The Ghosts Of Auschwitz

My last few posts about ethereal photographs and spirit photography bring me to a much more serious topic. Photographer Cole Thompson, who I have written about before, has recently had his newest body of work entitled "The Ghosts Of Auschwitz" published in B&W magazine. The same portfolio is also going to be featured in upcoming issues of Silvershotz and LensWork.

The recent article in B&W describes how, during his visit to the death camps, he had initially planned not to take photographs. However, "while thinking of the spirits of the people that still lingered there", he began making images. Neutral density filters allowed long exposures, turning the tourists that were visiting the camps into haunting, ghostlike blurs.

Having lost relatives in the Holocaust and having an uncle who still bears his concentration camp number tattooed on his forearm, I find Thompson's images intensely personal and moving. However, one need not have any personal experience with the event to have the images convey a sense of somber remembrance. They do so in a way that makes the memories of those that perished come alive. They are a unique interpretation of events that are otherwise exceedingly difficult to portray in a way that makes the viewer want to look, linger, and think.

Spirit Photography

The zone plate imaging that I have been doing produces soft focus and ethereal looking photograpahs. Seeing the 'ghostlike' results that are obtained made me think about the phenomena of 'spirit photography' that began in the 1860's. At that time, there were people who purported to being able to take photographs in which spirits or ghosts appeared in the image that had not been visible to the naked eye.

Bill Jay wrote a marvelous essay on the history of 'spirit photography' entitled "A Case Of Spirits". It is really a fascinating read and one that I think will be enjoyed by those interested in some of the more bizarre aspects of photographic history . If you have never read Bill Jay's writing before, you are in for a real treat. I have previously posted about the extensive number of his essays and writings that he makes available on his website. There is plenty more interesting material to read after finishing the essay on spirit photography.

Scripted Shots

In the past, other than for the family snapshot, I have never 'set up' or scripted a photograph. Lots of photographers do, but since my main focus has been nature photography there is generally not much opportunity to do so. However, my recent experimentation with a zone plate has me trying new things that I haven't done before.

I was using the zone plate at one of my favorite parks, but didn't seem able to really capture anything that had what I considered a 'special feel' to it. I realized that the zone plate images that I felt were my most successful ones to this point contained human figures in them. Being alone, I decided it was time for me to 'star' in my own photograph. There was a covered bridge that was dark inside with bright sunlight at the other end. Melting ice had generated puddles of water inside. I previsualized an ethereal type of image with bright light behind a figure that seemed to emerge from the 'ether'.

The only way to do this was with the 10 second self-timer on my camera. It was quite cold out and the covered bridge is in a relatively out of the way park.......but it still was a road and every 10 or 15 minutes or so a car would come down the curvy two lane street (at low speed by necessity, given the type of road it was).

So imagine this bizarre and rather funny scenario. I set my tripod and camera up at one end of the covered bridge, check to make sure there are no cars coming (you can see a good way down the road), hit the self timer, run as fast as possible down towards the other end of the covered bridge while counting off the seconds, turn around, pose for the shot, and run back as fast as possible to ensure that no cars are on the way to demolish the camera and tripod.

For those concerned that I posed a danger, I should add that I would never do this on a 'real' road. This was a very low speed curvy road where people stop before going onto the bridge because it is dark inside. In addition, one can see a good distance down the road in both directions. The entire process could be completed before any visible car could possibly make it to the bridge. No one was in danger, save my camera. And even that was more likely to be toppled by my rushing around running back and forth than by anything else.

And the results (after innumerable tries to get it right)..........

Dreamscapes#4
Copyright Howard Grill

Books On Books

Errata Editions had an interesting idea with their new 'Books On Books' series. They describe their series as an 'ongoing publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. Each volume in the series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or expensive for most to experience'. I love photography books and thought this was a wonderful idea, so it was with great enthusiasm that I purchased Volume 1 Atget: Photographe de Paris, the newly released first book in the series.

