Going Back

When I am out driving I will often see something interesting that I think would make a nice photo. Sadly, though, I have to admit that it tends to occur when I am in a goal oriented situation....have to get to work, have to be on time etc.....and, in these situations, I rarely stop to take the shot, even if I happen to have a camera available.

On one particular occasion a few months ago, it was a foggy morning and I was driving my son to a fencing competition in Harrisburg, PA, which is a fairly rural community. As we were looking for the high school where the competition was to be held, we passed a farmhouse with a large old tree in a field out in front of it. As we were driving by I remember thinking that the tree would really make a nice image in the fog. I did have my camera with me, as I was planning to take some pictures of my son fencing, but I was, again, being very goal oriented and wasn't planning to stop for fear of being late to the competition.

The scene looked eerie enough that it even attracted my son's attention, who, as a teen-ager, is not typically excited by scenery. He said "Dad, that looks really cool, you should get a picture of it". With that said, who could resist? I asked him if he would mind if I dropped him off at the venue, which was about a half-mile away, and let him check in by himself while I came back to take some photographs. "No problem."

So I went back. I didn't have a tripod, so I just took the pictures handheld. As I took the shots, I had in my mind the idea of trying to give the images an 'old fashioned' feel.

Farmhouse Tree
Copyright Howard Grill

I guess this teaches me that there is something satisfying about stopping to take a shot of something that grabs your attention, even if it does sidetrack you for a few minutes. It isn't necessarily always easy....but I am going to try to do it more often.

One thing that often keeps me from being spontaneous is that I frequently notice scenes that would make interesting photographs while driving on the highway, where it would be dangerous to stop to take pctures. In addition, it is often difficult to be certain about out how to get off the main highway and back to the location on smaller roads.

I am curious as to how people that may be reading this deal with seeing something that they feel is worth photographing when they are on the road. Do you typically stop or not? If you do, do you get off the main road or shoot from the shoulder? How much time will you spend when stopping? If the scene would make a better shot closer up do you ever knock on someone's door to ask permission to go on their property? Do these type of unplanned shots that grabbed your attention tend to become 'keepers', or were they just interesting for the moment?

Men Like Me

I like Bill Jay's work and have written about him before. I like his writing, I like listening to him, and I like his photographs. Combine his images together with his writing and you have a book you can sit down with and really enjoy. I am referring to his most recent book entitled "Men Like Me", which I recently purchased from Photo-Eye.




In his adopted beach town, Jay finds a kinship with a relatively unlikely group of people; those that are homeless and down on their luck. The treatment of his subjects is unique in that it is not his goal to make any type of statement about homelessness, rather, he wishes to depict who these people are on a personal level because he senses that he is very much like them. His portraits and anecdotes depict a deep respect for people that truly became his friends and seemingly came to understand him as much as he grew to know them. As he says in his introduction,

"Perhaps it is necessary to state that this is not a documentary project in the sense of 'concerned photography'. I know next to nothing about the homeless; I have not conducted any research or gathered any statistics; I do not interview the men about the reasons for their circumstances; I have no idea whether or not the men I encountered were typical. This is a personal not a political project. I am not advocating anything, nor shedding light on a social ill nor making any social statement. For me, this project had a more important purpose and result: the discovery that these really were men like me.

The book is a relatively short read. But during that timespan you will both want to laugh as well as cry.

These days, many portraits are heavily retouched to give skin and facial features a perfect, sometimes ghostly look. Not so in these portraits. They are sharp, even to the point of exaggerating the human flaws in skin and hair. These are real people.

At the end of the introduction Jay states, "I want them to believe that the images were taken with respect and often with affection. I hope it shows."

Indeed, it does.

What The Duck

Laughter is good for the soul! And what could possibly be funnier than photographic humor? "Sounds great", you say, "but where can one go to get photography related humor? It isn't exactly available as a daily dose on the internet, you know."

Ah, but you see, you would be wrong about that. Well, almost wrong........it is only available on weekdays (everyone deserves a break, right?).

"Where?", you say.

Not where......what!

"Huh?"

It's 'What The Duck'. That's right, the daily (well, almost) cartoon by Aaron Johnson about the world's most famous duck photographer. I could explain what I mean, but wouldn't it be easier for you to just check it out?

"Like I said, where?"

OK, here.

And, by the way, one of my favorite recent episodes can be found here, in the archives. Just click on WTD 233 at the bottom of the page.

