Moving to a new site

Sorry folks, but for several reasons I moved this blog (almost all of it!) to:

Photo Forays

There will be no more updates on this site.

You're welcome to browse all the old post and new ones too at that address! My theme remains teh same: to share the joy of photography, and to whare the doubts of the photographer about ever taking a perfect picture.

In due course, this blog will be shut down.

See you on the other side/site!

--DFW

Hipstamatic: a toy that needs a different vision

There are just so many apps available for taking pictures on the iPhone that one does not easily know what to choose, althoug a little googling will give you equally lots of lists with peoples' favourites. Hipstamatic is sure to turn up as one of them. So I donwloaded it a whle ago, but I must admit that I have not really often found a good way for using it.

It is a nice toy, but you really have to take a different look at taking pictures. I find that difficult. My vision is more 'traditional', most of the time. I want to take pictures that are sharp (selectively), well-exposed (for the purpose), etc. The creativity is in finding a good perspective, a good compisition--and in knowing what the picture should get across to the viewers.

This Hipstamatic game requires a different type of creativity and vision. It is more about colour, mood, and emotional vehicles to get 'something' across to the viewers. But I guess that it also leaves more freedom to the viewers--requires more involvement of the viewers as well, though: you as a viewer have to think much more about what this picture with these effects says to you. I'm curious to know if this one says anything to you. Reactions are welcome!

Wallpaper Wednesday 2: Lotus flowers

Let's make it a weekly date: Wednesdays will be "Wallpaper Wednesday" from now on. (I may be a bit early this time; in my part of the world it is not yet Wednesday, but I hope you'll forgive that.)

Lotus flowers from a lake in the grounds around Ryoanji temple, in Kyoto.

Beauty is in the photograph, not the gear

"Beauty is in the photograph, not the gear. Lenses matter, but even today’s kit lenses are capable of creating beautiful photographs. ... And if the best thing people say about my work is, “Wow, it sure is sharp,” then I’ve failed and the lens is irrelevant."

Highly quotable statement from David DuChemin in his blog.

It takes a few efforts: Spider lily tamed

A few weeks ago I saw intriguing red flowers by the wayside and took some pictures, but was not very satisfied with the pictures: they were good enough for the memory, but not for a serious photo. This weekend I came across some more and tried again. A simple example of the oft-told lesson about photography: don't let go of a subject until you have caught its essence. I think that this second time, I have tamed these wild flowers--for the moment, anyway.

These flowers are called Spider lilies or Higanbana, and have a practical use to keep pests out of rice paddies as they are supposed to be poisonous. Another story associated with Spider lilies is that because they "usually bloom near cemeteries around the autumnal equinox, they are described in Chinese and Japanese translations of the Lotus Sutra as ominous flowers that grow in [...] Hell [...] and guide the dead into the next reincarnation," says the Wikipedia.