And no, this is not another famous photographer quotation - it is indeed my cheesy joke which is usually rolled out at Christmas to much groaning from family members when it appears and a reminder to share it, if it has not. But being mindful, I should focus on the now which is the submission of the first photography assignment.
Blur was very much part of my focus this past week as our homework exercise required the submission of four photographs, two from aperture exploration and two from shutter speed exploration, the former requiring the use of a slow shutter speed that records the subject's motion as a 'blur". This is known as panning which is the action of following a moving subject with a camera to create motion and the end result being a picture with a blurred background and a crisp subject. A monopod is a good choice for panning because it gives you freedom to move the camera laterally while preventing vertical movement. So my recent purchase of a MeFOTO RoadTrip Travel Tripod which quickly converts into a monopod was put into use for this task.
http://www.mefoto.com/uk/products/roadtrip.aspx
So after a few attempts I was able to capture some images of the morning traffic (not quite city rush hour) coming in to Sleat. The secret is to make sure you follow the shot through after depressing the shutter half-way and continue to follow the subject even after the shutter has been depressed. This involves moving your hips with the camera which could be construed as a gentle morning exercise for those of us who are less fit!
Some images captured
showing the blurry background
which is effective in portraying motion.
However, I discover a problem with these images as the shutter speed exercise required you to photograph the same subject by freezing the motion, but of course the afore-photographed vehicles had now escaped in a motion blur! Of course, the secret is to READ the exercise task thoroughly beforehand!
That was not my only challenge - the 'mini' exercise also required that an appropriate photographic syle/genre be identified in which to locate the photographs taken. I'm not sure whether it is being a West Highland Gael that makes me have difficulty with the word GENRE, starting with its pronunciation. Is it SHAW-RUH or indeed SHAUN-RUH and whatever it is I needed to choose one. Perhaps in the style of Lewis Hine (Social Documentary) with Powerhouse mechanic working on steam pump in the 1920s or Richard Avedon (Portrait) famous for his 1981 Ronald Fischer Beekeeepr portrait and a cracking shot of Bob Dylan. The choice was endless and agonising but I decided I could attempt a surveillance style and go as a sleuth to see what UHI students ate for lunch by spying on them with panning shots from two floors above the refectory, resulting in this image:-
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| Panning was difficult from up above and not sure whether my shot was mean and moody to fit the genre |
Anyway, when it came to Friday evening and careful consideration of my input so far, (while partaking of wine to help anaesthetise negative feelings of not having met the task requirements) I decided that indeed my pictures so far were exploration and that I needed to start with deciding on a photographic genre. The following afternoon, it happened - a eureka moment and I became an advertising/product photographer on a photo-shoot! So my, four digital images are being submitted, my journal has been written up with evaluation of the images and I am about to set off for my class. I am hopeful that I have met the criteria although I took the long way round to get there! (My photography progress with this will be documented in my next post.)
"If I have any 'message' worth giving to a beginner, it is that there are no short cuts in photography" Edward Weston
PS My list of photographers and genres has grown now that we have studied the styles of at least twenty and seen some amazing photographs.
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