a boy, for his first birthday—there are two. The boy and the light.

A photo is a snapshot when light is absent—there, obviously, but not playing an active role. That’s alright sometimes. For when you grab the camera to snap cookie dough on a cheek, candles on a cake.

For me, snapshots become more conscious when that special sort of light plays to my favour by chance—inches from a windowpane on a cloudy day, all diffused and wistful, or a burst of beloved flare that bounces off the water, glowing like some watchful spirit.

Specialness in light can be summoned, too, by calling it on stage: tracks on the kitchen ceiling, for instance, thrown out of focus for just what I wanted—the feel of a vintage wonder wheel, a circus, stars for my birthday boy and his spirit-brother.

I need it today. Show me light that’s conscious and manipulated, or discovered by chance, featured as that sparkling ‘fifth character’. Send some my way, will you?

Sunday School: Get Your Flare On

 

Speaking of aperture, I admit that I'm a wide-open shooting junkie.  My aperture is normally set to f/1.4 or f/1.8.  I couldn't figure out why anyone would ever want to shoot at a narrower aperture.  Recently, however, I was inspired by this photo of a starry moon (straight off of the camera, no less!) by the talented Rachel Schell to explore the other extreme of the aperture spectrum (the narrow end), and that is how I finally figured out how to get my flare on.

I saw that Rachel took her photo at the narrowest aperture (f/22) and with a 30 second exposure, and it dawned on me that this made perfect sense.  The narrower the aperture, the longer the exposure you can use, and that's how you get those lovely rays in the form of star-shaped flares, instead of the round blobs of light I normally get when shooting directly at a light source.

This little trick took what would've been a boring night shot and turned it into the bit more dreamy and star-filled photo you see above.  I've been having lots of fun with this, especially since I discovered that the technique works great for taking sun flare shots as well.  If you've never tried this before, I highly recommend it.  My tips for night shots would be to use a tripod (or the ground, as I did in my photo above), to set the camera on timer or use a remote to reduce camera shake, and to play around with different combinations of aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings to get the flare and exposure you want.

So how about you all?  Have any interesting flare you'd like to share?  If you happen to try out this technique for the first time, please share your results with us!

Superhero Photo Challenge: Color Spectrum

I realize that I've been waiting to post, for that exact right moment when I'm not feeling fragmented and distracted. That moment when I'm not simultaneously checking my email, packaging a jewelry order, and wondering if we're too late to apply for preschools or if Ben needs therapy for his chewing issues. And speaking of food, do we have any food in the fridge? and oh yeah, I should probably brush my teeth today. Now which numbers of plastic are bad for you? Better throw away our Nalgenes today. Maybe after one more espresso.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, fragments.

My life is a little chopped up at the moment. My phone calls are all in little slices (call you back, baby just had a poo!) my work is fragmented throughout the day between his naps. My sleep is still fragmented by trips to Ben's room for soothing or milk. Sometimes I feel like I don't give anything my full attention, that everything and everyone gets a little bit less of me than before. Nevertheless, I've been learning to make peace with the the fragmented life.

I posted the above photo because as I look at these paint chips, I see how beautiful this cut up little landscape can be, little bits of color strung together (some you like and some you don't) but together they make quite a stunning composition. This is the lens through which I want to see my life right now. Little bits of beauty, or hurt, or tiredness, or joy all bound together. If you stand back just a little bit you can see how it all fits together and makes something beautiful.

This is what I offer as a photo challenge today. Find a color spectrum.... it could be leaves, or paint, spools of thread, a set of colored pencils, or even buoys.

Then notice how you need the drab icky taupes, the mustardy yellows, the pukey greens, the shapeless greys. Notice how you need all of them to make the spectrum beautiful. Notice that if you only had your favorite colors, the composition would be less rich, textured and ultimately less beautiful.

diptychs

I love diptychs.

This is not an exercise that I'm very comfortable with, but there's something I find very interesting and often absolutely endearing about the joining of two images that create a common theme, two photos that complete each other, literally or not, telling a peculiar story, stirring up various emotions or documenting simple beauty. Together.

Some of my favorite diptychs are featured on two Flickr Pools: Diptychs - two is better than one! and pola-diptych for those who shoot with Polaroid cameras. And while most of you are probably familiar with Stephanie and Mav's wonderful 3191 a year of evenings site, I wanted to share with two other similar photoblogs that I love: mebetweenyou by Alison of Supercapacity fame about her daily life with her two daughters and 2 peas, a photo collaboration between two moms, Joanna and Rachael. I love the intimacy, the funny, touching stories that exude from the associations of their images.

"A mini story in two frames, an association, siblings, parent & child, different perspectives on the same theme, anything that works well as a team of two. Get creative! Think in pairs!"

And share your links in the comment section!