I found certain photos to be great for meditation. I can stare at the for long time and think about something that I cannot remember anything of later. They are just so calming and simple.
Tag: blue
Spring Time in Carrizo
I lost myself in the sea of flowers.
I closed my eyes
to let other senses enjoy the scene.
The warm touch of the sun.
The gentle caressing of the breeze.
The soft singing of the birds.
The sweet scent of the spring.
I stood in the sea of flowers in silence.
I wanted to take it all in.
Until I lost myself in the sea of flowers.
Until I became a part of it.
The Spring is Here
spring has come to Skygit Valley. Last weekend I went there to photograph daffodils but ended up photographing less daffodils and more of other scenes of Skygit Valley rediscovering it for myself. Even when there were daffodils in the frame they were taking very little part of it.
First, my attention was captivated by the snow geese taking rest in Skygit Valley during their regular migration.
Then I got fascinated by the smoke and steam coming from tall pipes and blending with the sky.
Then I noticed puddles in the fields and was looking for interesting reflections.
Then I went after complete abstract shots like this.
Then after lonely trees.
Then finally, by the end of the day I finally stood by a daffodil field. Even then I more enjoyed how the sky was painted with clouds then the flowers themselves.
Vacation of Photographer is Photography
Are you like me and take a camera equipment with you on a family vacation? And I don’t mean a small camera for family snapshots. I mean large tripod and backpack full of lenses, filters and big camera. Even if for a moment, even for a little bit I want to enjoy the new place thru a viewfinder.
I’ve just come back from a trip with my son to Hawaii. There is not mucch opportunity for photography with a 10 year old who does not like hiking. Fortunately, our hotel location in Kauai happened to be picturesque. I did not need to wonder far away for a sunrise, just sneak out of the hotel grounds.
Random Stops
My excuse to mostly travel by car is “to stop and photograph along the way”. I know it is only an excuse though because once I get on the road I keep going without stopping all the way to the destination.
One reason I don’t stop along the way is because I’m putting my tunnel vision goggles on. I’m imagining the photographs I’ll do at the destination and want to get there as fast as possible.
Another reason which is much deeper and scarier is that I’m afraid to fail. I mean I can stop somewhere and there would be nothing to photograph. No, that’s not the right way to say it. There is always something to photograph. But there would be nothing that I’d like to photograph, there would be nothing that connects with me, nothing that relates to me. And I would be just wasting my time.
It takes an effort – it still does and likely will always do – to overcome that and force myself to stop at random places. Sure in 99.99% of cases I don’t find anything that would meet my eye. But then in that very small percentage point I’d find something like this and my heart starts to sing.
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An Old Clunker
A few weeks ago I went to the Palouse. I’ve been there many times. I find the experience of spending hours in the fields listening to wind and whispers of wheat moved by the wind relaxing and meditating.
Despite visiting the Palouse every year and some years several times a year I find something new every time. This time as I was driving on one of the Palouse roads I passed a blue old truck left rusting in a field. Had it been there before and I simply had never driven that road before? Or was it dragged out there recently? No idea.
My thought was that it is kind of interesting but it is not what I came for. I came for beautiful landscapes that the Palouse is rich with. The old rusty clunker was not quite a beautiful landscape. Neither it was making landscape beautiful. After all I could photograph it on the way back if I wanted. Thus I passed it by and kept on going.
As I was returning on the same road I decided to stop and take at least on photo – just to pay a tribute to the old clunker. I was stuck around it for about two hours. I could not stop photographing it. There were so many images, so many stories in that old truck.
First, I liked the truck filling the whole frame, leaving little room for anything else.
Then I wanted to show it in the field.
Then I realized I like its symmetry. While having background almost symmetrical.
The I liked how the blue truck blends with the blue sky. I wanted more sky.
Then I got closer to the truck. (I always start from a distance and then come closer to the subject. That way I don’t ruin anything I might want to include in wide frame.)
I liked the rhythmic change of blue to yellow and yellow to blue.
Then even closer.
That was too close. As I saw shadow of a rear view mirror I realized that I missed those strong lines before. I had to step back to get them in.
Now really close. Focusing on individual details of the truck.
Lines, shapes and colors.
Lines and shapes. Lack of color.
Now closing on rusty patterns. This looked like Chinese characters to me.
And this looked like a map of some islands surrounded by water.
And of causes needed to capture the truck make and model sign.
“Ok. Enough.” I told myself and started walking back to the car. Only to see something interesting on the other side: bright white lines of the side mirror supports against dark black shadow of the truck.
Thanks for following thru all this store to the end with me. Times and times again I find that there are infinite possibility around us. No need to drive around. There are lots and lost of images in each and every place.
Point of View
There are many infinite number of ways to see the same thing. There are many infinite number of angles to look at the same things.
One of the popular photographic spots to visit in the Palouse is a fence completely made out of rusty remains of wheels. There are all kind of wheels in it dating to who knows how old.
A few years ago I went to photograph the fence too. (Hey, after a few years I’ve finally got around to write about it). I’ve started with the classic shot of fence going into the distance.
Then I’ve started looking at all kind of shapes in the fence. It was fascinating. Hay here are only spikes left from the wheel. It looks like the Sun to me. So, I’ve looked at it from very low angle, because the Sun should be in the sky.
The I’ve started looking at what can be seen thru the fence. Here is only rim left from the wheel (it might even matched the spikes above). It frames very nicely the nice white building behind the fence.
The point is: look at any scene and find as many images as possible in it.
Addiction to contradiction
Is it me only or is everyone of us have addiction to contradiction? Snow in summer. Water in a desert. Line tree on otherwise bare hills. Clearing in a forest. Yellow flower in a meadow of blue flowers. It is all so fascinating.
Interpretations
There is an infinite number of ways to interpret that same scene, the same photo, the same subject. The interpretation very much depends on my emotional state.
My photographs are more a reflection of me than a capture of reality. This sounds cliché but it is true. I’m very much surprised but this myself.
Naturally my emotional state changes over time and images that used to speak to me seem to be silent now. The opposite is true. Sometimes I find gems in images long forgotten.
The changes of my emotions even change the way I interpret images in post processing. Look at these two images. The exact same scene the almost exact same photo.
First one is the image I captured. It is dark and grey. It is an image of depression, being lost with no way out.</p
Then the image after processing. When I process images I rarely have a plan; I’m exploring letting it take me wherever it wants to take me, looking for something that resonate with me. In this case I ended up with an image of hope.
One Step Back
I’m back from Norway. Well, I’ve been back to Seattle for two months, enjoying my old friends: Olympic National Park, Rainier National Park, Enchantment Lakes and trails around Seattle.
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One of the icon places in Rainier National Park is Reflection Lakes. In fact by far this is the place to photograph at sunrise. And pray the water is still as a mirror. I had not visited it for a while as it is over-photographed in my opinion. I had preferred exploring new places in this vast park.
On a whim of nostalgia since I have not been in the park for four months I went there to enjoy the classic view. It was the first freezing night of the season. Frost was covering grass, logs, and few remaining leaves. Fog was rising over the lakes and slowly moving over the still water.
There were a few more photographers besides me there. All of them trying to get as close as possible to the water going for pure perfect reflection photograph. I on the other hand step back a bit and have edge of the lake nicely framing the mountain reflection. Here is my almost classic image of the mountain:
But then I thought that what was really interesting and unique about that morning was the first frost. So, I walked away from the lake to the point where I had seen two logs pointing in the direction of the mountain. To me these images are more interesting. The first one was taken before sunrise during twilight and the second one was taken right after sunrise.
vitali prokopenko | fine art 