Being the
recluse that I am, I preferred to stay in my apartment for the photo blitz. Knowing that I have way too many hobbies and a
reluctance to throw anything away, I figured it would be a breeze. Before I took
the photos, I began to devise a plan complete with a thorough reconnaissance of
the area. I’m not quite sure if that was against the rules. In fact, I was
going to go so far as to make lists of the intended subjects, and even
considered taking practice pictures from different angles. Realizing I had
fallen into another typical tendency of mine to over-think things, I eventually
just decided to go for it.
I
started with a concept of openness and took a picture which featured four open
doors. The shot is rather narrow, taken in portrait mode almost in rebellion
against the instinct to find the obvious vast, open landscape. Take from it
what you will.
I then
moved on to my album collection, featuring slivers of different colors,
figuring a close-up would take away any accurate perspective and make a good
abstract. My original intention was to leave out any band names but in my haste
to finish, I didn’t notice the print until after.
I then
went into the basement and took a picture of the spokes on my bike being a
classic example of converging lines. Again, I’m not thrilled with the way the
shot turned out, but it works.
My surf
board being right behind it, I figured I could take a picture of the deck from
a low angle and have it look cool. The lighting in the basement being what it
is, again I wasn’t satisfied, but it works.
I didn’t
find too many shadows in the house so I went outside and quickly found a pipe arrangement
(I’d be damned if I knew what it was for) casting a cool shadow on the back of
the garage.
I went
up to the apartment and quickly threw the toaster in the tub (it was
unplugged!) …because those don’t belong together silly!!!
Then I found
my cat and took a pic of his paw. I
tried to get creative and find a cool angle but he wasn’t having it today.
Hardwood
dominates any view in my apartment so I figured a low angle picture would show
the dominant color pretty well.
I lieu
of taking a selfie after working up some tears, or playing a ham for my own
camera, I decided to take a look around for secondary pics of human emotion.
The photo of Billie Holiday which I use for my screen saver has always been a
favorite of mine because of the incredible emotion she shows on her face. The
photo is a testament to the passion of music and what it has come to mean for
humanity.
The exercise
seemed to be not only of interpretation but of expression as well. For many
pics, I was torn between simply taking a pic that works, or racking my brain to
be as expressive and creative as possible. The time limit more or less leaves
the outcome to chance and choice of setting. While most of the pictures did not
turn out to be as compelling as I had hoped, I did like the shadow pic on the
garage. I believe if I had another chance at the bicycle wheel and the
surfboard, I could have added better lighting and made them look better, but I think
they served their purpose.