Readers even get to submit possible titles for each day's strip, one of which gets chosen as the official title that goes down in What The Duck history.

Don't laugh too hard, you might hurt yourself.

Chihuly!

Last night, I had the opportunity to go to the Chihuly glass sculpture exhibit at Phipps Conservatory, right here in Pittsburgh. It was simply breathtaking. I write this post not as a review (many have done it much better than I possibly could) nor as a display of my photos (they are simply snapshots I took walking the exhibit with my seven year old daughter), but, rather, to give folks a small taste of what was there and to urge anyone that is able to attend the traveling exhibit to do so! You won't regret it.

Even my daughter, who is not yet into visiting formal art displays, loved it and wants to go back. By the way, she was having a great time taking pictures with a point 'n shoot digital herself.

A taste of the Chihuly exhibit at Phipps:

Images Copyright Howard Grill

How Long, Why, And Would I?

Remember the experiment that was done to calculate how long the casual observer spends looking at a photograph? I can't recall which photographer did it....but please chime in by writing a comment if you happen to remember who it was. At any rate, he took his students to a photography gallery where they stood outside and surreptitiously timed how long each person who entered the gallery spent inside before leaving. That time was then divided by the number of images on display in order to determine how long each person spent looking at an individual photograph. Clearly, there was apt to be some error as theoretically the patron might not have attempted to view each and every image on display. Nonetheless, the results were quite revealing........viewers spent mere seconds on each image. This is certainly significantly less than the 30 minutes that Minor White suggested one should spend viewing in order to truly appreciate just a single image!


It really is rather amazing that someone would go to a gallery exhibit and spend only moments to try to take in and appreciate a photo. But then again, what else might one expect in the Bumper Sticker Depth society in which we live (phrase coined by Brooks Jensen in a recent podcast to which the title is linked)?

Now, I am not claiming that I spend 30 minutes with each image. Far from it. On the other hand, I certainly hope that I spend more than a few moments with each photograph in an exhibit. However, when I do find an image that moves me in some way or, for that matter, an image that I don't understand (independent of whether I actually like the image or not) I do often spend ten or fifteen minutes with it to try to appreciate all it's nuances. There are always a multitude of aspects of an image that simply can't be absorbed by osmosis with just a few seconds of viewing; it can take time and effort to tease them out. Time to appreciate subtle aspects of the tonality, time to appreciate details in the image that were initially unnoticed, and time to just 'wrap yourself around' an image to try and understand it, revel in it, and just take it all in.

There is also another aspect of viewing an image that I find myself doing, usually after I have spent the time to try and appreciate it, and particularly if I have found the image to be one that moves me in some way. I find myself trying to go beyond the appreciation stage in order to learn from the photograph; to use the experience of spending time with the image to help me to try and become a better photographer. This aspect of viewing usually starts with the 'Why ?' questions and ends with the 'Would I ?' questions.

Examples of 'Why?'

Why did the photographer frame the image the way they did?
Why include/exclude a specific object/person?
Why focus on a particular component of the image and not another?
Why choose to blur a particular component of the image and not another?
Why expose/print the image with certain tonalities?

And what I find to generally be the most important 'why' question:

Why did the photographer make this image; what was he/she trying to convey?

I find this an important question to ask of images that 'speak to me' and perhaps an even more important question to ask myself for images that I just 'don't get'.


Would I?

These questions take the 'why' one step further. Simply substitute the 'why' with 'would I have'.

Would I have framed the image the same way had I taken the photograph?
Would I have included/excluded a specific object/person had I taken the photograph?
Would I have focused on that particular component of the image?
Would I have used a similar depth of field?
Would I have exposed/printed the image with the same tonalities?

You can be totally honest when you answer....no one else is listening in :>)

Would the way I would have taken the shot made it better or worse, helped or hindered the ability of the image to convey a feeling ? Either way, what can I learn from what I would have done as compared to the way the photographer did it.

No question about it. There is a lot to be said for and a lot to be had from spending time with an image that 'speaks to you'.

The Twin Jewels Project: Icy River

Today, another image from those being considered for inclusion in my so-called Twin Jewels Project. More information on the project itself can be found here.

Before talking about this particular photograph, I did want to say that I do recognize, as has been brought up in prior comments, the importance of a formal artist's statement regarding the project....it just hasn't been written yet (ah, if only there were more time). I do have some ideas about it floating around in my head, but they still need to be put to paper.


