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Realising your Vision

You know... I see photos everywhere! I can load up my camera, go out in my backyard & shoot a roll easy. I am still learning about the tools to help get what I see from the film to the paper. The Texas workshop was the best learning experience I've ever had... not just to learn from Les, whose work I have admired since I first saw it, but also to learn from the wonderful people there taking the workshop with me.

For me, it's all vision. That's the whole thing! Everything else is a tool for me to 'record' this particular place in time that has stuck a chord in me. I guess I've always been more sensually oriented than technically oriented... it's all about the way the light hits on those vines at 10 am in the July, or the interesting way that pumpkin vine has wrapped a tendril around the branch of a neighboring bush. It's about how those thing evoke a feeling in me that I want to capture and keep.

So, I guess... for me, it's all about the 'vision'... now all I need to do is keep practicing getting it out of the negative & onto the paper!
 
Here's something I'm working on. Still life macros. I've never had any education on this, going on my own as usual. This is a progression of shots made so far in this project over several weekend sessions.

All of these were taken outdoors in strong direct sun using my old dark cloth as the backdrop. Not a very sophisticated lighting setup, but I wanted to see just how it worked.

The first one (SL1) basically sucks in composition. I went ahead and printed it on Azo just to see how the tones would come out.

SL3 is better though there are background and color tone problems

SL4 and SL5 are the same but with different backgrounds. SL5 is close to my vision but needs better lighting.

So, next weekend, try again. BTW, I've gotten excellent tips from Les, Lee, Andre, and PapaGene just by posting questions and scans from this project. In other words, I'm learning by doing and learning from other APUG members.
 
These are two new images for 2 on going projects. OTA or Grey light series and toy box. The interesting visual test for me was two different lighting approaches used at the same angles. Toy box is a 3 light key light approach and the grey light a very large light source with a movable interior light source. The grey light I usually shoot in a grey environement this time in white. Really cool.
 

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Realizing your Vision: That pesky subject.

I don’t know that I have ever really realized my pre-visualition of a picture. I HAVE sat long periods of time looking at something trying to figure out why I’m going to make a picture of it. This doesn’t seem to work for me. Most of my pictures come from the spur of the moment, a gut reaction to a scene; it isn’t until I begin making the print that I (almost always) think “I should have taken more time, looked a little closer or longer or thought more about camera perspective, if I had just used lesser depth of field”.

It isn’t until I have figured base exposures and made a first enlarged work print of the full negative that I consider composition and usually do some cropping. Then the vision begins to appear. “If I burn here and dodge there, raise this contrast, lower that contrast, etc.” then I’m on the way to making an expressive print. I am trying to get used to scanning a negative and working out composition on the monitor then take it into the darkroom.
 
Bruce (Camclicker) said:
-- it isn’t until I begin making the print that I (almost always) think “I should have taken more time, looked a little closer or longer or thought more about camera perspective, if I had just used lesser depth of field”.---
Click to expand...
This is the point where the 8x10 camera did it for me and allowed me to really see my composition. Even the 4x5 didn't afford the vision that looking through the 8x10 ground glass did. The fact that it takes time to set up, focus, and adjust made me settle down and really look at what I was doing. A very valuable piece of advice from Michael A. Smith is "as a photographer, you are responsible for every square millimeter on the photo". I've taken that to heart pretty much and found it works. Every piece of the photo has its place in the entire photo.

Using the large camera does limit your subjects. Its not really conducive to spontaneous events or rapidly moving subjects. But that's one sacrifice I've been willing to make for all the other advantages it has given me.
 
This image one image that I remember and/or documented my "visualization". Guyla runs a b&b at a beach resort. The house is an old turn-of-the-century Victorian in excellent condition due to Gyula's constant and proficient labors.

After spending time relaxing on the porch, it occurred to me that the light could produce a great for a portrait. The problem was the brightness coming from the outside dead in front of the lens. I visualized well exposed areas of the porch with a greater exposure of the outside without intolerable overexposure. I used PXP120 film rated at EI 80.

When I had the camera set up and ready, I ask Guyla to turn from her busy schedule to sit for her portrait. She reluctantly broke down and took a few seconds to relax.

At that time I planed to develop in D23 but when the time came, I reverted to D76 and developed N-1. It came out as I first visualized it. I have many other images that did not.
 

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