Negative Space

Autumn in my small circle

10.20.2020 by Peter J. Crowley // 4 Comments

October 20th 2020. I have been seeing photos of fall in New England missing my home first sixty four years. There is foliage out here but not the same expansive waves of color. Around my block there are few hard wood trees. But many fall flowers in my 10 block world. Each day the same blocks seeking a highlight.

Childhood always a highlight!

Simple ground cover looking down to find a small world of color.

October’s Vibrancy resides in flowers, bushes and in my rectangle.

So much color for a B+W photographer. Seeing small with a desire to have the image printed very large.

Rain drops backlit on my lettuce.

At the outer edge of my waking world there is the silly walk zone.

October 20th the Pumpkin tree is ready to harvest. October 20th after the rain.

More shades of red October 17th jump forward from negative space. My yard fall flowers dance through negative space September 19th Vibrant I love vibrant September 19th. On the 19th of September the light was quite spectacular.

October 20th even a bit of color from a pine.

Winter skies filled with rain will limit my strolls. I will find other subjects to shoot.

peace

Monday Morning Sept 21st 2020

09.27.2020 by Peter J. Crowley // 6 Comments

A little before 7 am I roll out of bed and start the routine. Inhaler, rinse the powder from mouth. Coffee to desk. It it is quiet, not Vermont quiet but suburban indoor quiet. Palm on forehead looking down at the keyboard. My wheel spins waiting for a response. Repeated sips of Joe and the same look at the keyboard. Today this pause was lasting longer then most days. Does the music set the mood or does the mood set the music. A recurring theme today no music except for Tom Rush “Urge for Going” in my head. The mood is dark gray like the autumn sky. The first cup of coffee cooled I play Tom’s version of the Joni Mitchel song. Then Thirsty Boots, Eric Anderson melancholy is the mood that is set. Where am I urged to go? A series of Icy winter landscapes. One posted to FB with the song. Another now posted here.

The road most traveled to Carl and Maarit’s 2008,-2014 Sunday football, frivolity and food. My favorite world I still visit on the phone with Maarit and inside my head with Carl. Truffles with my coffee to get inside my mind to obscure reality of todays world back to my world. Just like that and it is noon time for breakfast. Hors d’oeuvre as the cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, onions and Linguica simmer awaiting the egg. I swallow the morning pills. The truffle kicks in along as I wander through old life photos. Liz will be here soon with videos of Lilith now almost two the light of her life. Children are so wonderful lifting my spirits. There are highlights I find in the shadows. A short walk today vision is off. I’m taking steroids to help my lungs to recover from 12 days of hazardous air, ah the fire season. But I can see clearly enough to find an image and Auto Focus handles the details 1/2 block 3-5 images and back home.

Ground cover and flowers since March. May and June the garden, cooking and a few Vision Quests. So many flowers so few humans momentary interactions no real depth. Simon who I saw in Safeway in the parking lot I introduced my self we shook hands followed by a short conversation a portrait. This women and her dog Jasper on a walk in my neighborhood. I also shot a portrait of just her face. After I took the shot she comes over to me “just a minute” she walked to me to close but we old folks have so little interaction. I could not deny her she held out her arm to show me a tattoo. I feared it would be a holocaust number. It wasn’t it was a Philips screw followed by the letter U we laughed loudly. She wandered off up the street repeating screw you with a loud joyful laugh. Stale hot indoor air cleared late on the 19th. Out early on the 20th my lettuce has bolted, Beefsteak Tomatoes dead, other tomatoes not well late summer replaced by late autumn. Like early spring, summer, autumn is also missed. What is called the new normal that the optimists think and politicians pretend that there is going back to the old life. Fight climate change in your new Pickup, Massive SUV or any 7 0f the top 10 selling new cars, and protest against oil companies. Blame absolves you of your sins.

I don’t live in the new normal sure I wear my mask and rarely eat or go out anymore. My life is in my world of images, light, laughter, complete sentences and listening. Those who listen to me know how anti AI I have always been. Now AI scrubs away at human interaction Inara back in Zoom school there is a group of 5 who will gather three days a week in a back yard to learn and develop their social education. She will visit me once a week after pods. Sunday we went to Traditions for Kirsten to shop local and sorbet for us kids. A fruit fly on the window she though it was her new favorite bug. We alliterated Fruit Flies expanding from a tongue twister to Fabulous, French, Fried Fruit, Flies even the sorbet server joined into the loud guffaws. Out to the table we continued this silly word game. Silly has been absent from us as well. First follow the rules so we don’t get grandpa sick. May and she was able to return to visit. Lately there has been, fear and sadness in her eyes. We stop at the clothes part of Traditions to tell mom we are walking to the water but 1/2 block on she says maybe the grassy area by the fountain will do. Our last stroll to Puget Sound from Traditions the playground was to crowded to many kids without masks she decides this from 50 yards away. Her decision to go to the grassy area was her fear. She is dealing, adjusting but there is a sense of loss. But there was French Fried ..fruit flies to bring childhood silly to return for a few minutes Sunday. But there were other highlights a trip to Westport to the cool 70’s with a breeze on the hottest day in Olympia where it reached 106 degrees.

Upon arrival there is sun screen, a kite next the a large driftwood log that I can sit on, our spot.