Despite the fact that I was really looking forward to this series, I found myself quite disappointed when I received the book. The series plans, as Errata puts it, that ' Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study of the creation and meanings of these great works of art. Each volume in the series contains illustrations of every page in the original photobook....'. However, the majority of the images in the book are not even the size of a single page.....and the book size itself is quite small at approximately 10 x 7 inches. On many pages, the original Atget book is reproduced with four pages on the one page of the Errata Edition with images of the photographs measuring less than 2.5 x 3 inches.

I fully understand that the Errata Edition is not simply for photo enthusiasts, but was also meant for serious study, and that this would mean including every page so that a feel for the flow of the original could be appreciated. Nonetheless, the very small size of some of the images in the book markedly detracts from the ability to enjoy the photographs. The book would have been far more succesful, in my opinion, had they simply reproduced the Atget book at its original size, page for page, and added the original essays as well as the new essay for the Errata volume to it. I do understand the logic for producing it in the way they did, but, in my mind it simply doesn't hold up as a book that I want to own. The artifact was given far more importance than the artwork itself. Don't get me wrong, the current Errata edition might be the perfect presentation for some uses, but, to me, it does not hold up as a way to appreciate the artistry of the original.

New Website

Though I had programmed my website on my own, and was generally pretty pleased with it, the site had the drawback of being difficult to update. An art site is not particularly helpful if it tends to stagnate and isn't updated with one's new work. To alleviate this problem, I had been working on programming a new site that would automate some functions, but this was taking far more time than I had planned. Not happy with how things were going, I decided that it would be more effective to use a 'hosted solution' to the problem. In short, I felt the best use of my limited time was not to spend it concentrating on website design.

After looking at various companies and their solutions to the problem, I decided to go with Visual Server. It doesn't have much in terms of fancy bells and whistles (though they seem to be making relatively frequent updates, the most recent of which includes an easy way to add a shopping cart to the site) but the templates are clean and easy to use. The template setup has also led me to think of my images in a more project oriented fashion. They put the focus of the site squarely on the artwork, which is where it should be. Though a bit on the pricy side, Visual Server is owned by Photo-Eye, so I also feel that at least I am supporting an art-centric organization.

My old URL (www.hgrillphotographic.com) redirects to the new site. However, people had a difficult time remembering that web address and so I now have a new domain. The new site can be found at http://www.howardgrill.com.

I made the site live as of about a week ago, and am still working on getting it just the way I want it. Not all my work is up yet, as I am still working on assembling the images into portfolios. Nonetheless, if anyone takes the opportunity to visit, I would love to hear what you think.

Owning Photographs

Most of my enjoyment of photographs, other than my own work, has been through books. Like many photographers, I love books of photographs and own quite a few of them. More recently, however, I was thinking that , given my love of photography, it is somewhat absurd that I don't actually own anyone's prints other than my own. I felt that I should not only produce my own artwork, but also own and appreciate other's work. I also thought there would be something special about being able to hold the actual artifact, the actual photograph, and thus be able to directly see how the artist wished to have his vision conveyed to the viewer.

"Collectible" carries with it a sense of stuffiness and, more importantly, a high price tag. Worse than that, if something is extremely expensive one tends to be nervous about 'using' it and tends to distance themself from it....white gloves and all. In addition, when one talks about collectible photographs or artwork they are often talking about purchasing it not only (or perhaps not even primarily) for enjoyment, but also for its potential appreciation in value.

With my decision to purchase photographs I wanted to dispense with all the above issues. Specifically, this is what I was looking for:

1) The price had to be what I consider reasonable so that an occasional outlay would not leave me thinking and worrying about whether I had made a wise purchase. That price might well be different for others, but for me it was in the $20-40 per image range, with the knowledge that I would be purchasing smaller prints at this price. However, smaller is exactly what I had in mind for this venue....something that I could take out from time to time and appreciate without necessarily hanging it on my wall as a large print. I wanted to be able to handle the print.

