In my last post, entitled 'Too Many Choices', I mentioned that I was going to post a recent image that was a result of using experimentation to try to achieve a particular result that I already had in mind.
Rudbeckia I
Copyright Howard Grill
I have enjoyed taking flower photographs for quite some time, but have not printed too many of them as it is hard to do original work when it comes to this subject. For some time, I have been struggling to figure out how to portray the simple form and shape that I see in flowers in a way that I find satisfying.
After thinking about it for some time, I realized that I wanted to emphasize the flower's form and so thought about a pure black and white portrayal. But this didn't seem to instill in the images the sense of life that I was looking for. I decided to try toning the monochrome image, and this moved the final photograph closer to what I was looking for, but it still fell short. Ultimately, I tried experimenting with adding textures to the image and this seemed to bring out what I was looking for.
I am curious as to what people think about this appearance, as I am considering embarking on a series using this approach.
5 comments:
I can sympathize with your motives (finding your own way to represent flowers) and love the result. I once read some photographer demeaning flower photography as the lowest form of photography. Thought it was odd, very snob and made little sense: flowers are among the most beautiful shapes, colours and textures around. Surely those qualities should matter in photography...
Thanks for sharing,
Gianguido
Thanks Gianguio...I guess that is one reason I have been hesitant to make flower prints...it seems like there are tons of them and other photographers tend to roll their eyes at them (not another flower). But I do think they are unbelievable in terms of form and so I can't help taking them. I have just been searching for a somewhat different way to present that form. Thanks for commenting
I think that flower photography is the best there is. :) Not just for the sake of the pictures, but for the flowers as well. I think it's great that you're exploring new ways of presenting them, it certainly wouldn't hurt me if I tried some experimenting myself! What you've done here works really well, I can imagine that it would be even better as a series. Go for it!
Nothing wrong with Flowers in my book Howard ;)
Howard:
I really like what you have done here and can easily see an entre exhibition or small book of flower images processed the same way. Often manipulations look fine in a single image and don't hold up in a series but I think there is enough variation in flowers for this not to get boring. Can anyone imagine enjoying a series of 5X7 prints, nicely and simply matted and framed, together on a wall - could be wonderful.
Hop to it, Howard...
Best,
George
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