The image I am considering is entitled 'Icy River', and is one of the relatively few that I have taken during the dead of winter. I have to say, much as I have difficulty getting myself out to make photographs in the cold, I always come back glad that I did.

So, on to the image:

Icy River
Copyright Howard Grill

There were several issues that presented themselves in either the photographing or printing stages of making this image.


1) Composition

I liked the "S" shaped curve made by the ice on the right side of the river as it receded from front to back. There were several compositions that I made when taking this picture. In this shot, the focal length of the lens accentuated the favorable "S" shape. It also allowed me to frame the image with ice along the bottom edge of the image which, to me, seemed to give it a 'contained' feel.

However, by making the "S" shape that I liked more prominent, I believe I lost something as well. In some ways I think the focal length is too long when viewing the left side of the river. In the best of all possible worlds, I think the solid portion of the ice on the left bank should have been included all the way down to nearly the bottom of the image, similar to the way it is included on the right. The fact that there is so much more floating ice on the left side of the river compared to the right seems to balance this out to a reasonable extent, but I still wish the solid ice extended further to the bottom of the frame. As mentioned, I would have had to use a shorter focal length to do so and would then lose some of the prominence of the "S" shape, so I am not sure how the tradeoff would have worked out.

I should add that I was standing on an overlook and thus there was no option to move closer in or further out.

2) Color Cast

In the image, as it came out of the camera, there was a fairly strong green color cast in the ice and water on the river as a result of the evergreen tree reflections. Though it was 'real', I did not find that it enhanced the image. However, I did not want to simply desaturaute the green as that would have also destaurated the green trees. So I masked out the trees and removed the cast from the water but then found that there was then a stark and unnatural appearance to the monochrome appearing water and ice compared to the background. I therefore re-introduced a touch of blue-green coloration to the dark areas of the water in order to give the image a more natural feel. I then intensified the green/yellow saturation in the trees a bit.

In regards to color, I also like the way the color in the rocks seem to somewhat echo the color in the distant orange trees.

3) Three Dimensional Effect

I wanted the image to pull the viewer in with a three dimensional effect. Obviously, the use of a relatively short focal length sets the stage. This is also the first image on which I have used the Akvis Enhancer plug-in, and I must say that I am very pleased with the result. By enhancing the subtle differences in shades of green, it really allowed the trees take on much more depth. This effect is not so evident with the small image as seen here...however, I have recently discovered a neat new blogger trick. Simple click on the image and a new window with a larger version will appear.

By the way, the same enlarging trick can be used for the Color In Motion image. In the comments section to that post, there was some discussion about how the image might look if seen larger. Now it seems pretty easy to obtain the enlarged view.

So, in short, I think the image conveys the feel of this location in winter very well. However, I think the composition has some trade offs. I would be interested in hearing what others think about how the composition works (or doesn't).


By the way, if anyone is interested, my prior blog essay entitled "Photography and Truth" has been published on Uwe and Bettina Steinmueller's Digital Outback Photo. Though the text is the same as had been posted in this blog, this new version also has photographic illustrations which the original version did not. The illustrated version can be seen here.

Quick Quotes: Albert Einstein

Every so often, I run across interesting quotes that relate to photography or nature in some way and I thought it might be interesting to share them from time to time.

The first quote in this very intermittent series comes from Albert Einstein. We all know a great deal about him, but here is a quote that reveals something of his philosophy that I had not previously realized.



"A human being is part of the whole, called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty"

Albert Einstein


There is a tremendous amount to think about in that statement. I particularly like the idea of the 'optical delusion of conciousness' and how this delusion effects and influences our actions. What a different place the world would (could) be........

Man-Made Objects

When it comes to nature photography, some people have very strong opinions regarding the inclusion of man-made objects in an image. Personally, although I never used to be as vehement as those that would claim that the inclusion of any man-made object no longer allows the photo to be classified as an image of nature, I did always tend to exclude 'man-mades' from my photographs. Recently, however, I have loosened up in this regard. In fact, I have found that, at times, the inclusion of man-made objects can enhance the message or the effectiveness of an image.