2) Images that 'speak to me' without concern for price appreciation.

3) At this price point, I knew that I would be acquiring inkjet, as opposed to gelatin silver, prints. However, given the well-known advances in inkjet technology over the last several years this is not something that was particularly concerning to me. In fact, this is something that is likely to be most meaningful to those who are collecting with an eye toards price appreciation. That is not to say that some people might not prefer the aesthetics of gelatin silver, just that the quality of inkjet prints are at least as good, even if the aesthetic might be different.

So where does one go to find photographs that fit these qualifications? Let me suggest three starting points. First, and this is what recently got me interested in acquiring photographs, check out the new LensWork Special Editions Folios. The ones already offered are marvelous and there are sure to be many more offered in the future. Second, and I discovered this from the Thoughts On Photography podcast that I wrote about in my last post, check out the 20x200 gallery which offers 8x10 prints for $20. Thirdly, look at the websites of some of the photographers that you interact with on internet forums and blogs. Some offer small prints at very reasonable prices. In addition, I also wonder about the possibility of print exchanges with other photographers.

All of this has had me rethinking my own print pricing structure, but more on that in my next post.

"Thoughts On Photography" Podcast

My leaning in photography podcasts has been towards those that deal with the creative, as opposed to the technical, aspects of the medium. As such, I regularly listen to, and have previously written about, Jeff Curto's Camera Position podcast, Brooks Jensen's Lenswork podcast, and Ibarionex Perello's The Candid Frame. I have as much of an interest in gear and Photoshop techniques as the next person, but prefer to get that type of information from books and websites, particularly since I usually listen to most of my podcasts while driving.

Frankly, I thought that I had already found all the photography related podcasts that would deliver the type of content in which was interested. I was wrong.....I found another. Recently, on The Candid Frame, Ibarionex Perello interviewed Paul Giguere, a photographer that I was not familiar with. During the interview, Paul mentioned his podcast entitled "Thoughts On Photography" and, based on the content of the interview, I thought it would be worth checking out. Well, 52 episodes later, I am glad I did.

So what is the theme of Paul's podcast? "Thoughts on Photography" is about 'living a photographic life'. It is about what happens when photography is important enough to you that it becomes a part of who you are.

I personally find it to be akin to the Lenswork podcast, with a bit of a utilitarian twist to it, along with a dash of The Candid Frame podcast tossed in for good measure. Let me give some broad examples of what I mean. While Lenswork might talk about the idea and importance of the photographic project, Thoughts on Photography might discuss the importance of developing a body of work along with specific ideas as to where and how one might go about having the project seen or published. While Lenswork might talk about photography books in general, Paul might recommend his top 10 books of the year and tell you why he found them interesting. Like The Candid Frame, he has recently also included a nice array of interviews with photographers who I was unfamiliar with. These interviews were interesting enough to motivate me to go to these photographers' websites and check out their work.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Lenswork, Camera Position, and Candid Frame podcasts. I am not at all implying that one podcast is in any way better than the other.....they are all different and, in my mind, complement each other quite nicely. But I do put Paul's podcast right up there with the others in terms of the quality of the topics and discussion, and that is something that I had not expected.

If photography is important to you, check out "Thoughts On Photography" (as well as the other podcasts I mentioned, if you are not already familiar with them). In addition to the link above, the podcast can also be subscribed to via iTunes. I think you will enjoy listening; I find it time exceedingly well spent!

Black And White

I have always admired black and white photography. The ability to convey feeling through only shades of gray is truly amazing. It has been some time since I did any black and white imaging, though I originally started that way with my home darkroom when I was in 9th grade.

One of the reasons that I have not done much black and white work has been the difficulties that have accompanied black and white inkjet printing over the years. However, these problems have clearly been decreasing rapidly. Lightroom and Photoshop CS4 have made converting color images to black and white much more intuitive. I have also been contemplating buying one of the newer printers that, based on all I have seen and read, are quite capable of producing beautiful monochrome prints.

