Photo of the Week 2016-04-18

Photographically Speaking ... it was a busy weekend.

The Latow Photographers Guild held their annual seminar April 17 & 18 in Burlington. This year it was:

“PHOTOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING” — A DAY OF INSPIRATION AND INSTRUCTION WITH DAVID DUCHEMIN

I have been following David somewhat regularly for several years, since around the time he released his first book, Within The Frame. Though I have heard him online, this was the first time I have seen him speak live and had the opportunity to talk to him in person.

Photographically Speaking - David duChemin

The weekend consisted of a full day seminar on Saturday with 3 mini-seminars on Sunday for a full weekend of discussion around Light, Line and Moment (yes, I got the message David). I took in the complete package and despite chairs that were designed to torture your butt and back, I stayed glued to my seat the whole time.

David is an enthusiastic speaker focused on the creative process of making photographic images and eschews the preoccupation with gear so prevalent in photographic discussions today. I'll refrain from trying to provide a synopsis of his photographic beliefs and approach, do yourself a favour and look him up online or just click this link and start there.

For the final session of the weekend, David talked about "The Visual Imagination". This was the 'abstract - impressionistic' session of the bunch. I have so many quotes written down to remind me of all the good discussion and suggestions from the weekend, but one from the final session will stick with me for a while ... concerning abstract / impressionistic art ...

"It's not meant to be got. It's meant to be felt."

                                                  - David duChemin -

From my own body of work, here (again) is an image from Venice, one that I spent considerable time post processing, working on a technique ... for me it just has the right feel.

portal through time

DJE

 

Photo of the Week 2016-01-11

I have hundreds of images that were made while I was out for a hike or a morning walk. There is always something that catches my eye and since I usually have a camera with me, I'll stop to take a few shots. Many of these survive the initial edit and import to my master image catalogue but go no further. I find most lack the appeal of the original scene.

Lately, I've been working with the images from each outing to determine if I can bring out some of that original appeal. As an example, this image of a tree along a familiar route, is one that I have photographed many times using a number of different points of view . I've never really been satisfied with the results. This time I decided to spend some time with a recent version in post processing to see if I could do it justice.

winter vignette

Two processing techniques were used for this presentation, one removes the limited colour palette of the winter scene and reduces it to the basic graphic elements in black & white. The other, a vignette treatment, removes distraction around the edges of the frame and directs the viewer to the central elements of the scene in a manner that mimics how I "see" the actual scene. 

vignette
- a small, pleasing view
- a photograph, drawing, etc, with edges that are shaded off

DJE