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Monthly Archives: February 2016
What Catches Your Eye
Streetlamp and Palm Trees
Madrid, Spain, 2015
Madrid, Spain, is a fascinating city of beautiful boulevards, rich history, and a vibrant local culture. What caught my eye on this particular occasion, however, was none of that, but rather the juxtaposition of this simple streetlamp against the silhouettes of these palm trees. Palm trees aren’t even particularly common in Madrid, I believe – these were of the potted variety, standing in front of a hotel across the street from the Prado museum.
This image probably doesn’t say “Madrid” to most people, but it does to me. Streetlamps just don’t look like this where I live here in Colorado. Even if it doesn’t say anything specifically about Madrid, though, I find the image compelling, and that probably says something about me and what catches my eye.
Of Level and Tilt
County Road, Pinprick Moon
Near Carr, Colorado, 2015
Last summer, I realized that I’m not very good at leveling the camera when I shoot a photograph. I would rely on my eye in order to judge the level of the horizon, but invariably I would get it wrong and would have to correct the rotation of the image later at the computer. So, I bought a simple bubble level that slides into the hot shoe of my camera to solve the problem.
It’s worked out quite well. After a brief break-in period of getting used to using it in my workflow (“I’m not going back to the car just for that!”), most of my images come leveled-out just fine. In fact, I’m astonished at just how bad my judgment really is. More often than not, I’ll compose the image, check the level, and realize that I’m substantially off.
So, imagine my surprise when I opened this image file on the computer and saw that the level of the horizon was off. Except that it’s not. If you look closely at the road, especially where it crests over the horizon, you’ll see that the image indeed is level. It’s the slope of the landscape that’s tilted.
At first I found this a bit disconcerting, but having lived with the image for awhile I think it adds a certain pleasantly off-kilter appeal. Anyway, at least I know my bubble level works, no image rotation required!
Small Differences
Two Dancers
Windy Ridge, Near Alma, Colorado, 2015
I can’t count how many times I came close to tossing this image into the trash can. It sat on my desk for months, never looking quite right to my eye. Several times I picked it up with the intention of discarding it, but something always held me back. There always was a nagging little voice telling me that there was something solid here, something worth keeping, even if I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at any given time.
Then one day, I discovered what my hangup was. I really liked looking at the image from a distance, but not so much up close. I realized that what I liked about the image was the forms and the lines of the trees and the distant mountains, but not the texture of the grasses and the bark. When viewed from a distance, the forms and lines dominated the composition, which was why I liked it. When viewed close up, the grass and bark textures were really noticeable, which is why I didn’t like it.
So, I used various tools in Photoshop (the dodge and burn tools, several curves layers with the effects selectively painted in on layer masks) to reduce the contrast in the grass and bark, mostly by burning down the highlights and midtones so that the overall tones mellowed out into a shadowy evenness. Then, I slightly upped the global contrast in the image, which further emphasized the lines and forms of the trees and mountains as compared to the background sky.
You can see the prior version – the one that sat on my desk for months – below. The differences are small, but to me are what made this image a keeper versus one that ended up in the trash.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 2015, Alma, Colorado, mellowed out, Misha Gregory Macaw, Small Differences, Two Dancers, Windy Ridge, www.mishagregorymacaw.com
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Pretty Pictures
Republic Plaza, Lowering Clouds
Denver, Colorado, 2015
If I had to wager on it, I would wager that the image in this post won’t be one of my more popular images. I haven’t been a photographer as long as many others who practice this discipline, but I’ve been doing it long enough now to have a sense of what will “land” with most people and what won’t.
So why do I do work like this?
Basically, because it speaks to me.
I didn’t set out looking to make this image. In fact, the day I photographed this, I had not intended to do any photography at all. I was in Denver, Colorado on completely unrelated business and found that I had some time to kill. Walking down an alley between two buildings, I just happened to look up over the rooftop of one of the adjacent buildings and saw this scene. I suppose it struck me just right – it moved me enough to motivate me into the exercise of getting my camera from out of my car and making this capture.
And having finished the image and lived with the print a little while, I still like it, so I’m posting it here even though my guess is that it won’t be most people’s cup of tea. I would be lying if I said I didn’t hope that people would like my work, but ultimately it’s more important for me to stay true to my own vision and not let the reactions of others set the agenda for how I produce it.
Mount Sneffels Redux
Cloud Arch Over Mount Sneffels
Near Telluride, Colorado, 2015
Usually I don’t post more than one image of the same subject captured on the same date from the same location. The reason is that when I take multiple captures on a given shoot, it’s because I have one final product in mind, and the multiple captures simply are incremental tweaking in order to get the best possible capture for the image I want to make. While any of the several captures might make a good final image, doing more than one usually results in the multiple images being cumulative of one another and not really adding anything to the portrayal of the subject. The better choice almost always is simply to pick one capture – the best capture – and go with it.
The image in this post is an exception. If you look back on November 15, 2015, you’ll see that I’ve already posted an image of Mount Sneffels from the same day and location as this one. However, I think this one really does pose its own different and distinct interpretation, so I’ve gone ahead and posted it here today. Rules, after all, are made to be broken, something I’ve been doing a lot of lately.