With this in mind, I recently started 'playing' with some of my already processed color images to see what they would look like in black and white and how 'good' a conversion I could do. For an initial try, I rather like what I was able to produce, at least in terms of how they look on the computer monitor.

"Fluidity"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Siren's Song"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Dreamscapes #1"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Water Painting"
Copyright Howard Grill

Zone Plate II

Dreamscapes #2
Copyright Howard Grill

I would like to solicit some opinions on this one. I personally enjoy this image as much as the prior zone plate shot. However, when I have shown this to an admittedly small number of people they seem to strongly prefer the previous one. The interesting thing is the reason. They all seem to say that this one appears much more abstract and that it is more difficult to tell 'what it is a picture of'. I was a bit surprised as it seems pretty clear to me that it was two children at the water's edge.....but then again, I took it, so perhaps it is a bit more clear to me. What do folks that might be reading this think? Is it too abstract? Is it not clear what it is a picture of? Perhaps in some ways it doesn't really matter, but I would like to get a feel or understanding of what the viewer's experience is like when looking at images like these.

By the way, if anyone is interested in some resources that explain the technical aspects of zone plates, here and here are good places to start. However, I have to admit that at this point I haven't really tried to undertake a scientific understanding of the process in order to manipulate it....I have just been shooting to see what I get and trying to see what types of subjects seem to 'work' well from an artistic standpoint.

Zone Plate

Dreamscape #1
Copyright Howard Grill

In my last post entitled "Process", I wrote about using the LensBaby Optic Swap system with a Zone Plate and mentioned that I would post some photos. This image is the first that I have processed from a series I took about two weeks ago. Some people I have shown it to have found it 'interesting' and some have called it 'creepy'. Personally, I really like the ethereal feel.

I usually title my images, but this series is one that I feel should be left without titles so as not to influence the viewer's interpretation.

Process

Over the years there has been considerable debate on the issue of photographic process and the role it plays in artwork. Most recently this has been exemplified by the now old and very tired question “Is digital photography really photography?”. Several years back this question engendered serious debate….now it is hard to understand why, as nearly every photographer would answer “yes, it is….it is just that some fine art photographers choose to use film and others a digital sensor as their method of ‘capturing the light”.

I recently discovered the new LensBaby Composer with the “Optic Swap System” that allows one to swap different optical components in and out of the basic LensBaby format, which is basically a tilt/shift type of apparatus. One of the very neat swappable components is a ‘lens’ that lets you place a pinhole or zone plate on the camera instead of a glass or plastic lens. I have found experimenting with the zone plate to be quite enthralling.

However, I hesitate to post images made with it on forums that specialize in this sort of imaging. Why? The reason is that the tired debate about digital vs film does not yet seem to be dead when it comes to ‘alternative’ processes such as pinhole and zone plate imaging.

In the past I had written about such processes, which I had found quite intriguing (see here and scroll down to the pinhole posts). However, I have had limited opportunity to pursue pinhole photography because of limitations in time, and time is what is required to process film and scan negatives. However, with the advent of the LensBaby Optic Swap System I see an opportunity to explore this type of imaging. I am particularly intrigued in utilizing the zone plate, as it is something completely new to me, something very fresh.

Personally, I don’t think it should matter if the zone plate image was made on film or a digital sensor. But that’s just me, and a lot of people seem to disagree.

Quick Quotes: Jay Maisel

I was listening to Michael Reichmann interview Jay Maisel in the latest issue of the absolutely superb Luminous Landscape Video Journal (if you have never seen an issue of the video journal, you owe it to yourself to have a look.....see here) and really enjoyed what they had to say. Lots of words of wisdom from Mr. Maisel. Two that struck me are:

"People are more interested in the quality of their pixels than they are in the quality of their picture"

Jay Maisel

When discussing marked digital image manipulation after capture:

"I am not at all interested in showing how clever I am once I take the picture. My cleverness, if it exists at all, is in seeing something that's there and showing it to you"

Jay Maisel

A Bit Of Gift Giving Humor

OK, so this one isn't about photography! But sometimes I see something that I think would be fun to share. I really got a kick out of this little video about what happens when men mess up and give their spouse/girlfriend a gift that lacks thoughtful input......

