I've been a little slack lately. Blame it on the holidays if you want, but I haven't been too excited about shooting these days. Yesterday I forced myself to get out from in front of the computer and DO something. I had this old dried out bouquet and decided to give it a go. I made several images intended to be in color. This one was the last of the day and I really didn't think that much of it, kind of a throw away. I shot it intending for a square crop, but it was originally framed 90 degrees counter clockwise from where it is now. I did the sepia conversion in Camera Raw, then brought it into Photoshop. Still not thinking much of it, I began to add some additional toning work and USM to bring out the detail when it hit me... 'rotate it 90 degrees'. BOOM - WOW. As David Lynch would say, it was one of those "Holy Jumping George" moments. I immediately fell in love with it. I guess this goes to show that as shitty as I may feel sometimes, I need to push myself to create.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Sunday, December 16, 2007
what are you gonna do with your life?
I have often been told that my work has no real theme, no cohesion, and I guess my latest images seem to support that theory. I can't hep it. I guess I have some form of ADD, but I can't seem to stay with one style very long. As you may have noticed, much of my work for the last few months has been very distressed and dirty. I call it 'antique' but who really cares. While I still really like those images, when I set out to make these latest ones, I couldn't help but try to make them as pristine as possible. I used my sharpest lens (60mm macro), paid much attention to the lighting, and used Mr. Margolis' techniques to showcase color and detail. I am very happy with the results. Maybe its because I have been studying the Modernist style, but in any case I love the delicate detail in these dry flowers. This one is my favorite from the series. I think it might be because the stem looks like Jack Skellington's leg. So tell me, what AM I going to do with my life???