Smoke photography

I've seen a lot of examples of smoke photography lately, and wanted to give it a try myself. A pretty good amount turned out well, and I'm going to do some photoshop experimenting with the color on a few, but here's the first of the set. This one only has minor edits done in Lightroom.



Here's a diagram of the setup I used to get the shot:


The setup was pretty basic. I had my camera level with the smoke against a black background. I used a Canon Speedlite with a snoot to light the smoke, at a 90 degree angle to the camera and at the same height. The important thing is to light only the smoke, and to not let any light spill onto the backdrop. I shot with a wide angle lens and cropped the images in Lightroom (shot at ISO 100 so that the extreme crops still look good)

After my Photo a Day/365 project ends on December 31st, I'll have more time to update this blog, which will include the rest of the smoke shots!

screw pencils

I really don't like pencils. I believe that it's important to see the progression of ideas, even if they start out terrible. I do not dwell on the mistakes, but with time a mistake can transform into the best idea of all. Much of my work has turned out this way. Countless people stand by the phrase "learn from your mistakes." Shouldn't that apply to art as well?

Don't forget your mistakes. Use ink.

almost there

I'm in the last month of my Photo a Day/365 project. I can't believe I've made it so far...but these last few weeks will be the hardest. I feel like I have no more ideas and everything I shoot is unoriginal and boring. It all feels different, but I'm having trouble seeing the difference.

Photography is still my main love, but I truly can't wait until it's over. Although my eyes have been opened, I feel right now as if I'm just going through the motions.

I would question whether or not my heart was in it, but I think the fact that I'm still going, and I haven't missed a day shows that I do have heart. Love can be exhausting.

Meditation

I need to find the time to meditate. I feel the need to calm my soul and balance my energy. I am uncomfortable in my own skin; to find comfort I need to find myself.

I need 20 minutes to sit in silence.

surrealist photography

Lately I've been attempting some more surrealist photography. There isn't much out there, but I find surrealism fascinating and would love to incorporate those concepts into my own work. These are a few recent attempts. The first reminds me of a silver gelatin print with all the spots and grain...I definitely miss the look of a real negative!

artist's block

I am nearly 9 full months into my 365/photo a day project and I'm stuck. I feel like there is no creativity left to squeeze out of me, and all my photos are boring. I'm over 2 weeks behind on uploading to flickr, mostly because I'm not excited about my work lately. In order to edit and make it a great image, I have to be excited about it.

I'm getting inspired to write, play music, design and even do video projects but I can't seem to find inspiration for my photography. Pushing through this project is tough, but I'm doing it and the end doesn't seem too far away. I can't wait for the day when I can photograph when I want to, and when I'm inspired. My work will be much better for it, I'm sure.

Until then, I'll continue to channel this inspiration into my design. One of my recent assignments was to create a ransom letter in the typical letter cut-out fashion. While working on my ransom letter from Mother Nature, I became inspired to do a series of ransom letters. I think it can be quite an interesting commentary on the art of type.

For now, I'll listen to Simon and Garfunkel in a desperate search for inspiration in the music that I love.

remembering 9/11

“Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace.” -John Lennon

Remembering 9/11 and only wishing that the dream of John Lennon can someday become reality.

religion

How can we know what to believe, or if to believe at all?