Check it out here and have a laugh.

A Better Moustrap....The Flowerpod

In a past post, I wrote a brief review about the McClamp, a device used to hold a flower or plant steady when doing macro-photography. At that time, I mentioned that I thought the device was superior to the Plamp, a similar 'gadget' made by another company. Until the McClamp became available, the Plamp, for all its warts, was the device used for macro work while outdoors in the wind.

Well, it is now time for even McClamp to step aside for what I feel is the best aid in doing plant and flower macro work.......Les Saucier's Flowerpod. If you have read some of my posts about the Photography With Heart Workshops, you might recall Less as one of the three primary "With Heart" photographers.

So what exactly is so great about the Flowerpod? Well, Les has looked at all the problems that could occur with these devices as they now stand and, taking them into account, has re-designed clamping gadgets from the ground up. Actually, I hate to call it a gadget, which seems to be trivializing it.....anyone who has done outdoor macro knows how indispensable something like this is. Frankly, it very frequently means the difference between getting a sharp, well-composed image....or not.

So, what are the potential problems with the McClamp? As good as I thought it was, there were still some issues:

1) It had to be 'stuck' in the ground...a problem on rocky terrain

2) If you used the variety that clamps to the tripod (because the ground is rocky) any movement of the tripod while trying to recompose also moves the plant or flower.

3) You are out of luck if the plant is tall...unless you want to go with the clamp to tripod plan, which is very frustrating, as noted above.

3) Despite the soft foam in the clamp, I still would, at times, accidentally damage the stalk of the plant when trying to make fine adjustments to the flower's position. The reason for this is that you generally need to 'overshoot' in the adjustment to get the flower to be where you want it. At least that was my experience.

4) Not sturdy enough to hold a flashlight or, at times, a background.

The Flowerpod addresses and solves all these problems. Fist of all, have a look at it here.

As you can see, all four of the above issues are dealt with by the Flowerpod's carefully thought out design and yet it is still small, light, and very mobile! I could repeat all the information that is on Les' Flowerpod web page, but it would be easiest to simply have a look at it yourself. In addition, the illustrations with photos make the description much clearer than I can with words.

In brief, since I brought up the 4 points above, I will just mention that problems #1 and 2 are solved by having a tripod that holds the flower clamp so that it can be used in any terrain. Problems #3 and 4 are addressed not only with the tripod, but with a specialty clamp that can be easily adjusted in very fine increments.

Why am I going on and on about this? Let me say that I have no financial interest at all in the Flowerpod. I just like seeing a 'better' product that has had a lot of thought and effort put into it. And, as one that enjoys macro-photography and has suffered through some of the frustrations associated with it, I know this is a product that will help me nail more shots. So move over Plamp and McClamp....there is a new 'player' in town....check out the Flowerpod and see what you think.

Reality

I love when I run across a scene in which the camera records a truth that our minds simply can not believe. Such scenes force you to reassess what is real and how our minds are able to change reality. I find this idea fascinating and have previously written about it on Uwe Steinmueller's Digital Outback Photo.

When I first photographed this waterfall, I thought I was just taking a picture of the flowing water. But when I looked at the image on the LCD screen on the back of my camera I was truly surprised at the colors I saw but hadn't recognized in the water. Nonetheless, when I looked carefully at the moving water, there they were! I hadn't seen them because our brains tend to present 'filtered' information to us which is why, for example, a sheet of white paper still looks white to us even when it is next to a brightly colored object. However, when we take a two dimensional photograph of that paper and look at it out of context, our eyes can recognize the color cast on the white sheet.