Take, for example, this photo:

Loneliness

Copyright Howard Grill

I was photographing in a small city park and became interested in a field of snow with trees in the background and felt that the scene conveyed a feeling of loneliness. I also found myself intrigued by the fact that there was snow on the ground and yet the trees were still holding on to many of their autumn leaves, which seemed to contrast the seasons. Try as I might, I just couldn't compose a 'nature photograph' that I thought was effective. However, when I allowed myself to include the park bench, I began to come up with compositions that I felt were much more expressive and effective at conveying the feeling of loneliness that I was after.

Some might well say that I haven't 'proven' anything regarding the inclusion or exclusion of man-made objects in nature photographs. In fact, they might say that all I have done is taken a photograph that attempts to convey a certain feeling......but it's not a nature photograph.

Fair enough. But my response is 'who cares'. I believe that, at times, we might be best served by not trying to rigidly classify images or photographic genres. In the past, because I was trying to do 'nature photography', I might have not taken this shot, which I rather like.

Perhaps when going out to photograph nature one would be well served by keeping an open mind about what he or she might be willing to include in a photograph.

Window Shopping

In prior posts, I have mentioned that I find looking for compositions during urban photographing quite similar to composing while doing nature photography. At that time, I was speaking about looking for graphic lines and shapes when making abstract images. Those posts can be seen here and here.

I think other similarities exist as well. One of these similarities is the importance of looking for and being aware of the smaller details; akin to 'the intimate landscape'. For example, as I was walking around town, I began to notice that some of the department store window displays were quite interesting looking and I began taking shots of those that appealed to me. When photographing windows like this, it is a bit of a challenge to get an angle that avoids glare and reflections off the glass, yet still allows for an interesting composition.

I thought this particular display had a rather 'hip' feel to it.

"Summer"
Copyright Howard Grill

So, when walking around town, it's nice to have a camera handy and important to keep an eye on the small stuff as well as the skyscrapers!

Slideshow

Today, I have a bit of a personal note. I will be giving a slideshow presentation on Wednesday, June 6 at the REI store on Pittsburgh's South Side. The topic is nature photography in and around the Pittsburgh area and is sponsored by REI and Venture Outdoors, a great group whose mission statement can be seen here. In association with the talk, I am also taking a group out Sunday, January 10th to Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve for a nature photography field session. Though the program is aimed at beginners, anyone out there who is in the area is certainly welcome to attend.

This is my first attempt at any type of photographic teaching, so I am really looking forward to it. I tend not too be 'big' on public speaking, but am excited about doing this. I just hope that I am able to convey, in some small way, how much I enjoy photographing and how it can really open up a deeper appreciation for and understanding of nature. I hope it goes well, as I think that it might be something that I would really be interested in doing more of.

I'll let everyone know how it goes in a future post!

The Importance Of Unplanning

I recently started reading and enjoying a new photography blog that I ran across entitled "Photographer's Journey" by Christopher Scholl. Recently, Chris had an interesting post entitled 'New Places. New Photographs', in which he discussed carefully planned out vs. spontaneous photography. Chris tends to be spontaneous. I personally fall somewhere in-between the two, generally planning ahead what park or area of the city I might go to, but not commonly planning to the degree of deciding ahead of time exactly where in the park I will go or what building I will photograph. Thinking about that post, I began to ponder the importance of being able to 'unplan'........or, to paraphrase, being able to accept the 'zen of photography'.

What do I man by this? As important as it can be to plan ahead and be at the proper location for sunrise, sunset, low tide etc, it is also important to have a freeness of spirit that will allow for plans to change, if need be. What if one's plan was to make sharp photographs of wildflowers but the wind was blowing, or if the plan was to photograph a waterfall and the day turned out to be bright and sunny etc, etc. You could battle with nature all the way, waiting for the wind to momentarily die down in order to get a sharp wildflower shot or waiting for that single cloud in the sky to pass in front of the sun and tone down the highlights and reflections off of the waterfall......and you might eventually get what you were after. Or you could accept what nature has dealt and be willing to go along with her without putting up a fight. You could decide that the windy day might just be the perfect time to capture impressionistic images of wildflowers in motion. You might decide to photograph shadows on that bright day instead of waiting and waiting for a few overcast moments during which the waterfall could be photographed well.

"Sand Patterns"
When It's Too Bright To Shoot The Beach, Shoot The Sand
Copyright Howard Grill

"Tough Tree"
Taken On A Bright Day With Terrible Light
Copyright Howard Grill

I think the best images are likely to be made when you are going with the flow instead of against it; when you accept what is, appreciate what is, and work along with it instead of fighting. Once you are working with the flow it becomes easier to be a part of what you are trying to photograph and less of an outside observer.

