PHOTOGRAPHY NOTES
ABOUT THE POOL OF POSSIBILITIES |
Creative Controls
All of the artwork depicting the Pool of Possibilities is photography, even though many of the images look and feel like paintings. Other photographers are often surprised to learn that no hand-painting or special effects such as the ones available in Adobe Photoshop have been employed to create the work. Most of my work is done in-camera. The design components that I am conscious of while making pictures are: exposure controls, shapes, texture, color, composition and perspective cues. These are the camera techniques I address in my workshops. I then use my computer for basic tweaking and cleaning.
Exposing Film
From my first experiments with the pool pictures in the autumn of 1999 until late 2004, I used 35 mm film cameras exclusively, and color transparency film (mostly Agfa RSX II 100 and RSX II 200). I did much of the work on tripod to assure careful framing and to keep the camera motionless during relatively long shutter releases. My sessions at poolside ranged typically from half an hour to several hours, the longer outings most often in the summer months!
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Digital Photography
Since December 2004, I have switched almost completely to digital photography and although I have had to learn to see through "digital eyes", I have enjoyed the new freedom it has afforded me. I now use the tripod less often, and adjust the ISO (light sensitivity) and aperture to allow me faster shutter speeds. The digital camera's facility to increase the ISO rating provides me with the opportunity to record fast motion, particularly in low light, producing a new dynamic to some of my work.
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| Camera Techniques |
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The Pool is a dynamic, exciting, absorbing, conscious organism that is constantly changing and expressing itself in a myriad of ways. Even though it lives and breathes right outside my patio door, my photo adventures at the Pool have been as demanding and challenging as any of my worldwide excursions.
I have found that because of the fluid, often rapid, movement of the water, especially in low light, I have been forced to push the boundaries of my seeing and my shooting beyond that of any previous projects.
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With the switch to digital and its opportunity at the flick of a thumb to alter the sensitivity to light (ISO dial), I find I am able, even in low light conditions, to hand-hold more readily than in the days of film. My movement around the pool, always searching for that previously unseen angle, is now more spontaneous, reactive, and freeing because I can now shoot rapidly, experiment, and easily format (erase) what I choose not to keep. Generally I do not edit until I see the work on the computer screen, where I can more closely scrutinize details and do side by side comparisons.
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Incentive to Experiment
Also, I find digital photography liberating because I can shoot to my heart's content without incurring film purchase or development costs. There is, however, the substantial costs of computers (we now use four of them), digital cameras, storage cards, backup hard drives and a number of software programs, and the time and will required to learn new ways of working and networking.
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The Pool of Opportunity
All photographic opportunities are created equal but some are more "equal" than others! The times I respond the best is when the water is reflecting subject material in ample sunlight, but the water itself is in the shade. This condition invites reflections which are normally one to two exposure settings darker than their counterparts on the surface, to intermingle more successfully rather than fading into obscurity. Early and late in the day are great times for low angle light to rake across the foliage near the water's edge. What I most love is that the pool holds no rules. Every occasion has its own fascination and its own mixture of challenges and rewards.
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The Pool of Proximity
Because the pool is right at my doorstep and seen from my living-room window, it both invites - and haunts me. It invokes a certain difficulty to ignore it, which is the very ingredient that keeps me returning to it, and seeing more, and loving it more, to which it seemingly responds with a more limitless array of patterns and textures. The pool has hooked me in a way that almost guarantees return engagements.
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And my house is as handy to the pool, as the pool is to the house. During a shooting session, I can run inside to charge a battery, grab a bite to eat, warm up frozen toes, change lenses, download a card, and check an image on the computer monitor, or leap up a flight of stairs for an alternative viewpoint from the balcony. The accessibility of camera gear and backup support become crucial components in 'pushing the envelope' of seeing. It is hard to connect from the heart when my limbs are frozen and batteries are dead (the camera's - and mine!)
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Black and Blue
For several years I photographed the swimming pool with its traditional pool-blue liner. It even had an embroidery design of white sailboats around the rim, which unfortunately did not provide a sense of mystery, nor reflect nature's rhythms. In the summer of 2004 I couldn't tolerate it any longer. We reconfigured the slope at the bottom, making the shallow end deeper and the deep end shallow enough for me to stand in, and most importantly, we changed the liner to a solid black.
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