photo heart connection august

these two images represent my most inspiring and exciting event in august.

after meeting at one of Kat Sloma's classes last year, Elsie and i started a collaborative photoblog. 

on the 30th of august we met each other in person for the very first time in Utrecht.

we had an amazing day together.

allowing space     

creating room for improvement

Kat Sloma's 'exploring with a camera' series this month is about 'space' (the separation between objects within the frame) as a visual element, a tool for creating compelling photographs.

I have been browsing through my images from the past few days to find out in which ways i allow space into my photographs and how it affects the impact of my images.

Last wednesday i took a whole bunch of shots of all the airplanes flying over, preparing to land at Schiphol Airport. The sky was a wonderfully clear blue color and i was able to capture a lot of crisp detail in the airplanes.

By letting the airplane fly out of my 'frame', picking it up and refocusing a few seconds later, i managed to keep the crisp detail, while at the same time allowing more distance, more space and more context into the image, which, in my opinion, makes it a lot more interesting

Here three other images i took recently, that have definitely improved by allowing more space into the frame. First the fluffy white seed head of a thistle, surrounded by  green grass and red clover. Second the silhouette of a cormorant, resting upon a light pole alongside the ice rink. Third is a young boy walking away from the mall with a candy bar.

Here is the thistle seed head again, this time it's a close up with a shallow DoF that makes it stand out from the background, emphasizing the details of the seed head, especially the tiny dewdrops clinging to the fluff. Instead of allowing more space by creating distance while maintaining the detail, like i did with the airplane, here i have achieved the same effect by moving closer and enhancing the detail by decreasing the DoF.

Here i allowed more space into the frame by choosing a horizontal perspective, focusing on the cormorant and the top of the light pole, thereby excluding most of the pole itself. By changing my position i managed to include some of the white cloud. Allowing more space around the silhouette increases the contrast, thereby enhancing the impact of the image.

The boy in red walked by while i was standing on a bridge just outside the mall. I first managed to 'capture' him unawares while he was standing still, nibbling on his candy bar. Then he walked on and slowly disappeared into a tunnel. I kept shooting, allowing more and more space into my frame. This shot is the last one before he disappeared completely, and for me it is the most compelling one, precisely because of the amount and the quality of the space around him: the lines and the color of the tunnel wall emphasize the shape and the color of his clothes and allow his shadow to 'follow' him going down into the tunnel. 

Joining the August Break  25      

sharing a summer shot a day

11:03 am

Joining the August Break  24     

sharing a summer shot a day

10:19 am

Joining the August Break  3  

sharing a summer shot a day

10:23 am

talking in photographs part 3     
portraits     
capturing aspects of personality     
i love shooting portraits of people i know and love.
i tend to hang around them with my camera as long as it takes, waiting until they become less aware of my presence, turn their focus back on themselves and what they are doing, and their authentic self starts radiating out of their faces and posture and gestures again.
right at that moment i press the shutter....

my neighbor Mijke, who lives in Mozambique and who i see once a year. every time she has grown and changed so much.... i love to record those changes and try to catch glimpses of her developing personality. here she's playing with one of our dogs, completely uninterested in me or my camera.

these two shots are of my dad, right after he gave me a portrait lens for my birthday. i couldn't wait to start taking his picture! he was totally aware of being photographed, but he's such a natural, he's unable to posture or take a pose.

my niece Nadine is always aware of cameras and can't help posing... so with her i usually have to wait long and take lots of shots before i catch her unawares.  but the fact that she knows people look at her and appreciate her beauty is also a part of her personality and it shows in these portraits. here i have tried to enhance that aspect in post-processing.
this shot has been given a bit of a low-key effect

here she was not exactly posing but still acutely aware of the camera, which shows in her facial expression. this shot only needed some subtle changes to keep the effect soft and natural

this shot has been given a high-key/soft focus effect to exaggerate the languid expression

why do i photograph?   
a visual answer to a complex question
today i went exploring the peninsula behind my house with my sister-in-law
she is trying to make an inventory of the plants and flowers that grow there
i am (always) trying to capture the extra ordinary things i perceive in the world around me

a bee embracing a thistle flowerhead in the strong breeze

the soft pink petals of the dog rose against the pale blue sky

the luminescent green transparency of large butterbur leaves


but besides the beauty of nature there's more that catches my eye....

two pieces of worn and torn rope in contrasting colors, wound around a steel fence

the remains of a carefully constructed spiderweb in a corner of the same fence


today is the start of my new photography class at KatEye Studio: Find your Eye
this is my first contribution
to be continued....