I am certain that it can be just as important to unplan as it is to plan!

Big Science

Yeah, yeah, yeah....I know doors have been done a million times before. But who can resist taking a shot of a really interesting doorway?

The small green lettering under "Big Science", which is quite sharp but just too small to show up in these Blogger picture sizes, says "Sonic Architecture".

So, if you need Sonic Architecture...."who 'ya gonna call?" I could just see Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd coming out of there like in "Ghostbusters".

"Big Science"

Copyright Howard Grill

A Different Way Of Seeing

The other day I was out photographing some widflowers, specifically Columbine and Buttercups, in a local park. As I was composing my images, I couldn't help but get the feel that I had done this before. I don't mean taking these particular photographs of these particular flowers. In fact, I had never previously photographed either Columbine or Buttercups. But I had photographed using that particular style many times.....maximizing depth of field, looking for a nice close up composition, even a spritz of water for 'drama'......and I really felt that I wanted to try something different. I thought about the shoot wide open with selective focus technique, and, likewise, I have recently been doing more and more of that. Done well, both techniques can produce stunning images.

However, neither style satisfied my desire of the moment, which was to do something totally different; something that I hadn't done before. So I thought about what it was that really drew me to the flowers and made me want to stop and spend time with them. It wasn't so much their form (which was beuatiful) as it was their color. That was what I thought the essence of the scene was, at least for that moment. How could I isolate just that one attribute of the flower?

I decided to try something that was totally new or, more properly, something that was totally new for me. Why not 'defocus' the lens until the flower's color was broken down to its most basic level. Eschew form and convey color.

"Buttercups"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Columbine"
Copyright Howard Grill

Does it work? Honestly, I am not really sure it matters. I think it is a good exercise to 'break loose' every so often and break convention, or at least the conventions that one has adapted for his or her self. In this case, I feel the process was more important than the actual results.

That said, I am intrigued with the images. My first reaction was that it was too simple and that anyone could simply defocus and fire away willy nilly. But then I realized that, like most things that sound simple, getting really good results takes a lot more effort than is apparent on the surface. This idea is something that I plan to at least 'play around' with some more. I think with more experimentation and effort some pleasing compositions can be had. It is too bad the wildflower season here is rapidly fading away.

The Twin Jewels Project: Color In Motion

Yup, another Twin Jewels project post. I have written about the project several times before, but if you haven't read about it and would like to know more, you can check it out here.

However, this Twin Jewels post lacks the certainty and self-assuredness of my prior ones. Why? Because I am having difficulty evaluating a photograph that I am considering including as part of the project. Therefore, any honest and constructive input is truly appreciated.

The image is entitled, at least tentatively, "Color In Motion".

"Color In Motion"
Copyright Howard Grill

I took this photograph on a Spring morning, while the wind was blowing. What originally attracted me to the scene were the very saturated colors in the yellow buds on the short plants as well as the reds and yellows in the leaves. To me it looked more like Fall than Spring, but there it was.

I was hoping to capture the sense of Spring renewal in a semi-abstract way....splotches of color on a canvas. I have some straight shots from when the wind died down with no motion blur to the leaves, but I actually thought that the motion blur of the leaves in the trees conveyed the feeling of the wind and helped transmit a nice feel to the image. The contrast between the leaves that were moving and the shorter yellow plants that demonstrated very little, if any, motion blur was also very appealing to me.

One problem in evaluating the image on the web is that the blur of the red and yellow leaves on the tree doesn't come through very well at the very small image size that Blogger allows.

On one level I really like this shot. I like the color pallete and the way the color is seemingly coming from all over. What I don't like is the lack of 'simplicity'. In some ways the scene looks too chaotic to me with just too many twigs, trees, and undergrowth. I think it might have been more effective had the blurred colorful tree leaves been on a simpler background. Yet, when I look at it on another level, not expecting a ‘beautfully composed’ landscape, but just allowing myself to step back and enjoy the colors and the way they play off each other…well, then I like it. It seems to appeal to me on that level despite the lack of simple lines.

I fully realize that the art is for myself and should not be predicated on how I think others will react to it (see my review of Art and Fear by Bayles and Orland). Nonetheless, my feelings about the image are mixed and so I seek other opinions.

