Journey of Recognition

What rules have I applied in photography that may have inhibited any personal expression?

Since, so far, I have never read any book on photography I am not limited by strict rules.

I have vaguely heard photographers talk about thirds... maybe the above scene in the mountains might be considered as abiding by those rules. I'm not even sure!

I know that in in any scene I take, I do like the feel of 'enough' sky in which to breathe!

However, if I had decided to take a close-up of a part of that chalet above, I might just have captured the porch and a window, or some other detail which pulled me in.

Does the above snowscene abide by any rules? If it does, then they happened by chance. I just know that the chalet, at first, seemed as if it was the focal point, but I needed that tuft of vegetation poking through the snow which gave the picture depth, it became the foreground detail which caught my eye. I didn't analyse it. The chalet has almost taken on a secondary importance because of the foreground detail.

I also like the tips of the planted hedge leading up to the silhouette of the tree

 on the right which gives the scene a feeling of continuity.

The fact that the background disappears mysteriously into the mist gives me the feeling of a story being told

and I do love a little mystery with an untold story...

I know that I like to frame things, like the moon partially framed by the silhouette of the branches,  but with freedom below so that the whole thing breathes.

Finally, I don't think that I have ever really been hemmed in by rules in photography, simply because I don't really know them.

I am a free spirit  and I seem to rely on intuition more than what anyone might have told me.

Maybe I have internal rules rather than external ones?

Do they inhibit me in any way?

I will not answer now, but I will keep this in mind.... unless that free spirit takes over and wants to simply run and laugh and join in with the natural flow of life as I experience it in each moment.

I have tried to explore my rules, but realize that I don't seem to be following any!

Look up!

Get out!

Look up!

See the trees

and the sky!

Feel the breeze?

How lucky am I...

I can see

I can feel

I am totally me!

Reflections on a wall

Setting sun on a wall

A wall that hides the sky from view

Yet I know the sun shines

thanks to the wall.

The wall has windows

People live there

They see my wall too

They know the sun is rising

thanks to my wall.

When we cannot see the sky

When we cannot see the sun

We know they are there

thanks to a reflection.

Town dwellers 

see walls and reflections

and dream of skies and clouds and fields and flowers

they dream of nature.

We do not need eyes

to know that all is there

To know what is

to know how to be

We need no-thing

All is there

right inside...

After the rain

The moss so fresh and green dotted with ivy leaves

Puddle art along the path

This tiny strand of fern popped out at me from its bed of nourishing humus 

and raindrops glistened like transparent pearls along the blades of grass.

The glorious colours of the forest became more intense after the rain.

Did you enjoy the woodland walk as much as I did?

Letting in the light

It's so easy to look at the world through closed windows...

just open them up and breathe in LIFE!

An interesting little note:

'Window'

comes from the word

'vindauga'

meaning wind-eye from old-Norse 'vindr' (wind) + auga (eye).

The word, along with many others, was introduced to the Anglo-saxon language by Danish settlers 

mainly during the period from the 9th to the 11th century.

Ballet in blue

In harmony

Waiting in the wings

Solo

Budding dancers

Curtain call

Pink Mist

Recognizing Your Eye

COLOUR

Noticing the elements which appear the most in my favourite photos is an excellent way of  seeing what is important to me. Sometimes there is just one element, sometimes several of them in the same photo as in the shot above.

Here is a list of the elements that appear the most:

Colour

Light

Detail

Shape

Contrast

Soft focus

Sharp outlines

Story

Reflections

I also notice that shadow and light appear in my photos which give depth and sometimes drama. There are new elements which are appearing too like: texture and line.

LIGHT

DETAIL

SHAPE

CONTRASTING COLOURS

SOFT FOCUS AND SHARP OUTLINES

STORY

This really was a story happening on the lake which I followed with great interest and with my camera at sunset!

STORY

I love this one because the story is unknown to me. This bicycle is padlocked to the railings by the lake every morning and it disappears at night. I have never seen the owner!

REFLECTIONS

in Florence

To illustrate two new elements appearing in my photos recently - I have enclosed them here:

TEXTURE

and

LINES

Have I recognized my eye? 

There are so many elements to choose from... but if I needed to reduce the list, I would probably choose:

colour and light, detail, story and reflections... but I would miss the other elements if I didn't use them!

Exploring Familiar Subjects

The familiar subject I have chosen to photograph is a flower. It is a subject which appears most consistently in my inspiration file.

I just happen to have an Amaryllis plant in my home at the moment and the sun shining into the room created wonderful transparencies against the light.

I took my camera and circled the flower and the different curves and textures caught my eye.

As I moved and changed my position - sometimes on my toes, sometimes kneeling down, coming in close and pulling away, I felt that I was dancing with the flower and the flower seemed to be dancing with me! I sometimes get this feeling with trees when I'm out walking in nature, but this was the first time with a flower!

I was totally drawn to capture parts of the flower as opposed to the whole subject. It felt like painting with my camera

One detail was enough

Texture and layering drew me in

The centre radiated the pulse of life as I knelt down to allow myself to be enveloped by the sheer intensity and this is when I felt the most interested and excited.

I suppose I did lose track of time as I entered deeper into the flower's sheer presence.

Flower whisperings

I am finding it difficult to stop sharing images here as each one is unique and represents the soul of this subject.

Do I like the end result? 

I like the fact that the images often seem more like paintings than photographs... I could put many more pictures here to illustrate that, but I am already way over the number I first planned to include.

I liked everything about this experience and will definitely do it again.

If I changed anything, it would be to have more time!

The basking crocodile...

Down by the river, the crocodile pulled himself out of the water to bask lazily in the sun next to what he thought to be a rather charming parasol.

Little did he know, this was a magical fairy toadstool... and the moss fairies had the power to make the crocodile fall into a deep slumber whenever they felt they might be in danger.

The toadstools are in fact  dwellings for the little folk -  and you can't quite see them here because they are hiding in the moss and whispering and giggling dressed from head to toe in green!

Feathery encounter

A downy feather floated down to land on these colourful seed pods and yellow leaves.

It makes a change from snow in January!

Beige is beautiful

Learning to appreciate tranquil beige and grey and brown and muted greens that nature offers us in January in this part of the world.

Looking within and a little further...

How to resist these little seed-pods at all the different stages of their evolution?

Well, don't resist!

Take a peep inside and enjoy the new-found fluffy softness!

Bramble leaves looking astonishingly fresh for the season

Favourite things

Zooming in on tiny details

Getting sharp outlines and soft backgrounds

Observing things from different angles

Catching the unexpected - like a pink telephone booth in London! I loved the way that it might be a new trend as opposed to the classical Royal Mail red, but discovered it to be the base coat before the final coat of red!

I loved the way that shiny black London taxi managed to nose its way into the shot! The traffic had stopped at a red light and the taxi was inching its way forward. Cheeky!

Creating scenes from which a story may arise, like this homemade child's roundabout.

Or this one of a boat crossing at sunset...

Capturing layers and reflections like this scene with an early-morning fishing-boat on the lake at sunrise.

These are some of the reasons why I love taking photographs.