Some photos can’t be categorized or can be placed in many categories, so I thought we’d explore some of those to finish up with what makes a good photo. At the end, I’ll summarize. All of them draw on the principles we’ve already discussed.
Every year we go to a friends cherry ranch for a barbecue. I always have my camera because, well, you never know. I’ve been in this friend’s living room at least four times, but this time, I saw this old victrola speaker for the first time! Wow – how did I miss it? I love the color, the shape, and already I’ve been able to use it in several collages.
A very bad photo of Desert Spirits - but the victrola is here
Here’s another photo I find interesting.
This photo is a good example of when you might see the unexpected if you stay alert. It is a building in Pismo Beach – AND the sky. The neat thing is that the sky is just about the same color as the building – or is it the other way around? Hard to tell where one starts and the other stops. Monochome can be interesting.
Another example of what you might see if you always look around you:
I was driving over to the beach and the only car in either direction for a long time. I looked out the rear view mirror and saw this wonderful, undulating road. I stopped, went to the middle of the street, and took the photo. I love it! What if I’d not been looking? Or looking but not seeing?
This is a portion of The London Eye – an observation wheel (Londoners didn’t want to call it a ferris wheel). Sure, it’s a travel photograph but it’s not real obvious what it is. I just liked the shape, the ambiguity, the composition, and the general grayness of it – sort of monochrome.
Here’s another monochrome photo I love.
I was at an old junkyard in Randsburg in the Kern County Desert. This wonderful, dilapidated trailer was there, and what I found intriguing was that the trailer was blending back into the color of the environment. Sort of like adaptation. Where does the organic matter begin and the artificial end? This is the third almost-monochrome photo on this page.
I’ll leave it to you to determine why these photos are interesting, if indeed you do think so. A couple of them take some consideration, especially the blue building and sky, because at first you don’t really see what it is. Remember that a few blogs ago we started by saying you can take good photos with any camera and without technical knowledge if you learn to develop your eye. Perspective, angles, lines, placement of subject, color, texture, contrast, light – all the things we’ve been discussing – should help you improve your photography. But to do that you have to take photos – lots of them! Don’t forget to carry that camera with an extra battery!
Happy snapping.
