Apr 22, 2016
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)
The Best Photography for the ‘Worst’ Conditions
This is going to be the briefest behind the scenes post ever, because I’ve already totally explained how to create photos similar to these back in part 2. So I’m posting this mostly so you can compare the before and after shots and see what kind of scenery has the most potential.
I will say that this is the perfect kind of photography to do at noon on a sunny day, which is probably my favorite part! Most kinds of subjects don’t look great at all in direct sunlight, especially harsh, mid-day light. In the case of these blurred scenes, though, the harsher the light, the better. You’ll never be able to use the “golden hour” excuse with this technique… although, as you’ll see below, the golden hour works just fine too.
The spring set of Life’s a Blur:
As is usual with these posts I’ve provided links to the original 100 words I wrote to go along with each photo, just in case you want to dig deeper into my world =)
Magnolia Petal in the Breeze
This photo is for sale… click on it for more details.
I don’t know what it was, maybe just the pink and blue, but this image sparked me to write about Baby Season.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Magnolia Petal in the Breeze” and “Shell of a Flower.”
I really encourage you to experiment with each scene! In petal shot above, I got a little more blue by keeping more of the sky in my frame, and I got more pinks and purples by filling my frame with the flowers in the photo below. Both images came from the same scene, though, and you can alter the positioning of colors and the angle of the streaks by moving your camera in a different direction or starting and ending in different areas of your scene. Experiment, experiment, experiment!
Shell of a Flower
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I posted this photo along with a brief account of what it was like to sit under this majestic magnolia tree, I was Afraid to Blink.
Magnolia Petal Swept Away
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I examined everything Bittersweet when I first published this photo.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Magnolia Petal Swept Away.”
This image was shot during the infamous golden hour, as the sun was going down, if you like warmer colors you might still shoot for this time of day. Personally, I’m usually unavailable during this time, so if you’re like me and your schedule is booked during the oh-so-precious golden hour light, just warm up your white balance bar in post. (That won’t work at all for typical landscape photography, but with these abstract scenes, no one will know the difference, promise!)
Sugar Maple Flowers Blow Away
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In Flying Solo I travel back to my teenage years into a memory that was sparked by this photo.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Sugar Maple Flowers Blow Away.”
Forsythia Flight
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I realize this every year, but spring is not always as sweet as it seems, read my thoughts in A Stinky Spring.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Forsythia Flight.”
When I moved my camera horizontally along this scene I ended up with ugly black stripes where the power lines were, but if I moved in any other direction they disappeared. Diagonally seemed to work best for my tastes with these colors!
Dogwood Petal’s Dream
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Sometimes I have A Sick Sense of Humor about the world…
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Dogwood Petal’s Dream.”
Pink Petals Fly
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I suddenly realized that the entire theme behind the Life’s a Blur series is has gotten so far away from me! Isn’t it Ironic?
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Pink Petals Fly.”
This scene was tricky. I had to get in really close to get enough of that pink and purple color I was aiming for. This redbud tree was pretty small and there weren’t that many flowers on it, especially at a distance.
Redbud Flower Flight
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Read Slowing Down in this Blur to experience one of my most memorable moments!
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera to create “Redbud Flower Flight.”
This scene is similar to the last one, but the slight angle change mixed with a diagonal movement of the camera creates a whole new abstraction!
What’s Next?
Well that’s it for Life’s a Blur, but the good news is that you can now access all the behind the scenes content in the links listed below!
How it All Began – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 1
Fall Scenes – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 2
Water Flow and Flowers – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 3
How to Photograph Snowflakes – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 4
Creating Surreal Showers – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 5
In the meantime I’m creating a whole new series right now! In honor of my business name, Reflective Photos, I’m going to be playing around with reflections and distortions to create some fun abstract art. This is partially because I’ve recently become fascinated with reflections, in both the literal and the figurative senses, but also because I know that “reflective photos” is a popular Google search term that finds this site. So why not give the Googlers what they want?
If you want to get my new photos, and more behind the scenes info, like this, delivered to you inbox, make sure to sign up below.
