Swan Dive: Here We Go!

 So I "went back to school" on Monday, virtually that is. Swan Dive, the 3rd class I'm taking with the fabulous Vivienne McMaster started on Monday.  We began by playing around and not being afraid to make a mess with some of our photographs. The crazy thing was that every time I tried to "make a mess", I liked what I did. It challenged me to find and use post processing treatments I'd never used before.

This simple image of some pretty weeds growing in a fence was shot over the weekend. I just kept playing with it, adding a water overlay (above), changing the colour effects...(below)

Here's the mosaic I made to show the progression:

The image on the top left was the original photograph, untouched. Experimenting=learning!

Today we're working on colour. I'm up early, so I started working with this image, also shot over the weekend. The focus of colour on the smallest and most important element in the photograph makes the image more powerful, I think. I shot a fair number of photos of these beautiful seed pods, (I was so taken with them!) so it's likely you'll see them again!

We've also been discussing our style and that's been interesting. I always find this my least favourite art related question. For me, it's like nailing jello to a tree. I'm not in the habit of trying to analyze and label what I do and I'm always at a loss when someone asks me to define myself that way. I guess my approach is that what happens when I set out to create something is organic and intuitive and those are things that just are. (I have the feeling I am not explaining it very well.)

Anyway, when push came to shove, here's how I processed my style:

 -Clean: I'm thinking it terms of composition, lines, light. I'm all about the aesthetic.

-Intuitive: I kind of have this guerrilla style of shooting like a crazy woman and then seeing what speaks to me once I get the image up on screen later. I also tend to shoot whatever presents itself and feels right in the moment-it's never planned.

 

-Observational: Lately I've been posting about "elevating the ordinary" and that idea has had alot of resonance for me. I like to suss out the beauty in the things we've become almost blind to in our day to day existence.

I got some really supportive feedback from Viv and Amy (a fellow classmate whose photos are brave, truthful and full of poetry) which feels really good because I have a keen sense of vulnerability with this whole exploration of photography that I've been doing this year. Don't get me wrong-it's been nothing short of wonderful, but it's always a little intimidating to put yourself out there when you're just learning something new.

So that's where I'm at, three days into this latest adventure. We're slowly transitioning into Autumn here (I've seen leaves starting to fall!) and I can't wait to capture the goodness of my most beloved season with my camera. It's going to be delicious!