What do you folks think, keep it in the project or out...and why? A thumbs down or just a so-so gives it the boot as I am trying to be heavy-handed with my editing.

Digg For Photography?

Familiar with Digg? It is a place for communal sharing of internet news that, once submitted, gets voted upon by the community. Stories or news of the greatest interest ends up getting more exposure to people that are interested in that particular topic. Very neat......but it is very oriented towards technology and current events. Photography doesn't fit neatly into any of the categories under which one can submit a story and it tends not to be a place where photographers hang out to look for items of interest.

Well, that may be about to end. I ran across photographyvoter.com, a site that functions very much like Digg, only it is specifically aimed at photographic topics. It is still in its infancy, but I think it has fantastic potential to be THE place to go to find items of interest specifically related to photography.

I have no relation at all to the site or its founders, but to me it looks very cool and potentially extremely useful. I intend to use it and certainly hope it grows into what could be an incredible resource.

Check it out!

Photography And Truth, Part II

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to read Part I of this discussion, I would urge you to do so here.

I suspect that the main reason behind the expectation of a photograph portraying ‘reality’ (which, by the way, ignores the fact that what one person perceives as reality might well be a bit different from the way another perceives it) is the historical use of photographs in journalism. This raises two issues. The first is whether one should expect the same ‘rules’ that apply to journalism to also apply to fine art photography, and the second is just how much ‘truth’ is depicted in an ‘unmanipulated’ journalistic photograph.

There exists a certain ‘code of ethics’ regarding the use of photographs for journalistic purposes. One can certainly understand that images used in this way should not be ‘altered’. But, in reality, an ‘unaltered’ image doesn't necessarily depict total truth either. As previously mentioned, the choice of focal length used will effect the apparent facts in the image. Exactly how far away is the subject, as opposed to how far away does the photographer want the subject to appear to be? Does the subject know they are being photographed?

But, I believe this issue is a minor one compared to the issue of in-camera cropping. What is just outside the frame and left out can, at times, tell as much about the situation as what is included. I will never forget a piece that I read which showed a photograph of a young person seemingly caught in the act of violent revolt. This image had been used as news in many prominent newspapers and magazines. One photographer, however, had the wherewithal to take a photograph of the overall event. What was actually occurring was that there was a group of perhaps 30 or so photographers all crouching down (just outside the frame) and taking the same image. The subject was now seemingly ‘enjoying’ his portrayal of revolution. Meanwhile, each of the photographic journalists had independently and conveniently cropped out all the others. There was no apparent enemy and the photographers certainly did not seem concerned about exposing themselves to danger.

Viewed from this standpoint, the story seemed to change. It now appeared that the subject was posing for the shot and the image seemed more like propoganda than news. Was it real? Can the presence of one camera change reality? What about 25 or 30 cameras all trained on the same subject? What urging, either actual or subliminal, might have been taking place to get the subject to perform?

Just to be clear, I am not a journalist and have never been one, so I apologize and am certainly willing to accept correction if any of the details above are erroneous. Nor, I should add, am I a conspiracy theorist. However, it does appear to me that, at least to some small extent, every image conveys only the reality that the person behind the lens wants it to. It would appear, then, that there are some similarities between journalistic and fine art photography.

However, bringing the discussion back to the topic of fine art photography, I think the biggest issue involving ‘truth’ as it applies to photography in the digital era comes in the form of ‘innocent’, as opposed to overt, manipulation. What is this rather sinister (said sarcastically) impediment to the portrayal of truth. Why, none other than the RAW format itself!

While the casual point ‘n shooter typically sets his or her in-camera parameters and shoots in .jpg format, all the while not necessarily thinking about the fact that the camera is doing its own post-processing, the serious photographer most often shoots in RAW format. The interesting thing is that RAW not only allows, but DEMANDS, post processing interpretation of the final image because the initial RAW data, which has not had any post-processing applied to it, is quite bland and just as ‘untruthful’ as an image that has been heavily manipulated. So the final result of an image taken in RAW format must then become, at best, only a representation of reality based on one person’s memory.

In the end, the debate regarding digital manipulation is likely one that will never end. 'Truthfulness' in imaging, as in many other things in life, is ultimately only as honest and factual as the person behind the lens.

