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You are here: Home / The Last Word / Time on target

Time on target

February 15, 2015 By JimK 2 Comments

I used to do a lot of underwater photography. Whenever I was on a dive boat and the crew asked us where we wanted to go next, the non-photographers tended to opt for someplace new. The photographers wanted to go back to a place we’d already dived.

Ruth Bernhard used to make repeated suggestions that photographers make pictures close to home. She suggested that the rule be “within fifty feet of your bed”, which seemed a little extreme, but sure made the point.

The more time you spend taking pictures somewhere, the better your pictures will be. Whenever I’m someplace that’s new to me, I make the obvious picture. I know I’m doing it, and I do it anyhow. I’ve got to get them out of the way so I can move beyond the superficial. If I were in the stock photo business, they might be good for postcards. I sometimes post them on my Facebook page.

It used to be that I got bored after spending a lot of time in the same spot. I’d keep on photographing, and then I’d start to make good images. Now I seldom get bored, but I sometimes get frustrated that I’ve run out of subject matter. Soon after that happens, I start to find great material all around me.

There’s a little copse of trees near where I live. I’ve been photographing there almost exclusively for the last week. Here’s what I got this morning.

[Group 4]-_DSC1485__DSC1507-21 images_0000-Edit

[Group 8]-_DSC1685__DSC1730-43 images_0000

[Group 2]-_DSC1454__DSC1459-6 images_0000-Edit

 

[Group 5]-_DSC1511__DSC1535-20 images_0000-Edit

On the way to that little grove, there’s a meadow. I can’t help myself; I take pictures of that too, just in passing. So far, that’s turning out pretty postcard-y, but it does have its moments.

[Group 26]-_DSC1387__DSC1420-32 images_0000

[Group 1]-_DSC1422__DSC1450-22 images_0000-Edit

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Herb says

    February 16, 2015 at 8:08 am

    I completely agree with the idea. I tend to live in one spot and work on it for a year or two, since the changing light of winter vs summer, vegetation, etc, makes a huge difference.
    By the way, I got the 28mm Elmarit R and got some really good shots from it and the A7II.

    Reply
    • Jim says

      February 16, 2015 at 9:16 am

      I’m glad the Elmarit-R 28 is working out for you, Herb. When I need a moderate wide angle for this series, I’m using that lens (the first version) and the 28mm f/1.4 Nikkor. Both have more artifacts than I’d like when the sun is in the frame. Sincy I’m shooting panos, I can work around that by making extra exposures and masking out the artifacts, but I’d like to find a better lens for the job. There’s a infrared version of the Zeiss 25mm ZF.2 lens, but I’m having a hard time tracking one down. Maybe I’d be better off with a 35mm lens as my moderate wide angle. It would probably be less prone to artifacts shooting into the sun.

      There’s an additional problem with the LifePixel Super Color filter that I have installed on the sensor. Since it passes blue as well as infrared, if I don’t use an IR-Apo lens like the Coastal Optical 60mm, I have to stop down pretty far to get both sets of wavelengths to a common focus. I can fix that by using a filter that cuts out the blue, but then I get more artifacts from the filter.

      Jim

      Reply

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