Canyon Reflections

Copyright Howard Grill

So where is the color coming from in this image? On this particular morning in Zion National Park, the sky was a deep blue which was being reflected in the waterfall. The falls were located right next to a large canyon wall made of the region's famous 'red rock', and it is the light reflecting off of this red rock and striking some areas of the water that imparts the pink coloration.

The other thing that I enjoyed about making this image was the location. I am delighted when I can find something beautiful in a location where I wouldn't expect it. True, this image was made in Zion National Park, but it happened to be located in the unlikely location behind an old maintenance shack where a good portion of the grounds were being used for storage

Zion

This is another image from the recent workshop that I attended in Zion National Park. I think this image has, in one shot, many of the characteristics that are so special about Zion.....the cottonwoods, the canyon walls, and the Virgin River. When I look at this photograph I really get a feel of the 'Zion Experience'. The park is truly a place that everyone should get a chance to visit.

"Zion"
Copyright Howard Grill

In addition, this is another of the type of images that I mentioned in my post entitles "Seeing". Though these exact elements are obviously not present where I live, there are very reasonable replacements...trees, water, rocks......all that I need is the right mindset. That mindset, as opposed to a lot of nice images (though it is nice to get them as well), is the most valuable item that can be brought home from any workshop!

When Is It Done, Revisited

I have previously written about my difficulty in knowing when to stop trying to 'perfect' an image. I ultimately end up reaching a point where I might be continuing to make minor tweaks to an image, but deep inside know that no one besides myself are likely to notice them. Likewise, when making an actual print, I need to limit myself when I reach a certain point lest I continue to try to make better versions ad infinitum.

In regards to this topic, or at least directly applicable to this topic, is a wonderful podcast that I heard today. While I enjoy all the Lenswork podcasts (in fact, I have them all archived on my iPod) I found this one to be of particular interest to me. So check out the Dec 2nd Lenswork podcast called "The Myth Of Tonal Control".

LR/Enfuse For Blending Multiple Exposures

Maybe everyone out there already knows about Timothy Ames' LR/Enfuse, but I sure didn't. For that reason, I thought I would post some information in case anyone else out there is as in the dark as I am. I found out about the Lightroom plug-in when I happen to run across a positive review of it in Photoshop User.

So what does LR/Enfuse do? It is a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom that allows one to blend multiple exposures that were taken of the same image in order to get a final image that preserves both highlight and shadow detail (for when the dynamic range of the scene exceeds that of the camera's sensor). There are various non-HDR techniques to blend images, usually involving one exposure taken for the highlights and another one taken for the shadows. However, LR/Enfuse allows you to blend multiple shots easily.

I downloaded and installed the plug-in yesterday and am very much looking forward to giving it a try. I am not very fond of the "HDR look" myself and so am looking forward to seeing what type of results I might get from the plug-in. As I said, it has gotten great reviews.

Want to give it a try yourself? It can be downloaded here. There is a trial version available for free (limited only in the maximum file export size), but I went for the unrestricted version, which only requires that you make a donation of any size to Mr. Ames to support developing the program.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Upgrades

There has been some interesting discussion on the Adobe forums as well as on several blogs about the upgrade path to Photoshop CS4. This effects me personally, so I thought I would interrupt my posts about the Zion workshop I attended to write (rant) about the upgrade issue.

When Photoshop CS3 was released, consumers were faced with the option of upgrading to CS3 or the CS3 Extended version. The differences to me were initially a little vague, as I suspect they were to a number of people. The new extended version was to have 3D tools as well as some other image stacking options that I thought were not in the Non-Extended version. The 3D tools were, indeed, unique to CS3, though I believe the stacking options were actually available in the Non-Extended version as well. I decided to go with the brand new Extended version as I wondered if I might find some of the tools useful....if I ultimately found that I didn't need them I thought I would just end up going back to the Non-Extended version with the next Photoshiop release. Even though it was another $100-150 or so I figured I would give the Extended version a try and see what it was all about. Or so I thought.

