Emotion in Motion

I love capturing motion shots.  To me, nothing shows emotion better than an act or movement caught in the moment.  The kids at my son's school put on huge dance performance every year and my 'job' is to put together a slideshow for their friends and family of the photos I've taken to show just prior to the kids taking stage.  Seeing the kids in motion, the pure joy on their faces, shows everyone just how much fun they had getting ready for the big night. 

Capturing motion shots of all kinds can show an array of emotions from the element of surpise to pure delight to simple childhood fun.  How about you? Show us your motion shots.  Let us see the emotion you've captured.   

simplicity

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." ~ Leonardo di Vinci

Today, lets seek simple lines, shapes and minimal colors in our lenses.

Let simplicity speak.

Share with us what you find.

back in time

Spending Spring Break on the Sea of Cortez means capturing hundreds of photos that boast bright vibrant colors. Shooting my daughters splashing in the shore where impossibly clear blue water meets soft white sand under a cloudless blue sky and full sun offers conditions where the shots come out perfectly, just as they are, straight out of the camera (aka SOOC).

Even still, some moments captured aren't about the color of the landscape. In fact, processing them in a way that dials out all distractions is one way to allow them to say more. About childhood. About simplicity. About a place and time we can all relate to. Whether it's looking back at old vintage photographs or remembering our own retro childhood, some images we capture now can still up those distant memories and remind us of the beauty of the past.

Today, let's be time-travelers. Share with us the shots that take you back in time.

center stage

  

There's a small corner of my house that acts as studio and stage for many of my photographic vingnettes. Sliding glass doors to the right give me my main light source. A smaller window on the left offers a burst of fill light, or rim light (pun intended for my mug collection). Dark brown dining room table anchors my frame. A lovely pale blue wall, a china cabinet and cream colored drapes all vie for the backdrop (which I use is dictated by the subject at hand). I use this little area at home almost every day, for morning coffee, as a desk, for family dinner and of course, my photography.

My most recent muse is a loaner-mug. I actually borrowed this sweet tea mug (a la Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf) from a friend so I could capture it in "the studio". It deserved a moment in the limelight. 

After capturing it in a number of different ways, it was this shot that felt just right. It's not often that I would choose a perfect centering of my subject. Centered is usually the last compositional technique I resort too. But, in this case, the light that illuminated the mug, the dark, dramatic background, the soft lines accentuated by a shallow depth of field all work together to bring the magic right to center stage.

Sometimes the only way to be is front and center.

Have you framed a shot lately that communicated the same thing? Something that left you no better choice than to reveal it as is, no apologies, smack dab in the middle of your shot? We'd love to see your center stage shots.

cup of comfort

These days it seems my cup is always full of something steaming, something soothing, and sometimes sweet. I love images of steam rising.  Art in a coffee mug.  Messages from our tea bags.  Beautiful cups; simple, vintage, feminine. Enjoyed anywhere at anytime.

Decaf or high test? Cream or black? Honey with lemon? Tall or grande? Dunkin or Starbucks? Whipped cream or perhaps marshmallows, heaps of them. So many choices,  so much simple beauty right at our fingertips.

What is in your cup today?