Feb 26, 2016
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)
This photo is for sale… click on it for more details OR read the original post I wrote about it: “Reaching for Dreams“
The concept seemed simple: make it rain. The execution was a bit more complicated, but that was mostly my own fault…
I started out with a bouquet of flowers, a purple backdrop, and a pile of homemade confetti made by sending some construction paper scraps through our paper shredder. Shout out to Nick for simplifying that process! I had intended to use scissors.
I planned on taking long exposures of the flowers and dropping the confetti in the background to create a streaky, rainy effect.
It was only as I was pulling my flashes out of my bag, that I realized I had already run into a problem! I forgot to bring home hot lights from the studio.
A Lesson in Lighting
For those of you who are new to off-camera lighting, there are generally two options: strobes and constant light. The main difference being that constant light stays on and strobes only flash when the camera takes a photo.
There are lots of reasons you might consider using one over another, but for the purposes of this example I needed constant light because I intended to capture long exposures. Flashes tend to freeze motion and would totally negate the soft effect I was going for.
I could’ve waited for the next weekend to come around… or maybe not, I don’t really remember what I had going on at the time, but I don’t have that kind of patience anyway! And so the problem-solving began…
I decided to use my living room lamp as a constant light source. It had three bulbs on it and they were semi-adjustable, so I turned all three of them on and pointed them in the same general direction to even out the lighting on my backdrop. More importantly, the lamp was also going to be lighting the confetti in the background.
The next problem was two-fold. I only had one lamp, so that meant I had to use at least one flash to light up the flower.
First of all, mixing light sources is generally not a good idea because every light has its own colorcast. The lamp was putting out yellowy light compared to the bluish light my flash puts out.
I fixed that issue by balancing the lights with gels, which are just colored sheets of transparent plastic. It just takes a bit of time and experimentation to get it right, but I ended up covering all of the lamp lights with blue gels to negate the yellow, and I did the opposite with my flash by covering it with a yellow gel.
The second problem with using a flash on the flower was that I was also blasting the confetti with the flash too. This created a simultaneously soft and frozen look; there were streaks of color from the confetti lit by the lamp, but there were also hard dots specked across the background that froze when the flash fired. Awesome effect, but it’s not what I wanted.
I had to experiment with some matte board to find the sweet spot where I would block the flash from hitting the confetti but still allow enough light onto the flower. Eventually I got it right!
Then I added in another matte board, covered in aluminum foil, to fill in the right side of the background and bounce more lamp light back into the confetti. I’m sure I had to tweak that angle too, in order to avoid bouncing any light from the flash into the confetti as well.
You might also see that I have a giant reflector above the whole set, and I can’t remember what that was for, but I’m going to assume it was further flash blockage, and lamp light bounceage, on the background area.
More Photos Made from this Setup:
Click the links below each image to read the original 100 words of reflection they inspired! Each image is also available in my art shop, so just click on the images if you are interested in purchasing any of these for you wall.
Warm Rain on a Cool Night
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This image came out alongside my 100-word perspective on why “Rain is Never Gray.”
Towering Twin Flowers
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I have a strong dislike of green backgrounds… and you can read why in “Naturally Unnatural.”
Surreal Showers on Flowers
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I’m constantly amazed at how much more I have yet to discover in my own back yard, that’s what I wrote about in “Spring Sprung New Flowers,” when this photo was first published.
Starfighter Lily Fights the Blues
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I hate when my fellow creative use lack of inspiration as an excuse not to create, and that’s what I wrote about Inspiration is for Lazy Artists.
Learn from My Mistakes!
If I had it to do over, I would NEVER do it this way! It’s a great example, though, of how anything is possible with a little creativity and what you already have.
This is also the last time you’ll see behind the scenes photos in my old studio – ahem – kitchen/living room. All future photos will show off my new studio space! I don’t know about you, but that gives me reason for celebration!
What’s Next?
You’ll get to see what my spring scenes looked like before and after I blurred them in my camera. The technique is the same one I used for parts 2 and 4 in this series, so check the links below if you want to learn more.
This will be the last behind the scenes post about the Life’s a Blur series. If you’re new here, though, you might’ve missed my previous posts on creating motion blur with long exposures!