My garden provided fresh tomatoes, lettuce, lemon cucumbers and visual stimulation. This flower child now a senior flower child longs for humanity. Conversations in person, lunch at a café people watching now relegated to take out picked up by Liz. And flowers in my window out my door the walks become shorter with less to see repeated.

Old themes repeat Doors and triangles

Simplicity just light. It is always Light to share a story to appeal to humanity.

Today’s 9/27 stroll postponed as I share light here. The afternoon showers arrive early. Yet a late afternoon walk in the golden hour. Seeing, breathing peace.

A six day conversation with a Senior flower child and you.

love and peace

Film, Digital, Composition, Negative Space, Simplicity

05.26.2016 by Peter J. Crowley // Leave a Comment

A life in Photographic Art my second book

A Life in Photographic Art will have some thoughts on composition, technique but more words on emotion and seeing. Composing with and sharing you soul. A few poems, essays sarcasm and humor it is after all my life.

Subject Photography sure it is important to get your subject correctly but does that mean in the center of the frame? What about the rest of the image? Now you have your subject where you want them beautiful smiling face legs cut off by the bottom of the

frame a few inches of nothing above. But she looks great. What surrounds the subject is at least 50% of the images importance. The negative space directs the viewers eye creating eye motion resulting in a longer look.

Motion the image may be still but by implying motion and understanding eye movement your images will speak with a more compelling voice.

Where to crop when composing Never at wrists or ankles, an arm cut at the wrist leading out of the frame will take the viewers eyes with it, same with ankles.

When the subject is moving…..

Like here walking down North St. Digital camera and 85mm F1.8 Nikkor lens. Manual Glass. A test for my eyes and Technique see the light on hair frame focus expose. I miss the shot, lens is sharp and my quickness is good BUT where do the runners step next? When subject is moving there must be landing space.

CDT Conn. Dance Theater The Web Mary M. Giannone Choreographer 1978

Here she has a space to land and the feel is much better. The runners neg space is also interrupted by the arrow sigh growing from the head of one of them. Yes I could take it out but that is not me. I see and shoot full frame what is in the image I put there. It is a way of seeing the way I see. The dancers negative space the web carries the same motion as the leg holding the viewers eye in the frame. A series of triangles moves your eye around the photo blocking you from moving to the next page.

More triangles and DOF hold the attention. I have been seeing lots of soft focus lately Bokeh catchy new term DOF. Many images are just out of focus but online never say anything except wow great Bokeh yes a missed focus still impresses your FB Friend. I think some company is now selling not sharp lenses to create an “effect.” In the 70’s when soft focus was popular you could buy filters. I used to compose by breathing on my skylight filter and shoot as the moisture dried. If I wanted center focus I would put a dime on the filter then breath. Thought problem solving but there is an App for that.

An early digital conversion to B+W muddy gray and gray with a slight color cast. The first post of this was quite black and blue as the whites went to blue. Still when posted it was the most popular post in a long time. Better now but still with a magenta cast to whites and still muddy. I asked for guidance to improve my B+W. The consensus was $$$$ buy a program or two get an app. I pondered and thought read and some blogs and viewed a few tutorials most telling me to buy $$$.

**Deschutes River at Tumwater Falls 6/16/15**

The River here is Digital the figure above is film both printed warm tone as I would in the darkroom it is close but it isn’t art till it is on paper. This is how I prep B+W images for the web. Be it a film scan, a digital shot in color or in B+W I open the image in PS Elements 10 and convert to B+W, open enhance click on adjust color and color variations move slider to left the smallest adjustment. Then take out 2-4 Blues why cause they are there despite what the scan being B+W or image created in Mono mode it is still color. Take a sheet of white paper and hold it next to the highlight of your image. If my wandering around the internet reviewing photos can be believed that highlight will be light blue in 80% or a few % magenta. Contrast and tonal range to get a black and a white and 5-7 tones in between. I use the modified Zone system for 35mm. Adams set the zone for 10 grades using an 8×10 negative. Thirty Five mm film will most likely hold 7 zones. Is your monitor calibrated? Not cause the kid at Best Buy said so but is it? Of course you can buy software to do this I was lucky to have a friend with a spider. So a few years back my desktop was done. I know it is still good because I have this to compare a gray scale from Gerald at the Black and white forum http://www.bwphotographyforum.com/index.htm see bottom of page. On my laptop I have a portrait of me down on 8×10 film I measure from the top of the screen to the J on the keyboard which is the correct angle of view to see a calibrated image. This angle is critical so your process is repeatable and reliable. As in film process exact repetition creates consistent results.

The Zone System is about controlling correct exposure. Recently I saw a program being touted as the Zone System for light room? I laughed another program BANDAID, for photographers too busy to get exposure right. I’m waiting for the cell phone app.

Auto photography and zoom lenses causing faulty technique. At first I thought it was digital and auto everything that was the starting point for this problem but the more I ponder the more I see blame spread out. Example you are photographing a portrait with a 28-105 zoom you stand in one place and focus on subject full length just zoom out just face zoom in never moving hence never looking beyond the subject. Not realizing the prospective and DOF change and when focal length changes or the changes in the negative space keeping your sights locked on the eyes. Failing to experience 50% of the image. By using prime lenses you are forced to see the surroundings as you walk closer. Here you are forced to see the interaction between the subject and the environment/negative space. You create this relationship you make an image.

Photographic Art More thoughts on composing

enjoy pjc