Mar 18, 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.
(If you’re new to this photography series you might want to read how it all began in Part 1)
Hanging Out with the Dead
This set of photos is a bit like a series within a series. Determined to capture the beauty of fall (which I seem to miss most years), I set out to my favorite outdoor photography location: the cemetery. My idea was to pan the camera with the falling leaves and capture the motion in the background, but my lack of patience combined with my Photoshop skills guided me to an easier way to create what I was after.
Although each of these photos is made up of two separate photographs, they both came from the same scene. As I blurred the landscapes in my camera, I also collected leaves from each area to be photographed later on. That makes it real enough for me! =P
Collecting some pretty leaves, freshly fallen, from each scene I captured.
It was a brutal awakening, though, when it came time to silo the leaves. Have you ever gotten a close look at the serrated edges on a maple leaf?! Let’s just say I overestimated the “easy” factor.
The snapshot that follows each one of my final creations is to show you what each scene looked like before I blurred it into oblivion. I also include links to each original blog post in case you want to read the 100 words that go with it. Scroll down to the end if you want the nerdy technical details.
Fall Leaf Flight
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I reminisce about another cemetery shoot and show off my favorite mistake in the post that compliments this photo: In the Graveyard
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Fall Leaf Flight.”
Fall Spectrum
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A silly story about how I expected this shoot to go, and how it actually went.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Fall Spectrum.”
Autumn in Orange and Blue
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A Leaf is Like a Pixel is a brief personal essay on the big picture and the small details of fall.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Autumn in Orange and Blue.”
Autumn Leaf Flight
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The Life of a Hermit – an uncensored, and reoccurring, moment in my life.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Autumn Leaf Flight.”
Wind Swept Leaf
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The Perfect Storm: go to the scene of the shoot with me in this post.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Wind Swept Leaf.”
Red Zephyr
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I prove that seeing isn’t always a strong enough case for believing in this story about my dog and me. (Includes super cute photos of my pit bull in a monkey sweater, complete with monkey ears!)
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Red Zephyr.”
The Nerdy Photo Details
The background images were created with my 24-70 f/2.8 Nikkor lens set at 1 second and f/22. I shot through an adjustable neutral density filter that blocks anywhere from 1 to 4 stops of light, and I only adjusted this filter for the correct exposure in order to keep my shutter speed and aperture settings consistent.
Most of the leaf images were shot indoors with 1 flash in an umbrella up high on camera left. I might have had a white board on the right to bounce back some fill light, but I don’t remember for sure. The first leaf was actually shot outside, but dealing with the wind and cold convinced me to take the rest of the leaves into the studio to give me some more control.
What’s Next?
Well that’s all the juicy detail I thought you might enjoy about this set of photos. The Life’s a Blur series continues on with water motion blur techniques that create some magical looking backgrounds in Part 3.
Questions and comments are always welcome =)
Mar 13, 2015 |
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My body folded into itself to stay warm as I hunched over a waist-high tripod. My back was starting to ache; I mean, my posture is horrible in the first place, but mix the frigid air with a way-too-low camera, and I may as well start answering to the name Quasimodo.
I caught the falling snow with a piece of glass, examined it under a macro lens, found nothing, wiped it clean, and repeat. The snow hardly resembled a flake of any kind. Shards and clumps of ice were all I saw.
Two hours into this I was ready to pack up the gear and head to some warmer ground… like the floor of my apartment. I could almost feel my toes again as I thought of my snuggly Gracie Lou.
I took the last images of the last snow catch and reviewed them on the screen. That’s when I saw it, down at the bottom of the frame: my first fully-formed snowflake!
The universe has a way of taking me right to that line before my breaking point. My excitement pushed me through the pain well past 2 am that night.
Persistence pays off.
Just as I was about to give up, I discovered this little ice gem.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Mar 6, 2015
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An insistent sound crept into my ears. I reached for my phone, and squinted with one eye to find the please-shut-up button. Gracie shifted, and I knew any slight movement would trigger a dash to her breakfast bowl.
As I eased my eyes open, things seemed too bright. I sat straight up and gasped – I’d slept in.
Whatever, I thought, Gracie won’t get extra snuggles, but I can still be on time. Then we stepped outside into several inches of snow.