Nonetheless, I do suppose that ultimately some conclusions can be drawn. For one, though there may be no 'right' answer about what represents truthfulness in photography, it is quite important to at least give the issue a good deal of thought despite the fact that the resultant guidelines might only serve as personal ones. In fact, since there is no 'right' answer, going through the thought process may well be more important than the conclusions.

My (current) personal guidelines are as follows:

1) For photography presented as art, I believe 'anything goes'. Viewers may not like the artist's style if it involves 'over the top' manipulation, but I don't believe that one's artistic expression should be limited simply because the medium happens to be photography. Nor do I think that such art needs to come with a 'disclosure statement' stating that it was manipulated. My one exception to this is #2.

2)I believe that wildlife photography is a separate and special situation and that it should be clearly indicated if the subject was photographed in captivity. Likewise, if anything has been done to substantially change the meaning of the photograph with cloning etc, I think that should also be indicated. It would also be acceptable to simply and clearly state that the images have been altered.

3)Though I am not a photojournalist, I would hope that images where there is misrepresentation (as in the example of the 'revolutionary' given above) would be treated as if they were manipulated.

4)If asked, be truthful...never represent known manipulation as no manipulation.

For further interesting and far more eloquent discussion of how one might consider thinking about these issues as they regard fine art photography, have a look at Alain Briot's essay entitled "Just Say Yes", which can be read here.

So that is my list......have you thought about yours?

"Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world." ----------- Arnold Newman

Photography and Truth - Part I

I have never understood why photography is essentially the only artistic medium in which people seem to expect literal, factual interpretations of a subject. It is not at all unusual for someone, after looking at and seemingly enjoying a photographic print, to turn around and question if there has been 'manipulation' of the image because of the intensity of color or contrast, the perspective of a particular lens, or the use of shutter speeds that provide an unexpected appearance. Unfortunately, many of these comments are made in a derogatory fashion; there is seemingly no artistic vision or expertise involved if there were ‘adjustments’ that were made……it is as if to say “well, once you are allowed to make adjustments I could have done that as well”, and therefore the perceived ‘value’ (and I am not talking about monetary value here) is lessened.

I simply don’t get it! I have never heard anyone complain to a painter that their work wasn’t good because they painted the sky bluer than it was on that particular day. No one tells a writer that something couldn't have looked as they described it. Sure, people may not like the painter's or writer's style, but that is quite different from not liking an artists’s work because it does not portray reality.

As an aside, the whole situation reminds me of a famous story regarding Picasso, which goes something like this (who even knows if it is true at this point). A tall patron asked Picasso why he portrayed people the way he did, despite the fact that ‘they don’t really have angles like that’. Picasso reportedly asked him if he had a photograph of his wife with him and asked to see it. The person did and showed it to Picasso. Picasso then took his thumb and forefinger and, in an animated fashion, used them to measure the size of the woman’s head in the photograph. He then held his now separated fingers up to the light and said to the tall patron, “How odd, your marrying a woman with such a small head.” Point well made.

The issues and concerns regarding manipulation have certainly ‘gotten worse’ in the digital era, where anyone can cut out their bosses head and place it on a monkey’s body. Clearly, however, ‘manipulation’ occurred long before the digital age by making choices as simple as deciding what focal length lens to use or even what type of film to load into the camera. For more complex manipulation using film, one need look no further than the type of magnificent work Jerry Uelsmann does today using ‘only’ film and the darkroom.

What it seems to essentially boil down to, at least in my mind, is that most people expect photography, even if presented purely as art, to accurately reflect reality. This expectation is simply not present in essentially any other artistic medium.

To Be Continued.........

The Twin Jewels Project: Pastel Morning

Today, I thought I would post another image that I am considering for inclusion in my "Twin Jewels Project". There is also a quick story that goes along with this one. I have off one Friday every six weeks and on that day I try to get out to photograph since I am usually devoid of responsibilities, at least for the early morning.

This particular image, entitled 'Pastel Morning', was taken on one of those Fridays. This particular morning sticks in my mind because it was a morning on which I decided I would get up early enough to try to shoot sunrise at one of the "Twin Jewel" parks. That was a little unusual for me. While I usually do get up early on the mornings I go out to photograph, the park is about an hour's drive away, so while I usually get there early enough to have a couple of hours to photograph in nice morning light, I am rarely there early enough to actually photograph sunrise.

