Photo 52: Hiatus 2

Though we always go out of town for the holiday, we still like to decorate this little Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving.  This past Saturday, just before going to bed, my son was tinkering with the ornaments and gazing at its pretty lights.

Let the holiday season begin!

Click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see more photos during our brief hiatus.    

Photo 52: Hiatus Post I

Who We Become may be on hiatus until January, but our cameras are not. We are in the process of putting together our syllabus for our next P52 and will be launching in January. We hope to make our new project as interesting and challenging to our group members as possible and we hope you will join us for the ride. In the interim, we have decided to make good use of our lonely blog and celebrate the holiday season by posting images that speak to our hearts. While these posts will lack the structure of our usual P52 projects, we hope you enjoy our work during this interlude. 

Below is a recent photo of my friend's sweet little girl reading one of her favorite books in one of her favorite places in Prospect Park.  I think she looks like a magical tree fairy.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.   

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Favorite Image of the Year {Week 52}

This is the final week of our second yearlong collaborative photography project, Photo 52. Over the course of this year we studied composition ranging from geometric framing to lines, perspectives and patterns and so much more.  We grew as photographers and nurtured our individual and group stories.  For this last post we decided to showcase a "Best Of" mosaic, comprised of everyone's favorite image from the past year.

I chose the image below for various reasons.  First off, it is a photo of my son this past summer (he was three years old at the time) running down the sidewalk with his friend and their balloons - a consummate summer photo with an emotional attachment. However, it's also a photograph that incorporates nearly all the things I try and look for when shooting.  Strong lines like those of the fence, interesting shadows, depth of field (the fence leads the viewer's eye back in space), shapes that are mirrored in various places within the image, patterns both similar and contrasting, and lastly, movement. When I can find a way to capture most of those things - if not all - I absolutely call that a final favorite.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see our yearly favorites all in one place. 

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Creative Composition: Photographer's Choice {Week 51}

This month's theme has been devoted to a breaking-the-rules approach to composition: the study of multiple exposure, as well as images that are intentionally captured out-of-focus. Breaking the rules of photographic conventions is compelling as an artist because sometimes the image is the result of a happy accident and sometimes it is the result of crafting an image with careful intent. Allowing ourselves freedom from rules gives us permission to take risks or see things in a new way. When a rules-breaking image works, it can be truly powerful and satisfying for photographer and viewer alike.

With this approach in mind, this week's theme is photographer's choice - a sort of creative free-for-all for us to share our most fun, thought-provoking or creative recent work.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.  

curtain

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Creative Composition: Intentionally Out of Focus {Week 50}

Focus is a big deal in photography. But sometimes photographers choose to use focus in a different way, to draw the viewers eyes to contrasting colors or other elements that are emphasized by the change in depth of focus. Removing focus changes the story, changes what the viewers' eyes sees.

Below is a photo I took of my oldest son playing with his friends in the late afternoon.  The light coming in the window at the time was such that it just bathed them in their busyness.  With the image being out of focus, there is a painterly quality as well as an energy that captures a brief moment in time of life with boys. 

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.

Boys

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Creative Composition: Multiple Exposure {Week 49}

For the last month of our year-long project we are exploring creative composition. Our first creative composition is multiple exposure, superimposing two or more images on top of each other. For such an image to be successful the content of the images and how they work together must create an interesting composition that hopefully tells a story of some sort. 

There are a number of techniques used to achieve multiple exposure:  in-camera on such models as the Canon 5D Mark iii or the Fuji xe2, through post-processing or with the use of applications that allow you to creative multiple exposures using your smartphone.

I created my multiple exposure image below in-camera with my Fuji during our final trip to the beach this summer.  The headless baby doll I found lying in the sand seemed a fitting, albeit creepy, subject to sandwich with the shoreline and beachgoers.  The result is a Magritte-esque ode to the end of another summer.

