Feb 2, 2015 |
About Life’s a Blur: A photography series that experiments with long exposures and motion blur. Every photo is a combination of movement mixed with a still subject. I’d like to think of each photo like a meditation: stillness in a sea of chaos.
These photos are also part of my Photo and 100 Words project. Since January 2014, I’ve been creating a new photo and writing about it every week. If you’re interested in finding out what prompted me to begin you can read the introduction over here.
How it Began
The evolution of this series has been interesting. The title and the technique came to me first. In the beginning, though, I was being too specific. I had this idea to express the chaos I felt surrounding certain concepts, like time and love.
The ideas for the first two photos came to me while I was brainstorming, and I sketched them out on a couple of Post-Its. I was happy with what I made, everything came out almost exactly as I imagined it would, but the thought of creating more photos with cliche symbols didn’t settle with me. It felt too much like I was forcing it.
My Post-It note sketch when I thought of the idea for this series.
This first photo, “The Pocket Watch Between Tick and Tock,” is composed of 7 different shots I merged together. I’m pretty sure this is the number one most time consuming piece of art I made all year. When this piece was first published, I wrote an acrostic poem to go with it. I called it “Desperately Seeking Time.”
The Pocket Watch Between Tick and Tock
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If you think it’s a creative process to come up with ideas, it’s nothing compared to the creative process of making the set work for you.
I used a mixture of books, a 2 1/2 gallon jug of water, and a paper towel holder with a brick on top, to hang the pocket watch at the exact height I wanted. I know there are more professional tools that would have worked, like a C-Stand, but this tog just doesn’t have the room for too much studio equipment at the moment. So I improvise, and it works!
The pocket watch and all the little watch and clock parts came from my dad, who has been obsessed with building steampunk lamps lately, and has an awesome collection of stuff I can borrow.
Behind the scenes of “The Pocket Watch Between Tick and Tock.”
The swirling discs in the background are actually makeup mirrors I found at Michael’s. I hot glued wooden skewers to the backside, and slipped straws over them. These were pushed into holes in my background board so I could spin them smoothly from the backside.
A look at how I made my props movable on the set.
A Sudden Realization
After creating “Steady Heart” I discovered what this series was really about. I have to admit something to you first, though, the background I was going for didn’t appear. I expected chaos; what I got was tranquility. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I fell in love with it. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow… and the flow of that background swept me away from my original idea.
I was stunned that all the chaotic movements that made this photo appeared so peaceful. (you can read the story behind the photo here) That’s when I realized that this series was about meditation. Each background is like an awareness of the chaotic world and the subject is at peace there.
Steady Heart
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This a-clamp contraption was another creative process, and it wasn’t at all as steady as my title might lead you to believe. The heart is a glass coaster, and its weight made it difficult to balance and prop up. Even looking at this photo as a reference, I don’t think I could do this again, at least not easily!
A look behind the scenes of “Steady Heart.”
I had to put together another hot glue job to make my props work for me. The red glass was transparent, and I didn’t want the background to show through. To make it opaque, I traced it onto a paper plate, and cut out the shape to be used on the back side of the heart. I added some popsicle sticks and stuck the whole contraption together with double stick tape.
A look at another prop hack I came up with.
So that’s all the behind the scenes content I have for you in this post, but there’s more info about how I created the next set of photos in this series in Part 2. If you want to be sure to see my next post, make sure you sign up below. I send out emails only 1x per week; you’ll get my stories and links to other blog posts like this. Don’t miss out!
If you have any questions about what I did here, feel free to ask in the comments below. I’m very open about every aspect of my photography process.
Jan 30, 2015
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I laugh during the lyrics to the national anthem… especially when they get to the part about the “land of the free.”
I am a slave to money. I am a slave to time. Want to know what’s funny about that? Time and money are concepts. They are only as real as we make them and, here in the U.S., Time and Money are the King and Queen of everyone’s universe.
Unfortunately, the only way I see to fight them is to get more of them. The “American Dream” is to have so much money or time you can throw it down the drain.
I’m no different from everyone else from that angle, but I don’t want my drain to be a fancy car, or trendy clothes. I want my time to be mine to create, and I want my money to save lives.