After hauling myself out of bed, I found myself wondering if I was crazy to get up so early to catch sunrise on my day off. I wasn't quite sure where to go for a good view and was thinking that, in general, Western Pennsylvania does not even have particularly grand sunrises and sunsets because the very hilly terrain tends to block the lower horizon in many areas. The fact that it was quite cold outside just made matters even worse since, as I have mentioned before, cold weather and I are not the greatest of friends.

Back to the photograph in a minute, but to complete the story, very shortly after capturing the image and having experienced an unexpectedly majestic sunrise, I received a call on my cell phone from one of my partners who needed to get some information about a patient from me. He had expected to have awakened me at home, and when he heard where I was and what I was doing thought I was completely crazy. I had been wondering the same thing myself earlier, but, by this time, I had already experienced the magnificent sunrise and in my mind it was clear to me that the crazy thing would have been to have been anywhere else but this particular spot on that particular morning.

"Pastel Morning"
Copyright Howard Grill

Back to the photograph. I decided to photograph sunrise over the lake in the park. Of course, I wasn't quite sure where over the lake the sun would rise ( I guess you could call that ill prepared, but that is one of those things that I just never seem to be able to figure out....can anyone tell me how to do so reliably?) so I just got into position pointing generally east, according to my car compass.

As I mentioned, I wasn't prepared for anything spectacular. While it was still fairly dark, I picked out an area across the lake that I thought had the most interesting graphic appearance I could see. I liked the way the mountains seemed to cross the flatter foreground at an angle.

As sunrise approached, the sky started to glow completely orange! I had never seen coloration so intense in this area before. As it got brighter, the open sky stayed orange and the cloudy areas became an unusual pastel blue color. It was most definitely worth getting out of bed and into the cold.

I remember thinking that one of the great things about nature photography is the surprise of never knowing ahead of time what you are going to see and be able to photograph. The mornings when one gets up early and nothing materializes just serve to intensify the incredible feeling you get when you are 'out there' and this sort of scene plays out. I do realize that other areas of the country have much grander sunrises and landscapes in which to portray them, but, for the area I am trying to portray in my project, it simply doesn't get any better than this.

The final image is cropped a bit from the original frame. It struck me that the pink and blue bands were very linear graphic elements of the image and that even the green tree lined land areas seem to fit in as a linear band. I cropped a bit from the top and bottom of the image until the width of the bands of color seemed to complement each other just right to me.

After sitting through the sunrise, I was not only amazed by how quickly the light got more and more intense, but also by how it faded just as rapidly. It was all over within 30 minutes, at the most. I had to snap a picture afterwards as a great example of how important it is to be at a location at the right time and just how quickly the light and mood can change. So here is 'Pastel Morning Plus Thirty Minutes". Don't be late!

"Pastel Morning Plus Thirty Minutes"

Copyright Howard Grill

Five Question Interview

I was interviewed by Pittsburgh photographer John Craig as part of his "Five Question Interview" blog series. Click here to check it out.

And while you're there, also check out his terrific blog and peruse some of the images on his website.

Actually, I was quite surprised and very honored to be included as part of his series. Turns out that John lives only a few miles from me. We've never met, but I hope we get a chance to at some point in the near future.

Thanks for the very kind words, John!

Trillium: The Final T(h)rill Of The Year

Well, the trillium 'season' comes to an end. The flowers are rapidly fading away until next year. In many ways, their short lived nature adds to what makes them so special. It is truly an amazing experience to be out in the forest alone, surrounded by hundreds of these beautiful plants.

I have to say, I really enjoyed and appreciated the feedback and suggestions regarding my photographic 'pursuit' of trillium. And so, I offer my last trillium shots of the year:

"Peeking Out"
Copyright Howard Grill

Below is a shot of the elusive yellow trillium. The yellow trillium here in Pennsylvania seem very different than the images I get when I Google 'Yellow Trillium', and yet this is definitely trillium (to the best of my knowledge). They have a yellow tint, the park ranger said there were yellow trillium at that site, and, other than for the center, these looked just like the white trillium plants and, in fact, were growing amongst them.

"Yellow Trillium"
Copyright Howard Grill

Finally, I return to the image that I had 'in my head' and mentioned in my first trillium post. The concept was of a 'sea of white', and I think I have gotten close this time. The question is, can an image of hundreds of flowers work when only one of the flowers is in focus?

"Sea Of White"
Copyright Howard Grill

Work or not, the best part is that there is always next year.........