Perplexed.

 

Um Yeah, er which end do I shoot with again?

Ramblings of a Deranged Mind

Texture

Through the Eyes of a Stranger

This month’s topic provided for some interesting contemplation upon my part. Being the rather literal fellow that I am, my first thought was to actually let other folks take pictures of me using my camera. This would allow you, my fellow project mates, to see me through the eyes of a complete stranger.

However, as I contemplated this idea I wasn’t certain how comfortable I felt handing over my camera to a complete strangers and asking them to snap my picture. While this may be suitable while on vacation, I wasn’t certain it was the correct direction for this particular moment in time.

As the month progressed I modified my idea into a different, but related direction. My intent was to head to someplace with a good subject for photography, decide how I best wished to capture the subject, do so and then catch a passer-by and ask them to consider the subject and then, using my camera, snap their own photo of said subject. I would then have uploaded the two images side-by-side (as a single image…using the collage feature in Elements) and you, my dear project-mates, could see my vision of the subject, but through the eyes of a stranger.

One day earlier this month I made my way to a particular spot, which I thought would yield a most excellent subject matter, and gave this idea a chance to bear fruit. In the end it was a major disappointment. Most folks eschewed my advances and the few who were cooperative did not seem to get into the spirit of the opportunity. Instead of contemplating the subject (a piece of outdoor sculpture) and then taking the picture they typically just put the camera up to their face, snapped a picture and handed the camera back to me.

I know….my expectations were probably a bit high, but I know that if such an opportunity were presented to me I would jump all over it! But maybe I’m just more cooperative and gregarious than the average American. So I found myself back to square one and one day late last week I was gob-smacked with a new plan and saints be praised it turned out to be a bit of luck for me as well.

Say hello to some feral felines

I have been helping feed, water and watch over a small colony of feral cats (and now kittens) in a small wood not ten minutes from my home. None of these cats, even after my being round for six or seven months now, has really warmed to my presence. I bring food, water and pleasant conversation three days each week and while they have made the connection between me and the delivery of food, they haven’t yet made that leap of trust. And it’s likely they never will, which is fine by me. They look at me, every time I arrive, as if I were a complete stranger. Or maybe not a complete stranger, but certainly stranger enough such that trust cannot be bestowed upon me.

I cannot hold it against them and in some ways I’m happier that they continue to look upon me as if I were a complete stranger. I figure this lack of trust for someone who has been round as much as I should help keep them safe from those who may wish harm upon them. One look in their eyes is enough to convince me that I remain a stranger in their eyes.

Through the eyes of a stranger

With this theme, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do but disaster struck, my Pentax came down with swine flu and is currently in intensive care getting the treatment it needs to get better, so I had to go back to using my point and shoot which, to be honest isn’t up to the task, much to my dismay.
Panic sets in, falls on my knees hands in the air shouting why!(think there may have been a slomo involved, no explosion tho).
And so after much deliberation and I must confess a little help from Mike( he’d already done his so thats ok innit?) here it is my new theme photo and it reflects my mindset at the moment.

No Words Needed

The Number 13, Part II

Like I stated on Flickr, I had some relatively high hopes for The Number 13 during this month. Yet all of the opportunities I took wound up being pretty miserable. No. That’s not completely accurate.

They seemed good at the time they were shot. They seemed okay on the small LCD on the back of my Canon 40D. However, once home and uploaded to the iMac they were awful. I was about to type “..they seemed awful,” but that wouldn’t have been accurate. They were simply awful. Sometimes it was a failure from a technical standpoint, but more often than not it was a creative failure. One of my favs was where I had taken photos of the individual numerals that make up 13: the one and three. I then brought them together in Photoshop as separate frames, which I thought was a clever idea, but the failure always came in how the numbers looked together; next to each other. None of these ever had any uumph to them, if you will. They just laid there being boring (no offence PSB).

I had really pretty much given up on obtaining any other pictures for this month’s theme when suddenly the heavens rained down upon me an opportunity as I discussed on Flickr. I must have been some sight to anyone driving by as I sped along the little road in Moraine, trying to catch up and pass the train car in question. Of course, the situation was made worse by my need to find a suitable place to pull over whereby I could escape my car and snap a picture as the train car moved past. This was no small feat considering the lack of spots to pull off the road.

Once again, Chuff and his trains have had me speeding around some part of Dayton in hopes of getting a good shot!

13, Part I

I’m fascinated with time and the devices by which we attempt to measure it. I’ve often wondered who was the first human (or human-like) entity to recognize that the Earth had a cycle, which we currently designate as a year. How long did it take them to recognize the rhythm of the year? Were they able to share this information and was it accepted by others?

Regardless, my fascination with both time and time-measuring devices is well known and documented. Odd though that the idea for this picture did not come to me sooner than it did.

13, Part I

Unlike our European counterparts (and for all I know our counterparts all around the globe) or members of the military, I have no particular excuse or reason for why I elect to tell time in the 24-hour format. I guess it’s because I find it to be more precise: 24-hours in a day, so why not call each one accordingly? This whole a.m. and p.m. thing just seems goofy.

Now, of course, I have to work on my next image for this month’s theme. Now where exactly did I leave behind that laser pointer???

13

My favorite thing about this photo is the shadow between the dice.

Dressed in Black

First, let me say how dreadfully sorry I am for not having made a submission to this month’s most excellent theme on a more timely basis. While my life tends to be rather uneventful, the month of May was consumed with a variety of activities, which precluded me from getting on-board in my more usual (i.e. earnest) fashion. In addition to the many impediments placed before me this month (an unexpected funeral, an anticipated wedding and a trip to Chicago) I also found my original plans for the theme did not work as my model was unable to fit their schedule into mine.

Drat, as our friend Mike might write.

Summer is definitely not my favourite season of the year, but I have created distinct musical connections to various artists over the years to summer. One such artist is Depeche Mode and while running through various songs in my mind I found myself quite quickly visiting and re-visiting Dressed in Black from the album/CD Black Celebration; one of my personal Depeche Mode favs. In need of a model for such a shoot I contacted my friend and neighbor Sandi, who was quite willing to assist in this endeavor and I think you can see why I thought of her for this project.

Sandi was a great sport in helping me with this month’s theme. I had actually stopped by her house to drop off a get-well card after she had surgery earlier this month and while there I noticed how nice she looked in the black around-the-house dress she was wearing. Clearly this thought remained in my head long enough to germinate and develop into the idea to ask her to model for me.

I confess I have very mixed feelings regarding the shot. I did get a small handful of good pictures and maybe one or two very good pictures, but the majority were so-so or fairly awful. But I’m not letting this bother me as taking pictures with a model isn’t something with which I have any real experience (other than the pics with the daughter from the Autumn of 2008). Lighting was difficult both indoors and out. Trying to convey my “artistic vision” was difficult as I really didn’t have one. After all, and I’ve stated this before, creativity isn’t exactly one of my strong points in life.

But I’m not walking away from this feeling badly. Nope. I spent a small portion of my afternoon with a great friend and neighbor. I enjoyed (and lamented) trying to think outside of my normal comfort zone (i.e. being creative). And I particularly enjoyed the process of going through the afternoon’s results and selecting what I thought were the best of the day’s work. Oddly, many of the ones I liked best on the small LCD screen of the camera were not one’s I selected for upload to Flickr. Go figure.