That’s this American’s dream; if someone made time and money real, then making my dream happen should be cake.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jan 23, 2015
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It’s my 1-year blogiversary! Woo hoo for a year of constant creation during my Photo and 100 Words Project!!!
Nerdy Numbers for the Year
Raw images captured: 4,672
For every 90 photos captured, I finalized 1 photo on average. Yup… that’s about how OCD I am.
Words written: 7,172
Did you notice that my word limit changed from 100 words to 100 “and something” words? My average is 138 words per post.
Hours worked: 1028
That means I spent about 20 hours working on every photo. This includes shooting, processing, keywording, writing about them, and then doing promotions. I bet you didn’t think a digital photography business was so time intensive… surprise!!
Just for reference, a full time job consumes about 1,888 hours per year if you consider vacation, holidays, and sick time. And, as many of you know, I also work full time doing product photography.
Woah! That’s 2,916 hours of photography work this year; I’m officially a photograholic.
Plans for 2015
I’ve decided to continue with the “Life’s a Blur” series for the next 6 months to a year. The subject is limiting enough to keep me focused, yet broad enough to keep me inspired.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jan 16, 2015 |
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The car in front of me stopped short, and I jammed hard on the brakes. “Sorry,” I glanced over at Nick, trying to gauge his frustration.
“What?” He asked, grinning. “Should I react like you would?” He twisted suddenly, slammed his cheek and hands against the glass, and raised his knees up into his chest. His eyes and mouth opened wide in pretend shock.
“HA-ha-HA-ha,” I knew a good impression of me when I saw one.
No matter how much I make fun of Nick’s “unmanly” avoidance of driving, we both know it’s better for both of us this way. Although I’m not quite as bad as he made me out to be, I am a bit spastic as a passenger. It’s all about control, and among other things on my to-let-go-of list, control is what I cling to most.
This series has definitely been a practice in releasing some control. Often, the hardest challenges bring the best rewards. So when an unexpected gem shows up in the blur, it’s even better than if I’d put it there myself.
I couldn’t repeat this photo if I tried a million times; there’s something special about that.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jan 9, 2015
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The world seems so big, but it’s nothing but a pin prick in the solar system, a molecule in the milky way, an atom in the seemingly infinite universe. I’ve always been in awe of space. The beauty, the vastness, the mystery. As the world gets smaller in my perspective, I can’t help but feel insignificant. What’s smaller than an atom?
Many times it can take me a while to title my photos, but sometimes a photo will call out to me immediately. This one screamed “galaxy” before it ever left the camera.
Just like that I saw an entire star system in my sink and my perspective flipped. Suddenly I’d been promoted from tinier than an atom to goddess of the rose galaxy. It certainly is a bipolar world I live in.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jan 2, 2015
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With my sink full of flower petals and floating bling, I knew the random abstract backgrounds I could create were endless. At some point during this photoshoot, though, I got tired of all the swirling. I wanted some other kind of movement, but I had to think outside the sink.
The swirling was inspired by the way water drains, so I tried to imagine water in nature. I envisioned streams and rivers, and grew further frustrated. I had already attempted, and failed, to create a flowing waterfall in my sink. Then the ocean overpowered my imagination and I was inspired to make waves.
I thrust my spatula down into the sink, my bling bobbed up and down with a slight sway, and suddenly I had a new way to create.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Dec 26, 2014
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We’re all like little tornadoes, running along life’s unpredictable path. All you pass is swept up into your world, whether you want to absorb it or not, it’ll end up swirling around you. You might be able to push some things back out, but others will get trapped in your whirlwind; circling and circling your head.
You could pick up a branch like a new problem at work. Leaves might surround you like a soothing song overheard on the street. Gravel could strike like a hailstorm on your new car, or sand might strip away a bad relationship like an old layer of paint. We can’t control everything that comes in and out of our lives, we can only be aware of it.
I used to think that I had to fully control the chaotic storm that is my life. I turned to meditation to make myself happy. Eventually, I learned that meditation is not about force. It’s about finding the center of the storm, and being able to be at peace there while the world whips around you.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Dec 25, 2014
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As soon as I stuff my face with turkey and the food guilt starts to settle in, the chaotic energy surrounding Christmas also starts to settle, and then begins to suffocate me like a poisonous gas.