How it All Began – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 1
Fall Scenes – Life’s a Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 2
Water Flow and Flowers – Life’s A Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 3
How to Photograph Snowflakes – Life’s A Blur – Behind the Scenes – Part 4
Update: Part 6 is now available if you want to get a glimpse behind the spring set of Life’s a Blur!
Jul 10, 2015 |
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I honked the horn of my sea green ’93 Taurus, we were at a red light on a two-lane highway, and when the driver next to us glanced over, Lauren and I smiled with the goofiest grins we could make. We waved at him with quickly flailing hands. Then we looked at each other and cackled like crazies. Before I sped off I glanced back at the man, and I saw that our silliness had spread the smiles.
I was always weirdly silly, but it never came out publicly unless I had an accomplice. I wonder if 30-year-old me can pull it off now all alone as good as 17-year-old me did with my besties back then. I predict more nervous glances than grinning giggles.
There’s something about two people laughing madly that’s contagious… but, ironically, it’s not really an inside joke if it’s only inside you. That’s where the line between hilarious and insane starts to blur.
As I’m writing this, I’m feeling unusually giddy. I’m trying hard not to laugh for fear of drawing strange glances from other coffee house patrons. I miss youth and fearlessness, and I miss all my partners in weird laughter crime.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jul 3, 2015 |
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Under the magnolia tree, I sat on a gravestone to rest. It was a hot day for early spring and I was cooling off in the dappled shade, and getting mesmerized by the glistening sun spots that quivered with the breeze. Every breath of wind sent pink and white petals floating and flipping to the ground.
When you stick your face to the back of a camera, all of your energy is pointed at a single perspective. It’s surprisingly easy to miss everything that’s going on around you.
Relaxing against the cool stone, my gaze floated across the flowery floor. Jutting out between petals were these little brown bunny ear looking things. Once I saw one, I saw them everywhere.They were like little cocoons, I realized, that held in the flower until its beauty was ready to burst.
In a few weeks, I thought, there will be nothing left under this tree but dirt and grass. If you blink, it seems, the flowers have fallen, they melt back into the earth, and it’s like they never existed. Life is truly a blur.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 19, 2015
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“It’s a bittersweet, symphony, this life…” The song plays in my head as I write this.
Everything in life can be seen as either bitter or sweet. More often, though, things can be found floating somewhere in between those extremes, on the way from one end to the other.
A cookie comes with calories. From sweet to bitter.
Running is painfully healthy. From bitter to sweet.
There is never an instance of love that is not eventually followed by loss.
Every path we take is filled with both the opportunity to succeed and the risk of failure.
For me, every opportunity seems like another fear to overcome. It’s like juggling a chocolate chip with an orange peel on my tongue.
Before spring shows its beautiful colors it has to emerge from a barren, muddy brown world flooded by winter’s tears. The beginning of spring is bitterly sweet.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 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.
(If you’re new to this photography series you might want to read how it all began in Part 1)
Is There a Plan B?
When I set out to photograph these flowers my initial ideas weren’t anything like the photos you’ll see below. I had visions of waterfalls and soft streams of water in my head, but the execution was not working. I bought a water filter for a fish tank as a way to recycle the water in my sink, but that’s as far as the good ideas got. I needed a way to spread the water out, and after building a strange-looking contraption made of plexi-glass, hot glue, and plastic straws, and then fiddling with it for far too long, I decided the waterfall idea might best be suited to photographing actual waterfalls.
I had two bouquets of flowers, a sink full of water, very little time, a bombed idea, and no inspiration. I wandered around my apartment, opening drawers of knick-knacks, and scanning my surroundings for other ideas. Eventually I ended up back in the kitchen, staring down into the sink. That’s when I realized I was staring natural water movement right in the face. All I had to do was unplug the drain and the water would swirl!
Love Spell
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Making these photos was a bit like Casting a Spell.
The Setup
There were a few challenges I faced while making this batch of photos. The first was the covering up of the puke yellow drain in the center of my clean white sink. The bottom side of a white plate was an obvious choice, but it took a bit of tweaking to level it out so it didn’t wobble. A mix of folded up wads of paper towels, and a silly-putty-like substance I call blue goo, did the trick… eventually.