 

Summer:  Gone Baby Gone

 

Please click HERE to visit our collective site, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.

Summer:  Gone Baby Gone 

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Photographer's Choice {Week 48}

It feels as if he's pushing right through the frame into the viewer's face.  An oddball shot with a warped feel and a silly, mushed face.  All reason enough for me to pick it as my image for this week.  

Click HERE to visit our collective blog site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.  

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Composition:  Golden Spiral {Week 47}

Our third week of classic compositional techniques involves the golden spiral, a tool based on Fibonacci’s Ratio and the golden rectangle.

In laymen's terms, a spiral is drawn from the series of squares and provides a way to guide the viewer’s eye to the area of focus in a photo. Spirals, often referred to as "divine proportions", appear frequently in nature — a Nautilus shell, flowers or pinecones.  Like its many uses in art and architecture, the golden spiral can add depth and a sense of balance to a photographic image.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.  

Sweet Esme


Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Composition: Golden Triangle {Week 46}

Next up in our month-long study of the Rules of Composition: The Golden Triangle. This rule generally applies to photos with diagonal lines. It involves splitting your photo into three triangles, one large and two smaller ones. This is done first by dividing the frame into two equal triangles with a diagonal line and then further dividing any one of the triangles into two more 90 degree angles. When you place your diagonal elements in the frame, it makes for a perfect composition.  

Please click HERE to continue to our collective site, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.  

Father and son & summer

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Composition:  Centered {Week 45}

Centering the subject has often been seen as a beginner technique, because the resulting composition is not viewed as being as dynamic compared to other compositions (for example, last week's Rule of Thirds). However, if you are deliberate with your composition, having a balanced frame with the subject at the center can be a very effective compositional technique.

The center of attention below is my superhero.  He seems perfectly placed for fighting crime, flanked by a gritty New York City background.  One morning this past week my son asked if he could put on his superhero costume.  He wanted to wear it outside, taking along his sock monkey as his sidekick.  Numerous smiles and comments resulted, particularly from older men most likely reminded of their own boyhood days dressing up as their favorite crime fighter.  Sadly though my son felt like people were laughing at him and asked me to take off his costume.  I assured him that people weren't laughing at him, but he insisted.  And with that, Super Cash 2.0 transformed into his street clothes and went on about his day.

Click HERE to continue to our collective site, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.

Super Cash 2.0

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Compositon: Rule of Thirds {Week 44}

Our August topic is Classic Rules of Composition. The Rule of Thirds is a traditional guideline for composing an image which divides the canvas into nine equal parts. In composing your image, placing a point of interest on an intersection point which measures one third from the side edge of the canvas or from the top or bottom edges, results in a more visually interesting image than with an alternate placement.

Below is a photo of my oldest son, still very much an amateur swimmer.  But security comes in all forms.  Sometimes it's as simple as an inflatable fish boat and a couple of water wings.

Happy Summer!

Click HERE to visit our collective blog site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.  

Afloat



Photo 52: Within the Frame

Creative Complexity:  Layering Within the Frame {Week 43}

This week we continue to study Creative Complexity through Layering.  Layering is a compositional technique that involves using a foreground, middle ground (subject) and background in order to lead the viewer's eye through the frame and help tell a visual story.

Below is a photo of my dear friend's son, Zaiv, during our recent vacation to Cape Cod.  The lines of the bumpy house windows are not only the layers sandwiching little Zaiv, but also help to guide one's gaze in two directions through space.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place. 

Bumpy House in Hyannis, MA

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Creative Complexity: Subject Separation {Week 42}

This week Photo 52 is exploring different ways of emphasizing the subjects of our images, making sure that they stand out sufficiently from the background to communicate our intention to the viewer.  One effective technique is physical separation between the subject and other people or objects, making sure that there is space between the background elements as well. Such layering in a composition adds not only dimension but opens the door for a bit of visual storytelling. 

