Photo 52: A Play on Light

The Holiday Edition - Week 1

This month our group has decided on a broad, yet seemingly appropriate theme.  Since the holidays are upon us, we will be capturing a festival of lights over the next four weeks, allowing ourselves to be creative with our concepts and images.  We have been looking forward to taking a break from the more technical study of light to using our cameras most freely to capture the season's lights both bold and bright, lovely Christmas bokeh, and perhaps an occasional miracle along the way.  

My photograph for this week was taken during the first snowfall after Thanksgiving.  I opened up my aperture as wide as possible and used manual focus to create a blurred, painterly effect.   My hope was to add to the wintery mood of that late November day.      

Harlem lights

Please follow along the circle to see the rest of Photo 52's images for this week.  Next up is Kennedy Tinsley, a friend and colleague of mine as well as a very talented photographer in her own right.

 

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Hard Light - Week 4

There was a lesson in my latest photography course that explored the dramatic nature of film noir.  Often times subjects are placed in very contrasty, hard light.  One particular afternoon, on our walk home from a birthday party, there was fantastic light hitting one of the brownstones on our block.  I quickly took a photo of our three shadows and was surprised by the creepy feel of the image.  It must be the "claw" hand but I think it's a fitting finale to our hard light study - dramatic and mysterious.  

Please follow along the circle to see the rest of Photo 52's images for this week.  Next up is Kim Dupree, a supremely talented photographer who resides in East Texas with her husband and three children.  

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Hard Light - Week 3

Early in the morning, at around 6:45 a.m., the sun comes streaming in through our east facing living room window.  The light is very dramatic and directional at that hour.  So when the little one went searching for Daddy (who fell asleep on the couch the night before), I followed along with my camera to capture him in a halo of light.  Below is my image for this third week studying hard light.    

Angel hair

Please follow along the circle to see the rest of Photo 52's images for this week.  Next up is Linda Hooper, a most gifted photographer who is presently living with her family in Geneva, Switzerland.  

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Hard Light - Week 2

For this second week studying hard light I decided to shoot outdoors.  My image below was taken as we made our way home on an usually warm and sunny November afternoon.  Somehow it was able to alleviate, just a little, the perfect storm and recent nor'easter that befell our great city and surrounding areas.  And the balloon, in its luminosity, the simplest symbol of hope.  

Please follow along the circle to see the rest of Photo 52's images for this week.  Next up is Lisa Rigazio, a talented photographer and friend who resides in the suburbs of D.C. with her husband and two girls.  

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Hard Light - Week 1

Our topic of study for the month of November is Hard Light.  Hard Light produces well-defined, high contrast images and tends to originate from a single light source, usually small or located far away.  Although the sun is not a small light source, when it is direct and undiffused by clouds, harsh and sharp lines are seen in the shadows.  Hard light can also be found indoors in low-light conditions.  For example, the light of a single candle, window, or lightbulb.  Even the light emanating from electronics is a fun way to play with hard light, especially as we move into the winter months.  Below is my Hard Light debut where the single light source happened to be that coming from the refrigerator.

Busted

Please follow along the circle to see the rest of Photo 52's images for this week.  Next up is Kami Chaudhery, a mom of two darling girls and an exceptional photographer in her own rite, who recently relocated to Seattle from New York City.  

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Backlight - Week 3

For our third week of backlighting, I decided to go outside with my camera in the very late afternoon as opposed to the early morning which I had done the past two weeks.  Though it was just after 5:00 p.m., I found the sunlight still to be quite intense.  While out walking I stumbled upon a girls lacrosse game taking place in my neighborhood of Harlem.  Maintaining my elevated position outside of the field, I chose to incorporate the fence as a framing element in my shot.   The industrial nature of the fence with its added compositional dimension later inspired me to convert this week's photo to black and white.  Through this month-long study of backlighting, I am discovering that this particular technique used with black and white processing can make quite a nice marriage.  It is definitely something I will continue to practice.  

Please continue along our blog circle to view everyone's take this week using backlighting.  Next up is the amazing and talented Justine Knight, my friend and fellow New York photographer.   

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Backlight - Week 2

It's week two of Photo 52's present theme of backlighting which, simply put, occurs when the light source is behind the main subject.  For this week's image I wanted to capture one of my favorite playgrounds on Central Park West in the early morn.  It's now mid-October and with children back in school, their summer memories, long shadows and fallen leaves are all that remain on these grounds.  Shooting into the light created a haze effect that I think translates the time of year even more - a season of crisp light and impending chill.

