I have a preference for ocean sounds after having lived in the Caribbean for 20 years but any water sounds are helpful with calming my mind. I spent about an hour on Oak Creek at Cathedral Rock capturing small moments of the creek experience. I took some time this morning editing the footage so that you can enjoy the experience as well.
The video is two minutes long and shows some of the different water patterns along this section of the creek.
I didn’t have myfull video kit with tripod and fluid head for proper zooming and panning. Did the best I could with a tiny little five-inch tripod that I keep with me in my shooting bag for just such an occasion. The occasion being I didn’t want to hike with the full tripod kit. With the light weight of Lumix gear, a small tripod can come in quite handy! The camera was Lumix G9 with the Leica DG Vario-ELMARIT Professional Lens, 12-60MM, F2.8-4.0 Lens. Sound was also recorded from the mic that is built in to the camera. Shot in 4K 24p mode.
I edited the footage with a screen capture program that is for MAC computers called ScreenFlow from TeleStream.
The video was captured in the middle of September when there is some monsoon water flow.
That’s an age-old question that has been debated for many years and will continue on into the future. I think it is and this is my blog so until I hear from you otherwise, we will proceed with the concept that photography is art, especially as we push the boundaries with composite work and adding paint strokes with programs like Adobe’s Photoshop and Corel’s Painter.
Which brings me to today’s quote from Alfred.
“I am not a painter, nor an artist. Therefore I can see straight, and that may be my undoing.” – Alfred Stieglitz
We all get to times when we doubt our skills and techniques in making our imagery. I feel like I am in good company, and you should too when I realize that even a talented and renown photographer such as Stieglitz showed that he felt not being loose enough in his thinking was a detriment to his work.
What can we do to make it easier for ourselves in creating our images?
I think number one on the list is to study in the other arts such as painting. You learn a lot about color, composition, and feel to add to your toolbox. More tools, More thought equals better imagery.
When you are searching for these extras for your knowledge base you can find them in books, from discussions with other artists, magazines, the Internet and strangely enough even cartoons. I found this wonderful cartoon from the 50’s from Disney with Donald Duck traveling through Mathmagic Land with great explanations of composition. You can see it below. It’s about 25 minutes long and fun to watch. If you don’t have that much time you can see segments of the video in bite-sized pieces by doing a search on YouTube.
An interesting thought for today’s Photo/Art Quote from Freeman Patterson. It’s not really something I’ve thought about much over the years. I guess as I’ve been exploring photography as more of an artistic endeavor verses a realistic process I would be attracted to this thought.
“The camera always points both ways. In expressing your subject. You also express yourself.” Freeman Patterson
I’m going to guess that this is the reason if you give ten photographers the same subject to photograph you will end up with ten different images. I also believe that the story given when the subject is presented to a photographer can have a huge impact on the final outcome.
Witness Canon giving six photographers the same person to photograph who told each photographer a different story about his life and got six VERY different photographs in return.
Canon video of six stories and six results. One subject.
Spend some time thinking about this and please share your thoughts. This is one of those things that fascinate me.
The gift of Professional Family Portraiture to a family that is losing a child at birth… Is priceless.
It’s recruitment month at Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and I encourage you to consider becoming an affiliated photographer. There is a tremendous need. When I first heard about the organization and it’s mission I thought, “There’s NO WAY I could ever do that!” Eventually after attending a seminar put on by Sandy Puc I decided to try. Over the years I’ve been with the organization in many roles, as a photographer, trainer, board member & image reviewer as I see this is an amazing way to give back to the community.
You can do it.
Is it easy? Nope
Is it rewarding? Yep
“Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is one of those ways that I enjoy serving my community as a photographer. When a Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep call comes in, I remember why I love photography.”– Mike Fulton, NILMDTS Area Coordinator and Affiliated Photograph
Learn more from the videos below and the NILMDTS web site.
Sometimes inspiration comes from different places…
Seeing what the Wilson sisters have done with the classic Led Zeppelin anthem Stairway to Heaven makes me want to create something special. Watch this video all the way through. It brought tears to my eyes…
Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven performed at the Kennedy Center with songwriter Robert Plant in the audience.
I’m not sure what I want to create… but the itch is there! How about you?
Going to head in a slightly different direction for this Sunday Photo/Art quote. Was directed to this video on creativity by Nick Pappagallo, Jr. from the Photographers Adventure Club. The message is designed for beginners but I posit that we all need the reminder, especially if we are trying new things. To push the envelope and keep the creative mindset.
The video is about a minute and a half and I recommend you give it a look…
Occasionally I'll send out a digest version of the blog posts on Successful-Photographer. I'm not a fan of Spam and I'm sure you are not. Your Email address is safe with me. Bob
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
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Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
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