This was seen on the way back from California, about a month ago. We were returning from Disneyland, and were landing in Seattle – the last stop before going home. Out the window, I saw Tink. And the sky.
An omen if I ever saw one.
Not sure what it’s an omen of, though. Perhaps of returning home. Perhaps the death march that is chasing a child through Disneyland proper. Perhaps my mood, when reality sinks back in.
An Omen
The light was fantastic that morning, though. Strong, dappled, falling all over. With digital cameras, I’ve never had a flower come out so well saturated and so nicely balanced with light that it could justifiably be taken as is. Usually there’s at least a little bit of tweaking to contrast, shadows, and intensity that’s required.
Not this time.
Hibiscus in Morning Light
The Online Photographer had an article or two about captions under pictures. The subject is still rattling around in my mind – it’s something I haven’t quite come to terms with. On the one hand, some images really stand out on their own. On the other, sometimes images are just lost without text.
Take this image, for example (screenshot with surrounding text):
Screenshot of Pictory blog
This came from one of Pictory’s recent blog posts (here, specifically). On its own, the image doesn’t mean much to me. An older lady spending some time with a hobby, perhaps. Some focused light and nice, deep shadows. But with the text, it turns into a human story, and gives a new meaning: in this case, it screams of loneliness and abandonment.
It’s quite a sad image. Yet there is an uplifting message, that you make your own happiness.
This would be lost without the text.
In your situation, would you have done anything different?
Yesterday I mentioned how Google+ is far superior for interaction. It seems that I missed a thread on Metafilter titled “Flickring Out” where similar thoughts were brought up. Among the more interesting points, things to not forget:
Many photographers are flocking to Google+ these days. It’s the best thing ever, they say. They crow about the superior browsing of photos, and the engagement they get from fellow photographers on G+. I agree with them but I think they’re just a bit off, conceptually.
Coming at this from a different angle: I’ve finally put my finger on what it is that frustrates me about Flickr, yet excites me about Google+. It’s the interaction.
On Flickr, you can comment. But it’s hard to follow a thread of conversation – you get lost in the noise, as it were. You can follow comments on your photos, but you lose yourself on other peoples’ threads.
G+ really doesn’t have that problem. Not yet, at least. Since there aren’t thousands of annoying banners, invites, etc., you don’t lose track of the conversation.
So for me, that’s really it. Flickr still has its place, but barely. Google+ is more appropriate (for now) for connecting with like-minded people.
View from Kalaulau
Originally posted on the family site. I really like this one, though, so I’m posting it again.
Do you read LensWork? If you’re a photographer, you should. Shoot, if you like black and white photography at all, you should.
I’m not shilling for them, mind you. This is just my opionion: there’s no better publication for B&W art-style photography. Even if the photographs inside aren’t to my taste, I’ll happily say: at least the layout is dependable and you’re not constantly crushed by ads (all advertisements are in the beginning & end of each issue, but not between pages like a typical magazine).
I’m only mentioning this because I’m having a hard time focusing on content in magazines these days. In fact, I’m dumping my Professional Photographer and American Photo subscriptions altogether, and just skimming all others.
Here’s the problem: I’ll start reading an article, then I get interrupted. I have to skip a page where some loud advertisement is telling me that their shiny tool will make my life better. What was I reading? Oh yeah, skip a page. Read a bit more. Get distracted by sidebars, the smaller ads, ads on the opposite page, etc. Find a “article ends on page whatever” & skip to the end. Search through two or three endings to articles, find mine. What was I reading again?
The disconnects in the middle of reading are killing me.
I suppose this is how they’re doing things – and I suppose this is what they’re used to getting away with. But in the internet age, I don’t have to wade through that mess to get content, so I’m opting out.
I’ve been following the Sartorialist for a while now and I just can’t seem to figure out where all the fat people are. I get it, this is a fashion/street photo site based in New York. No fat people there, or so I’m told.
But I do like the style of the work and wonder: how would this look if applied to the typical person in the US?
I posted this nearly a month ago on Flickr:
On the road to Denali
I kinda liked it at the time – especially the wisp of cloud and the lower clouds on “normal” sized mountains (by some standards). I’m not so sure now, though. I can see how the HDR effect did pull in a great deal of detail in the foreground & effectively salvaged that, but the sky… It hurts to look at it now.
It’s strange in this case – I never noticed the gradation of the blues in the large size. Looked totally normal. If this were blown up to 16″x20″, it might be fine. But in smaller, web-presentation sizes… well, it’s painful.
So yes, the more I look at it, the less I like it. I think that most people have the same reaction – it’s easily the most viewed photograph of the last month by Flickr standards.
Behind a waterfall
Part of my growth in photography (such as it is) has been of late: I no longer take pictures of any old thing, but instead I look for a purpose. There can be many different reasons – “I was here” (as a snapshot), or “this was neat/beautiful.” But as I get older and experience more, I find myself letting many of the beautiful things slide. They’re no less beautiful, I’ve just seen them before. As such, they hold less interest for me.
The pool in Kauai had a waterfall. It was neat – but then again, it was a rather small waterfall. You could get inside, and that was interesting – but it was somewhat dirty, and not much to see. From the outside, it was just a wall of water. People were constantly moving in & out, and angles weren’t that interesting.
Because I was drawn to it, I knew I would make some photographs. My goals: to remind my daughter what it was like, and to imprint a memory on myself about why this pool was special relative to all others. So thus began the search for an intimate, unusual view. Something that would stand out in my mind.
Although the photograph associated with this post isn’t really that good on any artistic level, it meets my purpose for shooting in this case. It’s wet, as you are in the cave. The view is unusual – from behind the waterfall. You’re close to the water that is falling – intimately close, in fact. There are people nearby – a little girl taking photos of everything with her camera (that was cute!), her mother with her, people lounging in the sun in the distance, and the building where the magic man made magical drinks that relax mommy and daddy.
Although no award-winner, I consider it a success.