Jellies.....

For those that know me, know that my absolute favorite subject to shoot is architecture and a close second is nature.  I am comfortable taking a variety of photographs with these as my focal points and standard for content.  However, I sincerely believe in stretching the boundaries of your comfort zone and I try to do that on occasion.  During my kids' Spring Break, I thought of many things we could do, and saw a commercial advertising the Jellyfish exhibit at our Aquarium.  I knew in that instance, it would be a challenge for me.  Capturing wildlife really truly calls on the right moment and time, you can sit all day or actually get lucky and capture that moment.  I have been fortunate to get some wildlife shots that I am truly proud of, but was unsure of my luck capturing the graceful jellyfish.  


The challenge with shooting in an aquarium is the first challenge of not using your flash it is against the policy of the aquarium (I am not a fan of the flash anyway) and using your flash against a tank full of fish is just awful, you get that lovely reflection.  So you just have to know your camera and make the necessary adjustments and try your  best to get your images.  


I was fortunate to capture some really cool shots, I had more bad than good, but there are five that I am really proud of.  They are so simplistic in nature, I thought that another cool effect would be to invert the colors and show two different versions of each image.  A sample of one of my favorites is below (in both versions).


So my advice, get out of your comfort zone, and try something new... you just might like it!

"Jellyfishing V" (c) 2012 

"Jellyfishing V in Negative" (c) 2012

The Golden Rules....

When you study Fine Art of any kind, there are several rules that most teachers pass on to their willing students.  The golden standard.  These rules pretty much apply to any medium and since I paint and photograph, they interchange regularly.  The piece at the bottom reflects two of these "golden rules."  The first rule is the rule of thirds or the bulls eye effect.  Any piece that you create, you should immediately imagine two lines going horizontally and two lines going vertically on your piece, dividing the piece into three columns and three rows. And what you must remember is not to have anything in the middle square, row or column if it is the solitary focal point in your work.  If it is the middle square, it becomes the bulls eye; or if it is the horizon for example, if it is in middle row, it divides the piece in half.


The second rule, is that if you have multiple objects in your work, then it should be an odd number.  This rule, I am not too certain why it has such importance, but it has been mentioned to me by three different art instructors.  I don't follow this one to the letter as often, but in the image below, these two rules are respected.  There are three stones in the image (in the original, there are four) and I made certain that the rocks lay at the bottom of the image, so it is in the bottom row.  I think it is a successful reflection of the two aforementioned rules.  What rules do any of you follow?

"Rocky" (c) 2012

The Art of the Still Life...

The still life is one of those styles that are used often for subject matter as one is learning a particular technique.  In all of the art lessons and classes that I have taken, it is a constant staple of a teaching tool.  My instructors often would remind us to bring something in for the next class to use as a still life.  As a painter it is constant.  The easiest thing to paint is the subject matter that does not move, thus does not require you to freeze time with a camera or the like.  In photography it is a subject matter that is not as popular as maybe landscapes or portraits, action shots or structures.  But there is a simplistic beauty surrounding the still life.  I recently completed an example of a still life when I captured a shot of some rather unique and beautiful earrings.  They are Italian horn earrings that are adorned with clear stones.  I inverted the colors and played with some other techniques and the end result looks like a typical infrared images.  I am just pleased with the work and how beautifully unique it is.

"Blue Horns" (c) 2012