After all that, there was no way I was draining anything. Not only would it be wasteful, it would be far too time consuming, and I couldn’t risk clogging my sink with flower petals. My solution was a rubber spatula to carefully swirl the water around each flower. Even after all my attempts to steady the plate, the vase with the flower in it might still rock a bit if I mixed the water too hard. I had to be careful or risk getting blurry flowers along with my blurry background!
A behind the scenes look at the basic setup for these photos.
Ariel Rose
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I get a little weird in this post about Desperation, I mean weirder than usual =).
Adding a Bit of Magic
The first photo I shot was lit very simply. Just a single hot light bounced off the white ceiling shown directly onto the sink scene. I love that first rose shot (Love Spell), don’t get me wrong, but it was just a little on the boring side, and it was time to make things interesting!
I pulled the petals out of the sink and threw in a little bling. I have these little styrofoam balls that are covered in sequins, and they’ve become a go-to background element I’ve used in many of my images. In this case, it was the fact that these babies float in water that attracted me to them in the first place, but the bling was certainly a nice bonus.
As usual, though, the images never really start off how I envision they will. I wasn’t getting any sparkle at first. It just looked like a slightly shimmery, white background – super boring. Even after I added a couple of flashes for some extra pop, it wasn’t turning out quite right. I added colored gels to the flashes and that’s when the magic started to happen. There’s just something about pink and purple that makes me happy, what can I say?
The last problem I dealt with was directing the flashes at the water’s surface without getting the funky color all over the flowers. I made a snoot out of aluminum foil to give the direction of my light more control with as little power loss as possible. It was still a continuous challenge to get the positioning of these lights right when I moved on to a new flower or composition. Sometimes I’d get a hot spot or splotchy color that didn’t spread across the entire frame. It took a lot of experimentation to get things just right, but that’s just an expected part of my process by now.
Glitter Rose
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Meditating in a Tornado was the post I wrote when I figured out exactly what this series had to teach me.
Trading Order for Chaos
Once I started getting consistent results it was time to break out of the rut. I threw everything into the sink. Sparkly balls mixed with petals, petals from various flowers got thrown together, and I started to change up the movements too. Instead of swirling, I plunged the spatula from the surface to the bottom of the sink to create a bobbing motion on the surface. I had to move forcefully enough to create a few seconds of movement, but gently enough to avoid rocking the vase. There were quite a few blurry flowers.
It was during this controlled chaos stage that I think many of the best photos came out. I felt like the big bang and these were my galaxies! Magic.
Rose to the Stars
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Sparkling Sea in My Sink… sometimes you gotta think outside the sink.
Rose Galaxy
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How do you see the world? How do you see yourself? It’s All About Perspective.
Red Roses in a Diamond Glaze
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A story about yours truly, the Control Freak, and how I’m trying to let go.
Dew Splattered Rose
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This photo got posted closest to my 1-year Blogiversary, so I did what all nerds do: I totaled up all kinds of nerdy numbers for the whole year of creating I completed. Woot!
Pink Daisy Cyclone
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I get a little cynical in Down the Drain… it slips out of me sometimes, can’t help it.
Pink Pom Twister
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How I Embraced the Chaos, a story about meditation.
Pink Pom on Fire
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I admit it… I’m a whore… a Passion Whore.
Daisy Tie Dye
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Painting with Motion is a story about a moment that gave me a little boost of artistic confidence.
Fire Flower Flow
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What would you think if I told you that photography is a mixed media? That was the point of Unveiling Photography’s Hidden Layers.
What’s next?
If you get my newsletter, you already know that a batch of super close up snowflake photos came next. Just like the windswept leaf photos I showed you in Part 2, the snowflakes are inserted into a real snow scene that I blurred in the camera. I’ll show you the scenes behind the art in Part 4 in a few weeks! If you sign up below I’ll make sure you don’t miss it! (Plus you’ll get the chance to win my art EVERY MONTH and a digital download of my artsy fartsy calendar… how can you say no to an artsy fartsy calendar?)
Update: Part 4 is now available, so now you can learn how to photograph snowflakes and get a glimpse of the snow scenes I used to create abstract, windswept backgrounds.
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 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 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 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
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
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.
