Drop-laden leaf
Glistenings from Morgan’s garden.
The Fly
The Fly
Little Fly
Thy summer’s play,
My thoughtless hand
Has brush’d away.
Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?
For I dance
And drink & sing;
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life
And strength & breath;
And the want
Of thought is death;
Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.
William Blake, Songs of Experience
From a Moving Train (on a rainy day): Part Two
The Train
Fleabane
These sweet flowers (fleabane, I think) seem like weeds, they thrive so effortlessly, springing up unexpectedly out of piles of rocks and cracks in people’s sidewalks . I was quite taken with this little gang. They were soaked from the rain but still wore their cheerful gaze on what was a very gray afternoon.
I am behind on my visits, but I’ll catch up soon! Thank you for your patience, and a big thank you, too, to all those who have stopped in recently for a visit here. I am so grateful for your time and feedback.
“Let the rain kiss you…” (Langston Hughes)
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(5)
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(7)
A few of these images are not as crisp as I would like, but I took all of them without any sort of support (tripod, monopod, etc.) , holding an umbrella in one hand and my camera in the other. If there is a hands-free umbrella (that flips up out of a back-back or something) made for photographers, I need to find it (or design it myself, if not), because I assume the most ridiculous postures trying to keep my camera lens dry in the rain. I was determined, though, to try to capture these beautiful little buds. Perhaps someone can help me identify them. These tiny light purple buds unfold into large clusters of pink tubes (rounded at the ends). I feel like it’s quite a common vine flower, but the name is escaping me and my efforts to google it are coming up with all the wrong images.
“BOOOORING!”
I can always count on my partner to give honest feedback about my photographs. She is an art historian with a very solid understanding of what makes a successful image and what doesn’t. We have had a lot of conversations about composition. Sometimes if I am sorting through my own photographs from the day (I have been going out every chance I get lately to get in some “practice”), she’ll look over and offer comments.
We’ve narrowed her system down to “strong” and “BORING!” And I take no offense whatsoever when she says “BORING!” It’s actually somewhat of a relief to have that immediate response because I was usually already leaning that way myself.
Of course I have my own ideas about my work and don’t always agree with her, but it’s food for good conversation, when we disagree, because I learn a lot from these discussions.
This is where the images I’m attaching for today come in. These provoked an immediate “BOOOORING!” from her, and I was a bit taken aback. I like this first image.
She says it’s flat and uninteresting. I reply: “But look, I caught those drops just before they fell!” “So,” she replied. “There are lots of photographs like that. There is nothing unique about this. Your feelings in the moment as you captured it don’t transfer to the image. You can’t think that way. The image stands alone.” “But for me there is a certain tension here, amidst a calmness. I like it.” “You emotions are not infused into the image. Your liking it doesn’t make it good. It’s a weak photograph.” And the conversation continued. To no avail, I defended the color, the composition, the interest for nature-lovers…. There was no convincing her. The photograph remains “boring.”
While none of the images here are “successful” from her point of view, it’s the third one that she considers the strongest.
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I am eager to hear what others think about these, and believe me, I am completely open to all opinions here. I want to understand what makes an image work and what doesn’t. What would make these images stronger? How would you have approached this “shot.” I’ll be grateful for your input!
Update: I just saw a great a shot over on Steve’s site: http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/a-world-in-a-drop-of-resin/ I think that I’m going to figure a lot out by seeing strong examples of what actually does work.
Update #2: Fellow-blogger and photographer Pablo (of the fantastic blog pablobuitrago365.wordpress.com) raised a question in his comment about what the first image would look like in B & W, so I decided to check it out. Here it is:
1 (B & W)
I think that this version takes care of some of the “busyness” that a few people mentioned was problematic in the color version, but it also exposes other areas of weakness. Steve mentions in the comments that the subject matter and the focal point of the image are not the same, which of course means the composition doesn’t work, and this is really clarified for me when I see it in the B & W. I also can see, now that I’m looking at it in B & W that the raindrop I was most intent on capturing (the one in the front) is not as in focus as I thought. Many thanks to Pablo for his question, because has helped see the image in an entirely new way!