Below is a photo of my son getting his first haircut at the famous Denny Moe's Superstar Barbershop in Harlem.  The man getting a straight razor shave in the background is just as important as my son, the subject in the foreground.  In fact, they quite nearly mirror each other on opposite edges of the frame. The end result, using space separation as a compositional technique, is a tangible experience of the barbershop "buzz" inside Denny Moe's.  

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.

The Barbershop

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Creative Complexity: Filling the Frame {Week 41}

While the setting is often important in a photograph, sometimes our artistic intention is to draw full attention to our subject. Filling the frame edge to edge with our subject(s) by moving closer, zooming in, or cropping the image in post-processing eliminates background distractions and forces the viewer to examine the subject in close detail. For a portrait —particularly close-ups of the face— one's personality and mood can be captured in a way that would get lost at more of a distance.  The image below is of my youngest son, his rolls and chubby cheeks most certainly filling the frame.

Please click HERE to visit our collective site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place. 

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Depth of Field {Week 40}

Depth of field is a fundamental technical concept in photography. It refers to the amount of the field of view that is in sharp focus, and results from three factors: the lens aperture, the length of the lens, and the distance from camera to subject.  In this week’s post, we go beyond the basic understanding of depth of field that is typically gained in an introductory photography course and use depth of field as a creative compositional element.  

In my image below, the leading lines of the fence and the sidewalk lead the viewer's eye back in space, almost three dimensionally.  With a narrower aperture, the field of view remains in focus as you follow the boys of summer chasing their balloons.  

Please click HERE to visit our collective site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place. 

balloon chasers

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Portraiture: Photographer's Choice {Week 39}

Our collective love of portraiture and our passion for capturing the lives of our families is the spark that brought us together here at Photo 52.  After four weeks of exploring the diverse aspects of portrait photography, we are excited to share some of our personal favorites during this final week of our current theme.  

Over the past few months I have enjoyed taking photos of our youngest, especially in filtered window light.  His translucent yellow/blue eyes - the polar opposite of our older son's deep brown eyes - reflect light so intensely that his gaze is nothing short of spellbinding.  Or at least I think so.

Please click HERE to visit our collective site, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.   

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Portraiture:  Groupings {Week 38}

A lifestyle approach to group portraiture is similar to street and travel photography (and other types of photography that recall a photojournalistic style) in that it is more candid and seemingly spontaneous than a carefully posed portrait. Using this approach, a photographer must often exert deliberate patience in order to capture what Cartier-Bresson famously called “the decisive moment". The effective use of depth and subject separation in the candid style of group portraiture, which I have always preferred, often creates a very powerful image. Although the photo below captures a silly moment between my mother and son, I find the strangers in the background just as significant, adding not only balance but a bit of intrigue.

Please click HERE to see our gallery of images for this week.     

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Portraiture: Full Body {Week 37}

As we continue to explore classic portraiture, this week we are delving into composition for full body portraits. Like the half-body and three-quarter portraits we explored last week, full body composition offers clues and context about the subject being portrayed.  This kind of shot is excellent for storytelling, although the photographer must take care to ensure the subject is well-composed within the frame so they do not get lost in a busy background.  In other cases, a photographer may direct their subject to get into a variety of body positions (sitting, kneeling, or lying down) in order to achieve an intimate portrait while still offering a narrative glimpse into the subject’s life.

The photo below is of my son in a rare moment without his hat.  But not without his shades. 

Please click HERE to visit our gallery.

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Classic Portraiture | Half-Body or Three-Quarters {Week 36}

As we continue our month-long study of classical portraiture, this week we explore the three-quarter profile portrait. This is the common pose of classic artists - think of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa or the portraits of Botticelli and other artists of the Renaissance. The three-quarter pose can tell us more than a headshot: it reveals the story and character of the subject through his or her clothing, status and surroundings.

Please click HERE to visit our gallery.

Same Hat | Different Pose

Same Hat | Strike a Pose