You've probably already seen this shot below, but it intends to be the first of many.
I am constantly torn by the difference between my "fine art" and "just photography." It's ridiculously important to me to keep from muddling them together. But I don't entirely trust my own reservations. Hmm, should write a post on that topic next.
But for now, the point is that the frontispiece images for my home page intend deliberately to challenge me into the middle ground, with an emphasis on "striking" and a secondary role for "meaning." (In this one's case, I "know what it means," so if the right title ever occurs to me, I'll formalize it as "fine art." But it wasn't tackled with that in mind.)
Also, since I tend to favor vertical images that don't present as well on the web, these images will be deliberate explorations of the landscape orientation. It's not like I don't shoot plenty of them, and upon review, I've been surprised just how many shots will lend themselves to this role.
Expect a new one about once a month.
Myth in the Making, 2008. Manama, shot June 2008, with the 10D, 50mm at f/5.6 and 100 ISO. Blended exposures of 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 15 seconds, developed in January, then remastered last night.
Substantially cropped, which is rare for me, but my 100mm shots didn't pan out. (Too much movement in the water to blend them together.) So only an 18" print. Darn.
I've uploaded a 29-slide detailed process study - it's conceptual rather than technical, but still not for the faint of heart. If you engage the slideshow, hit the Pause button right away to arrow through manually, and make sure to turn the captions on with the little icon lower right.
Probably won't do many process studies at this level, so check it out if you're interested. It intends to reflect the care that I put into all of my work, though this one was especially challenging because the haze in the air was so bad, but didn't want to demolish the sense of distance by bringing everything into unrealistic clarity.
Also: shooting city lights at night has become one of my favorite subjects, so a) multiple exposures have become autopilot for me, but b) this one benefits from a new method for blending them, that seems far superior to anything HDR-related. Actually completely drafted this one in January and then started over with the improved method last night.
Oh!, also: let me know if the size on my home page seems right to you. I'll appreciate the feedback before I post more of them. I wish I could rig them to scale cleanly for your own browser widths. Any ideas?
Good for you Mr;Thorne
realy i enjoyed when i saw your art.
go head and good luck.
Posted by: Abdullah Al-Gahtani | 25 October 2009 at 09:59 PM