I ended up never using any of the options or tools that were unique to the Extended version of Photoshop. Out comes Photoshop CS4 and CS4 Extended. My plan was to upgrade back to the Non-Extended version of Photoshop CS4. As it turns out, there is no upgrade path being made available by Adobe back to the Non-Extended version. Apparently, they want the consumer to be 'locked in' to the more expensive Extended version. Once 'Extended' always 'Extended'.

Now, this seems particularly unfair to me. Certainly I wouldn't have made the Extended choice had I known that I would be locked in for another $150 cost with each and every subsequent Photoshop release. I am not the only consumer who feels this is unfair. Apparently some Adobe employees do as well. John Nack, in his blog speaks about the lack of on upgrade path back to the Non-Extended version (I call it an upgrade-downgrade). In his post from the end of September he talks about Adobe preparing an upgrade path from Extended to Non-Extended. Unfortunately, either this has not occured or has occured in a somewhat obscure and rather opaque fashion.

What do I mean by obscure and opaque? Well I (and many others in different posts) asked questions about the whole upgrade route on the Adobe Forum. One responder states that if one calls tech support (but not customer service) they will give you an unlock code to make the upgrade that will work only once and only be active for about an hour. Now, I don't know if that is true or not, and, frankly, I won't be able to find out because I can't make that call in front of my home computer during 9-5 business hours. However, even if it is true, is this, as they say, any way to run a business? What if I buy a new computer and want to reinstall the program? What if the program crashes or gets corrupted and I want to reinstall it? What about putting it on my laptop? What about.....well you get the idea. You can read the forum thread here.

It seems to me that Adobe should allow the upgrade from the Extended to Non-Extended versions (which seems only fair), and allow it as a clearly stated option with a distinct and easy mechanism for anyone to do the upgrade without jumping through all sorts of hoops. I am sure that from a programing standpoint this can not be all that difficult. It is equally hard for me to believe that the Adobe marketing division could not or did not anticipate this sort of problem.

OK, I am done with my rant now!

Seeing

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently returned from a Photography With Heart workshop in Zion National Park. Scanning through some of my favorite images from the park, I noticed something interesting. Though the presence or 'feel' of the park was in them all, when I broke the images down to their basic components they consisted , for the most part, of things that I could find right here in Western Pennsylvania where I live.

Consider this image entitled "Backlit Cottonwoods". At its most basic, it is 'simply' an image of colorfall backlit trees with fall foliage. I was drawn to the scene not only because of the intense color of the backlit trees, but also because I enjoyed composing it with the diagonal lines of the mountains on either side of the trees along with the hazy, distant canyon wall in the background. I felt that the diagonals added something special to the image and that the canyon wall in the background, together with the classic cottonwoods, gives the photograph a decidedly 'Zion' feel.

Backlit Cottonwoods
Copyright Howard Grill

When I go on a workshop I go with a mind that is hopefully open and 'ready' to try to be creative. I think it is quite natural to have that feeling when going away on a trip. But when I think about it, the basic components of the "Backlit Cottonwoods" image are all around me, even now that I am back home. There are plenty of trees with fall foliage here, and one only has to go at the proper time to find them backlit. True, I may not have a canyon wall available to put in the background, but is that really the essence of the image? Wouldn't the image also work well with the terrain that I have available here at home used to frame the trees or provide leading lines? I think it would!

One of the things that I hope I have accomplished at the workshop is to learn to discard the state of mind that says you have to go 'someplace special' to make special images. Sure it is fun to go away, and a change of scene always spurs creativity, but that should only serve as a stimulus to return home and harness that creativity to make images where you spend most of your time living. One of the things that I hope that I have brought home with me from the workshop is an enhanced ability to be open to 'seeing' what surrounds me the 99% of the time that I am home. If one can do that, I think the odds of making meaningful images increases quite dramatically!