If you know me personally, you might think I’m a Scrooge without reason. I’ve never had a traumatizing Christmas. As a kid, the presents were plentiful and, even though Santa’s handwriting looked strikingly similar to my mother’s, there was bit of magic in the overnight appearance of even more presents, and the half-eaten cookies we’d discover in the morning. There are much more unfortunate people out there with better reasons to hate Christmas, you might think. Sorry, but I just can’t help but be cynical this time of year, it’s in my nature.
Maybe it’s the horrible combination of red and green everywhere you look. It might be the endless carols in every store, on every radio station, and eventually stuck on replay in every corner of my mind!!!
It’s most certainly the somewhat forced kindness and cheer people push out because “tis the season,” and season rules are in effect. There shouldn’t be a season for kindness.
It’s definitely the additional pressure every season-abiding citizen must feel to buy the best gifts, in the most crowded and time-consuming situations. And they better be effin jolly about it too!
I truly feel for the poor people working in retail, who deal with the not-so-jolly consumers. You can’t forget about the small business owners, either, who fret about having the best Black Friday sale, because they fear it’s the last chance they’ll have to sell anything until spring.
Maybe if I had kids I’d be less cynical… but probably not. In my mind, Christmas is just a day that causes way too much unnecessary stress.
A few weeks ago I was deep in stress mode, dreaming of December 26th, and thinking about how to overcome it all, when my gaze settled on this photo. Suddenly, I was transported back to Christmas 2010, the day I made it, and the best Christmas ever.
It was the first time I found myself with no obligations for Christmas. While some might find this sad, I was overjoyed about having some free, uninterrupted, time to spend doing something for me. I quickly made plans with my camera. When my friends insisted I join their families for the holiday, I called my photo plans a present to myself that I couldn’t wait to get started on. That got the point across.
As I gazed at this photo, I remembered how easily I got into the photography zone that day. Just me, my camera, and a few feathers to experiment with. I played with lights, backgrounds, and water droplets, and time passed like a bullet.
This photo is full of so many firsts: It was the first time I ever made something my confidence considered beautiful enough to be called art. It was also the first print I sold as art. It was the first photo Nick claimed as his favorite, and he soon proved it to me by making it the first of my art to hang in our apartment. It was the first Christmas I looked forward to as an adult.
As all these memories flooded my mind, the stress started to ease, and I knew what I had to do this year. It was time to take another Christmas off.
Thankfully, I’m surrounded by people who understand my introverted nature. So when I cancelled Christmas this year, nobody called me Scrooge, or tried to change my mind, they totally got it, and I could breathe a sigh of relief.
Merry Christmas, I hope the holiday was everything you wanted it to be!
Dec 19, 2014
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My hand hovers over the blank page and my restless thumb works the pen tip in and out: click-click click-click, click-click click-click. As I stare at my latest batch of photos and wonder what to write, my eyes fix on this particular rose.
It’s pleading, drowning, and reaching for a savior. The more I look, the more the rose transforms into a figure… like a damsel in distress. Juliet? No. Rapunzel? No. Ariel?! Yes! Ariel, the red-headed mermaid, just before Ursula’s whirlpool drags her from the surface.
So am I a good witch or a bad witch? All the sparkly, shimmery magic that’s swirling around the vase glistens like Glenda from the Wizard of Oz. Of course I’m a good witch!
Then I picture the countertops that surrounded my magical set: piles of petals and bits of chopped stems were scattered across every surface. Am I a flower murderer? Was this a rose massacre? So maybe I’m a bad witch after all.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Dec 12, 2014
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I stood hunched over the sink, at the top of a step ladder. Like a witch stirring a cauldron, I swirled the rose petal dappled water around and around. I may have even cackled a couple of times; I can’t help it, that’s just what my laugh sounds like.
It felt like I was casting a spell on the petals, urging them to flow in the most beautiful possible way. After my spatula left the pool it was out of my hands. Water, petals, and light took over. I only had to click the shutter open: one last decision.
More than 150 clicks later, all the elements came together into this perfectly composed piece. Great composition is a hard thing to find in such semi-random motion, but I think it was worth the wait. Hey, magic takes time, and a good witch has to have patience.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