I’d wished for snow all weekend and here it was, too late for my photo-op, and just in time for our 33-mile commute. Bitter is a euphemism for what I felt.
On the way out, I noticed a huge, gorgeously intricate snowflake and, for a second, I considered blowing off work. My responsibility is seeming more and more like my fatal flaw lately.
The car stuttered during our entire drive – the problem we just paid $3,800 to “fix.” After a minor cursing fit, I forced myself to cheer up.
That perfect snowflake drowned all other thought. All day I balanced between regret for leaving home, and hope that it’d snow again soon.
It helps to have hope.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 27, 2015 |
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Photography. A term recognized by all, appreciated by some, and oversimplified by too many. To the average observer, it’s a 2D product AND a 2D concept: a camera captures an instant of reality.
When I think of photography, though, I see all the layers in between. In my work, I see photography as a mixed media, not just a capture of what’s already there.
Building the set is a lot like making a sculpture. It might not be very strong or permanent, but I mold it with my two hands.
Then there’s the lighting layer. Light can color a scene, set a mood, and highlight, diminish, or simply alter your subject.
Now comes the camera, and it’s not just a reality replicator, it’s a tool to further mold the image. From lens perspective to settings, there are decisions to make with sliding scales in between: Sharp or soft? Smooth or grainy? Fast or slow?
The digital layer is my favorite part of the process. With my Wacom tablet and digital pen in hand, this is when I really start to feel more like an artist and less like a manual laborer.
All these layers are now flattened onto your screen, but I just thought you’d like to know about all the others in between.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 20, 2015 |
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“Where do you want your paintings?” The bitch in me is usually quick to correct, but the artist in me liked the sound of that.
“Paintings.” I repeated, just to hear it again. Yes, I did like the sound of that.
They were 20×30 photographs, printed on canvas, and Nick was helping me set up the display in my event booth at a local pet parade.
To my delight, Nick was not the last person to make this mistake about my work. If people thought my pet portraits were like paintings, what would they think about my artsy work?
The progression to more painting-like photography is another motivation behind my decision to continue this series. I know it’s a cliché for any photographer to say that they paint with light, but now I’m painting with movement too.
Each bit of motion is another brush stroke. Each brush stroke is unique; even in attempts to repeat my movements, I never get the same result twice.
What do you think? Could this photo pass for a painting?
(There is also a wide photo very similar to this one in my shop here: Wide Daisy Tie Dye)
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 13, 2015 |
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It’s 2:22 am. I need to wake up in less than four hours, but I can’t stop searching, scrolling, and reading. A new spark has lit a flame in me and there’s no blowing it out.
This isn’t a story that’s limited to one moment… this is a regular happening in my life. When I get an idea in my head, I need to read everything on the subject and do it. Now. Any obligation that gets in the way of my new obssession becomes extremely agitating: making dinner, doing dishes, the eight-hour interruption of a day job and, worst of all, sleep… ugh!
The firey petals in the background of these photos makes me think of my many passions; they might burn at different temperatures and dim down sometimes, but my life will always be filled with their fire. I’ll never be able to focus on only one, nor will I ever blow the others out.
Photography and writing have always burned inside of me in various forms. Sometimes, though, I go off on little – ok big – tangents. I have every supply you might need for scrapbooking, jewerly-making, beading, drawing, painting, and now nail art!
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
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A girly get together to practice my new nail art skills for Valentine’s Day!
Feb 6, 2015
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In the early morning darkness I felt my way into the living room, piled pillows into our giant bean bag chair, plopped myself down, and crossed my legs. I popped a couple of ear buds into my head and waited for the soothing Australian man to guide me into a more aware state of mind.
This was my daily practice for nearly two years before I became involved in rescue. Unexpected, full face, doggie kisses made it harder to breathe deeply. My open arms became an invitation for my guests to partake in lap dog practice. One foster kitten who stayed with us never hesitated to jolt me with simultaneous gnawing and clawing on my feet.
It wasn’t long before meditation transformed into longer morning walks and sleepy snuggles stretched through the last minute I had to give. I didn’t mind the change, and it was probably just as good, if not better, for my mental health.
The more I dive into this series, though, the more I want to bring meditation back into my everyday life. Thanks to my teacher, Joy Baum, I know to embrace the chaos now; just let it flow all around me.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
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!