While I was taking this photograph I felt as if I could hear the echoes of children laughing amidst the deserted landscape.  Something to capture and hold onto until the following spring. 

Lonely ride harvest

 

Please continue along the chain to see what Erica Collins, my friend and wildly gifted photographer, has captured this week by clicking HERE.  

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Backlight - Week 1

This week Photo 52, a year long exploration of light that I am working on with several other talented photographers, will embark on a new overarching theme known as backlighting.  Simply put backlighting is when a light source is behind the main subject. Whilst some might find it counterintuitive to shoot into the light, the effects can be quite magical. 

By having the light behind your subject, the finer details of an object can be enhanced as well as the capture of some lovely silhouettes and sunbursts.  Landscape photography works well with backlighting, especially with translucent flowers and foliage or rim lighting of animals and objects in the background.  Even atmospheric elements such as haze, fog, steam or mist can be intensified and therefore alter the mood of an image.

We will be spending four weeks using backlighting as our inspiration and digging our heels in creatively with this fairly advanced technique.  Below is my backlit debut.  

 

Sugar Hill, Harlem​

Next up in our blog circle is the amazingly talented Kennedy Tinsley.  Please click HERE to continue along the chain and see the creative way in which Kennedy and the others used backlighting this week.

ClickinWalk 2012 | New York City

NYC Streets

This past Saturday I participated in the first New York City ClickinWalk 2012 with local photographers, some of whom I know quite well.  ClickinWalk takes place annually in cities across the globe, giving women photographers the opportunity to come together with their cameras and delve into the art of street photography.  The facilitators, who happen to be friends of mine, Justine Knight and Stacey Vukelj, led us from the New York Public Library through Times Square, down Broadway to Madison Square Park, on to Union Square, and finally across town (via the subway) to the HighLine on the west side for sunset and drinks.  It was such a beautiful fall day in NYC and I found myself enjoying the company I was with so much that I sometimes neglected my camera.  However I did walk away with a newfound appreciation for street photography and a few images to share.

 

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Shadows - Week 4

"Should not every apartment in which man dwells be lofty enough to create some obscurity overhead, where flickering shadows may play at evening about the rafters?" -Henry David Thoreau

 

For the final week of shadows for Photo 52, a long-term collaborative project I am participating in with several other talented photographers, I decided to shoot indoors.  It was a particularly cloudy forecast this past week in New York City so I worked with a single light source, in this case a small votive candle, to create dramatic shadows that literally danced around its base.  Below is my take for our final week of playing with light and shadows.

​Flickr

Next up in our blog circle is Justine Knight, a talented photographer and friend whose work I admire greatly. Please continue along the chain to view her final shadow image by clicking HERE.   

Rembrandt's Light

 

Rembrandt Lighting was named after the great master and is based primarily on two factors; a light on one half the subject's face and a triangle of light on the shadowed side of the face that should be no wider than the eye, and no longer than the nose.  In photography it is a common technique for portraits and was my challenge for this week.  

The key to Rembrandt lighting is to have your subject turn their head away or into the light, usually at a 45 degree angle, in order to get the triangle shape of light underneath the eye.   This particular time I cajoled my husband into being my model whom I tirelessly directed around the room in search of the correct angle, bright catchlights in his eyes AND the triangle - which, by the way, is much easier said than done.    

 

The process itself was a combination of fun and frustration and certainly requires further practice and exploration on my part.  But at least I had a willing (and cooperative) subject and a nice portrait of my beloved in the end. 

 

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Shadows - Week 3

"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

I've found that New York City's early morning has some of the best light and resultant shadows which is this month's overarching theme for Photo 52.  Standing on the balcony of the Columbus Circle train station during a brief moment when the stairs weren't mobbed with people, I was able to capture this young woman in her colorful dress and shoes heading down into the subway.

Staircase stalker​

Next up in our blog circle is the exceptionally talented Lisa Rigazio.  Please continue along the chain to see her latest take on shadows by clicking HERE.   

Photo 52: A Play on Light

Shadows - Week 2

"Our job is to record, each in his own way, this world of light and shadow and time that will never come again exactly as it is today." - Edward Abbey

 

Today's post is for a long-term collaborative project I am participating in with several other talented photographers whom I have worked closely with over the past year.  We are concentrating on light and learning to master its many dynamic forms through monthly overarching themes.  (Our project debut was last week and can be read about in more detail HERE).  The current theme is SHADOWS and below is my image for this week.  

By the way, I turned the image upside down.  It just looked better that way.  

 

Around the track with Papa

Please continue along our blog circle to see Linda Hooper's creative use of shadows by clicking HERE.