new print: Them a Lesson

  

  

Shot February 2009 in Doha, with the 400D and 100mm, 1/30th at f/5.6 and ISO 100.  30" print.

If you don't get the title, that's fine.  I'm not afraid to risk non sequitur, and like playing with its possibilities sometimes.  In this case, I figure about half of viewers will at least feel the right idea, even if they can't put it into words.  Which is more or less the target that I'm always shooting for.  (Not "half of viewers not getting it," but rather, "viewers feeling the right idea beneath a cognitive understanding.")

And if this just seems completely bizarre, keep in mind that I'm finding enormous motivation in trying to surprise you people.  ;-)

As a side note, this was from my first serious shoot with a 400D.  My first one was defective, so I ended up buying a used and reliable one off exactly the same friend that I frequently visit in Doha.  This shoot was its baptism of fire.  It did well.  

Some thoughts about shooting and the importance of peripheral vision behind the fold.

  

First, a shooting note.  If you're reaching out to infinity with your focus, then everything out there is going to be in focus beyond that distance, right?  So if you're a Canon shooter, f/5.6 is ideal, because that's reportedly where their AF is optimized to perform.  I do a LOT of nighttime shooting on a tripod, usually architecture and cityscapes out beyond the infinity distance, so I default the aperture to 5.6 unless I've got a specific reason to choose another.  This would, theoretically, yield the sharpest infinity.  

In my case, I get more out of shooting in Doha than here because there are (seem to be) more places to simply park and walk around for an endless supply of interesting material.  Around Dammam, everything interesting seems more spread out.  Or perhaps something else is afoot in my psychology about it, cause there's probably a lot more around here than I give credit.  But Doha inspires me consistently.  Have probably gone on major shooting expeditions on about six different trips there (including one just last week).

So this is from one of my periodic "through dawn" Doha shoots, when I start with the tripod around 2 or 3 a.m. and shoot through until well after sunrise.  This caught the corner of my eye as I walked by, and then I had to spend several moments adjusting my view by millimeters to get the reflection to line up just so (as I'd originally noticed it).  Which reminds us that, a) don't be too quick with reflections in urban glass - millimeters are always going to affect the distortion drastically, and b) it's always good to spare some attention for the corners of your eyes.  Sometimes the most interesting shots are waiting to grab you when you might have otherwise written them off with a direct gaze.

Honestly, learning to be more aware of the periphery, of both my vision and my consciousness, has been among the most fruitful exercises for my work.  Working on Rumors of My Demise now, a real uphill battle against botched composition, and by keeping my eye on my subject but my attention everywhere else as I develop it, it's shaping up pretty well.  Most of the difficult judgement calls for Never Before were made the same way.  It's not like there's any doubt (in Never Before's case) where the viewers' eyes will gravitate, so all the tough decisions are made with the eyes planted on the center of attention, and playing out those different decisions in the periphery to see how they revolve around the viewer's focus.

As one more example, I pick my shades of grey for my bordering by the same method.  I look intently at the picture, and then adjust my grey up and down to find which surrounding "pops" the picture best.  (Pardon me if I sound smartass, but if you think one of my border colors is wrong, that's because you're looking at it.  Look anywhere else, and trust me, there's not likely to be a better shade.)  Tweaking border grey this way is probably a good practice exercise for anyone interested to do more of this.  

(If you're an artist but don't follow what I'm talking about, drop me a comment or a note.  It's something really powerful that I deeply believe in.  And if you're impressed with my results, I assure you this strategy is a huge plank of it.)

Anyway, this one has been pervasive in my mind for weeks, but couldn't get done or released ahead of Would Wait (which, you'll recall, was horribly stuck on its title), so quite happy to finally share it now.

  

Comments

[Neil]

I love this, Thorne, truly, madly, deeply! I want there to be more blue in the blue and white in the white, but I know I am wrong! I want to clone out the lamp top and the rail, but again I know I am wrong! You see, it teaches me a lesson! Hallucination with pixel invasion.

[JNgaio]

Wiggedy wack. I totally dig it!

[Alyssa Morris]

This doesn't even look real to us. Ethan says it looks like animation and the big rail looks like a needle.

[Katelyn]

It makes me think of a dressmaker's mannequin for some reason. The curves in the reflection are juxtaposed nicely with the straight lines of the architecture.