Saturday, April 17, 2010

C and C photo assignment: light and abstract

Happy Saturday! Today is the last installment of the C and C Spring photography workshop. This week's assignment is 'light and abstract'.

We were to get close to our subject (I interpreted this as macro; see above) and make a well known subject artistic, and even unrecognizable, all the while paying attention to the light, and playing with a larger aperture (bokeh madness!). Light is always the silent subject in any image.

So, armed with my macro lens and set of extension tubes I hit the road. I chose to illustrate the assignment with a series of images from a glorious blossoming cherry tree I found bathed in evening light.

abstraction

abstract via alternate color choice

alternate focus and filling the frame

I couldn't get the reflection image to work as envisioned, so I thought I'd give you an 'out of context' abstraction instead.

Landscape

Finally, an image based on one of the previous assignments...I really liked the exercise that used negative space...this image doesn't have a lot of it, but I'm still getting used to the idea of composing with negative space.

3 things I've learned:

Macro is my friend

I would enjoy more compositional studies, similar to the still life study. They're hard...I want to conquer them! LOL!

I love the excitement that different angles and negative space can give to an image.

Thank you Carolyn and Camilla for all the time and thought you put into this fabulous series of exercises! And thank you to all the participants for taking the time to post and visit everyone's blogs and leave such thoughtful comments!!

Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.
~Robert Green Ingersoll

22 comments:

Artful Gathering said...

lovely photos.... thanks for sharing them

Anonymous said...

Well, I obviously wasn't reading your posts attentively enough (I think it might have been that I was too engrossed in the lovely photos), so I thought you were taking a "real-life" photography class! What a lovely surprize to find out it's online and available to all! I think I might still do it, despite the fact that I'm late for it!

- said...

Lovely photos. The bee, wow and I just love unfocus. It has been wonderful to meet you and see your world. I will be visiting your blog. Have a wonderful weekend.

Linda said...

I love your macros, I may try extension tubes one day. Its been great reading your blog.

http://leafgreenknits.wordpress.com/

gonzomama said...

i really like your alternate focus shot and the soft colors. and oh my goodness! the hairs on that bee! awesome.

Patricia said...

Beautiful pictures!
Lovely cherry blossoms! We have planted some cherry trees at our house in Hungary.

Have a wonderful weekend :)

Susan said...

beautiful beautiful bee! Love the alternate focus shot...my favorite kind of flower photography. Gail, Happy Weekend to you and Mr. K. and the critters.

Judy S. said...

Love the bee shadow and the cherry blossoms. This is such a pretty time of year in the PNW!

Kim Klassen said...

lovely images... love the cherry blossoms too!!

fabulous... truly!! ♥

Heather said...

I love how u introduced your work this time. Your words resonated with me so much. Your images are so fun and abstract this time. Except fir the landscape which is so straight on. Love to u. Heather

t does wool said...

beautiful ending to a beautiful workshop.
the light is beautiful here...so nice to get to know you thru this assignment~

Nijola said...

4-weeks of watching your wonderful work.

I came back to your blog and look forward to the beautiful pictures.

Yvonne said...

Very cool bee close-up! And I love your abstraction, especially how the black & white shot ties it all together. And your landscape is wonderful!
I relate to what you're saying - more still life & conquering every angle :) Loved meeting you here!

Hullabaloo Homestead said...

How lucky of you to have a helper bee! I really appreciate seeing your differnce in the color picture vs. black and white. It really shows how making that switch can lead to such inspiring and dramatic results.

:)Lisa

Magnolia Handspun said...

You really know your way around macro Gail...stunning. Love the abstract.
The collage, reflection is so creative...very clever.
The landscape is so fresh and lovely. Thank you for joining us, sharing your inspiring images and uplifting comments. Glad to read you thought there was a few challenges...you make it all look so easy.
Gorgeous work!

Anonymous said...

I love your bonus bee shot. And your delicate pinks and lovely closeups. Your landscape is pretty, too. Everyone seems to live by water but me. Beautiful photos, nice to meet you, I'll return.

Carolyn Parker said...

Very nice series, I really love all the abstracts and the fab blur at the end. The second image has such neat textures and I like all those yummy round shapes. The fourth image for being so simple is very complex and inviting-- that little bit of focused green is tres effective.

Therese said...

It's been fun following your class, and I loved your final shot!

Anonymous said...

I loved the bumblebee shot. Thank you for sharing your photos and blog with me. It was lovely to meet you.

Tina said...

Beautiful photos, WOW your bumblebee shot is fantstic. Your abstract is excellent.

Unknown said...

so beautiful! i love your collage with the blooms and the glass jar particularly, and the abstract is great -- what a perfect way to create an abstract view. thanks so much for all of your wonderful images. i've enjoyed this workshop and getting to see all the great work.

Anne Marie said...

Love your colour abstract & landscape photo. Beautiful!