Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lo-Fi Update

More from the digital keychain cam. The best shots seem to be the ones I plan the least: I've discovered that the lens (if you can call it that) is sitting off-center in the housing of the camera, so any attempt I make to line up a shot is doomed to fail. I'm forced to just shoot and move, shoot and move... I don't know if I'd call the experience "Zen" but it's certainly a pleasure, trying to spot those scenes that would make an interesting shot, and then seeing how the camera "interprets" that vision.

One rule I've made for myself is "no correction or cropping." Except for the occasional black and white conversion, these shots are "SOOC," or "straight out of the camera." I'm not a purist about photographs, and I believe a little conscious tweaking of parameters or exposure times or filters is part of the art form that is photography. I am not a photojournalist, and I am not documenting without introducing my own prejudice into the images. The selection of a subject and the first cut of photos to save or rejectt introduces my own bias. Instead, I consider this exercise a surrender of control and an embracing of chance, a challenge for myself to see the unexpected and the unusual even in my familiar daily walk. All of the shots I've posted in this series are from the same four-block area around my office building. Ever time I set out with the camera in my pocket, I feel like I've exhausted the possibilities: that I've shot everything there is to shoot. Luckily, I've been wrong each time.

Vanishing Point

Off Road Vehicle

The Geometry Overhead

Red House

FIR

Determined

Piercing the Clouds

Tagged

Tex

3 comments:

Joe V said...

I like these images. Serendipitous photography introduces non-predictable elements that can often lead to unexpected rewards.

I have a little plastic, half-frame film camera, the Golden Half, which also has a certain amount of the unpredictable with its operation. Much fun.

~Joe

Elizabeth H. said...

I've been enjoying these, albeit quietly. ;-) Kinda dropped out of posting responses for a bit, haven't I?

I think my favorite is the ivy or whatever it is. Very moody and artsy, in a good way.

mpclemens said...

@Joe: Thanks. I wish the comment gods would smile upon me on your blog, but I'm always impressed and sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of photo-fu you bring to the table.

@LFP: I like the ivy-or-whatever, too. In fact, it's climbing up the side of a wall along a dumpster-outbuilding-thing. I like its tenacity: beauty clinging to the mundane.