Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
I've been going there for more then thirty years...! Started before the bridge on the Odet was built and there was the old "bac" with chains.. The Minaret' still there though! <lamenting against the flow of time> "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
My favourites are abstract photos and those accidental ones that turn into something cool. Like this ginger cat who moved before the camera could refocus as I pressed the shutter. He had a very bright sky behind him and was sat on a shelf above me.
Ad astra per aspera
Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-EhP3Ts3grI Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
you are the media you consume.
I had my wide angle lens on this and was hoping to find a way to fill the frame more with the bones but it didn't work. I didn't want to go putting my kit down in the mud to change lens. What lens would have worked better? Ad astra per aspera
It would have been an easy shot with the GR-D: 28mm lens that focuses 1cm away with huge depth of field and shiftable focus point - and there's generally a tabletop tripod in my bag that would have done nicely!
I will have to practice on your advice. Ad astra per aspera
Maybe something to do with my own vision (meaning eyes, not philosophy :-) )? "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
my favourite genres would certainly be skies, especially dawns, sunsets and freaky cloud/light effects, rural landscapes, and animals, including human ones!
but you all know that by now...
what amazes me about photography is how the camera sees parallel to my vision, sometimes expressing it, sometimes exceeding it, very similar to when i play a musical instrument, i send mental commands to my fingers, then suddenly the instrument plays itself in ways that surprise me.
it's precisely this interface between intention and event that makes me happy to dedicate myself, it's the risk and gamble, intuition and exploration.
i learn so much from so many good photographers here, it's a gas to have this place to come to and meet images.
henri cartier bresson and man ray are as close to pure genius as you can get, imo. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
It's not a "finished" product ! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
deliciously mysterious, the whole flow... one drop in time and space, rippling on and on. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
The following was when we have a public photo gallery hanged on the fence of the "Luxembourg" garden in Paris... It allows for a game between the picture and the casual passer-by :-)
Was he thinking " I'd like to be there, under the sun" ?
"What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
I'm a lezard with a "marmotte" feature, I sleep when it's cold and grey and only wake up when the sun shines... Every sunny day is just yesterday ! :-) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
The following was a quick grab shot of a student of mine, while we met by chance when I was strolling around in the Luxembourg garden, as usual (manual focus with a 85/2)
Then there is also that, with very shallow depth of field, you move a bit forward or backwards when pressing the shutter... It's imperceptible, but it's often there ! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
Oh that is easy. I love to photograph difficult-to-build objects.
A show car
The St. Louis Gateway Arch >
Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
On the other hand, Wingspread--the famous Wright-designed house in Racine--is supported by Johnson Wax money and is in pristine shape. "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
However, this is my one year old grandson and I departing the Maya ruins at Comalcalco, Mex lats year. Obviously I didn't take this photo.
More of the ruins. This from the "castle" complex high above the plain where the pyramids are located.
Ruins of the "castle" I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
Eye of the tiger. I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
An illusion of a cool drink in the tropics - Comalcalco, Mex I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
A few minutes later, the sky cleared a little and a skydiver parachuted into the lake. I had hoped the photo would show both parachutist and rainbow, but it didn't happen.
I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
Street life near the mosque
Roman ruins and the souk.
A street called straight - I believe - from the book of Acts description of the conversion to Christianity of Saul of Tarsus.
Tomb of Saladin. Saladin's remains are in the sarcophagus on the left. The one on the right was a gift from Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Interior (prayer room) of the immense Omayyad Mosque I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
Curious zeba
Big Boy in Moholoholo
Baby rhino (also Moholoholo)
I like rhino best - but obviously he's not in the wild...
I wonder what you'll find the most difficult in your four propositions :-) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
It was a baby rhino. I'm not sure about the second horn budding, that spot may just sit there and develop later on. Rhino was cool - as all rhinos he was almost blind, but this one was accustomed to the presence of humans. The moment we entered the pen, it would amble towards us - like a monstrous dog. It just mingled and wanted attention; it was stunning. First time I've touched a rhino. Rhinos are, however, also very skittish, so we were warned to always stay aside of him. It would charge if it would be startled by someone in front of him - and even the charge of a baby rhino can do damage...
I rumbled through my hard drive, but the most spectacular picture I've is still in the Netherlands!!! Argh. I've been lucky enough to have swum with the world's only hippo accustomed to humans - Jessica.
Of all the four goals, I'm hedging learning surfing will be the hardest, considering Johannesburg is not at the coast... There is a distinction... I want to learn surf, meaning not give up before I reasonably can, but I just want to attempt horseback...
as for surfing, it's hard paddling and waiting, then the rush.
bodysurfing is really fun, i prefer having nothing between skin and wave, and the bouncing you do with your feet on the sand in the backwash and leaping for best positioning is like radical capoeira, flips, kick, lunges, spins...
with the magnificent antagonist of the water...
best sport i ever enjoyed...
riding depends so much on the horse you're on. some are like armchairs and if you start with one that's really serene-to-the-point-of-dull, you can relax into it, and build the musculature necessary for a more 'interesting' ride.
i am riding out my horse regularly into the surrounding woodlands, and it definitely has parallels with how i felt about the ocean, and the sense of energised immersion.
good luck, those particular choices i can vouch for having brought much pleasure and satisfaction, with the added benefit of being builders of health and strength, applied in your 30's, will make a big difference in how you experience your body in later life.
tip from an old man!
great to have your dutch take on s. africa, and points beyond, what makes ET so cool. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--
The "Decisive moment" is quite hard to get! As even Cartier-Bresson never said for what it was decisive (action, story, emotion, composition, or the whole lot together) !
Did I already asked you if you read french ? (Aloïs moment - sigh) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
What's amazing with Cartier-Bresson is that he not only caught the moments, but also the perfect form and the perfect composition. It's amazing. And probably impossible to take apart for analyzing... You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--
(Not that it makes him any less talented) Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
I found out that with a waist finder, I look and compose the scene in my mind, then, only, frame it... While with a reflex, I move a frame on a subject till I find a composition I like ! With a rangefinder it's a little of both worlds, but you still have to raise the camera to eye level !
Some high level reflex allowed for the changing of the viewfinder, and the use of a "semi-waist" level sort ! But now they've sealed the damn thing! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
You hold the camera at "waist" height (usually a bit higher) and look down to frame, focus, etc. Not to confuse with "sport finders" which were just a wire crisscrossed frame still used in underwater shoots !
Some P&S like the "twisting" coolpix series (900, 4500, SQ), allows for shooting at the "waist" while looking down to he LCD (and give the photographer shooting in between parked cars, the look of someone who's doing something else :-) )!
From the Nikon F to the F4 (dunno for the F5, but the F6 is definitely sealed) those reflex with prism cameras could have the prism taken off and replaced by a "waist loupe" that would allow a different way of shooting! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
So much for the incessant change of lenses or zooming that we do today, as those were with a fixed lens (on one model though, you could change the dual lens for another set)! It's the Vietnam war that brought in many people's mind the multi-purposedness of the SLR or "single" lens reflex with changeable lenses...
So we'll get to see them next Friday ? :-) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
