One of the photographic challenges with which many of us have struggled during the past 18 months, mainly due to of the proliferation of the COVID-19 virus, is not being able to freely get out, travel and explore new places to create our art. Personally, I’ve found it very frustrating. Luckily, I’ve been fully involved with building a new house since March and that distraction has helped me work off my frustrations. But the house will be complete in less than a month and I had counted on re-engaging with travel and exploration afterwards. However, our “nemesis,” COVID-19, seems to be mutating regularly and now threatens to continue to keep us in our long suffering restricted travel mode. Is it hair pulling time yet? Lol.
During this difficult period in all of our lives, to help keep my creative juices flowing, I’ve taken to wandering the countryside by myself, driving the backroads and looking for interesting subject matter. You’ve seen some of those photos posted in the space. But how much can I wander the same roads and find new subject matter? So what else can I do to keep creative and satisfy getting the shutter therapy I so often need?
The other day, one of those very hot, humid summertime off and on rain showers kind of days in Virginia, I decided to drive to the historic area of the small town of Smithfield, Virginia to see what ‘small town’ subject matter I could find. Although I had been on Main Street in Smithfield's historic district dozens of times, I never really visited with the purpose of photography. This time I wanted to see what subject matter I could find interesting that most people would not even see.
Upon arrival, the first thing I had to do was sit on a bench for 15-20 minutes to allow my camera and lens to acclimate to the hot, humid, rainy air after coming from the cool dry air of my vehicle’s air conditioned interior. There is a lesson in this, I believe. I sat for a full quarter hour waiting for the front of my lens to lose its fog. If I wiped the fog, it just reappeared. There are ways to mitigate this but I didn't follow any of those. I chose to just sit and wait. If you don't have time to sit and wait, you better make arrangements to acclimatize your gear ahead of time.
So what should I do in this small town historic district? I decided to take a ‘photo walk’ up and down Main Street just to see what I could find of interest. I opened my mind to all kinds of possibilities in composition, color, urban architecture, nature, details, reflections, shallow depth of field, etc. I wanted to walk the three short blocks out and then, on the other side of the street, the three blocks back with a totally open mind. That is what I did. I slowly strolled up and down Main Street armed with my Fujifilm X-T4 and the 16-55mm lens, a lens cloth for wiping away rain drops and my imagination. What you see here, as well as in my next post, are some of the images I made.
I found the exercise very satisfying. As many times as I had walked those same sidewalks, I saw things I had never before noticed. It is all about your point of view, reasons for being there, paying attention and keeping your eyes open. What are your thoughts? After looking at these images, do you think I wasted time and needlessly used up photons? Are these kinds of endeavors worthwhile? Would you have done anything different?
Because the day was rainy with a bald white sky, the light was very flat. I want to go back on a sunny day to see how some of these subjects will have changed in different light. Additionally, I want to go back in the evening, blue hour or later, to again see how things have changed. Also, I want to find other like places in the region and do the same type of walk to further discover interesting subjects.
Here are some of the images I made. These were made while walking west on the north side of Main Street. In my my next post I’ll show you images while walking east on the south side of the street.
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| 55mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/8; ISO 640 (click to enlarge) |
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| 45mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 400 (click to enlarge) |
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| 45mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/8; ISO 320 (click to enlarge) |
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| 42mm; 1/150th sec. @ f/8; ISO 6400 (click to enlarge) |
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| 67mm; 1/600th sec. @ f/8; ISO 320 (click to enlarge) |
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| 67mm; 1/600th sec. @ f/8; ISO 320 (click to enlarge) |
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| 36mm; 1/320th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 320 (click to enlarge) |
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| 16mm; 1/240th sec. @ f/11; ISO 6400 (click to enlarge) |
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| 25mm; 1/220th sec. @ f/11; ISO 6400 (click to enlarge) |
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| 29mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/11; ISO 6400 (click to enlarge) |
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| 33mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/11; ISO 640 (click to enlarge) |
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| 55mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/11; ISO 3200 (click to enlarge) |
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| 47mm; 1/240th sec. @ f/11; ISO 6400 (click to enlarge) |
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| 55mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/8; ISO 1600 (click to enlarge) |
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| 55mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/8; ISO 500 (click to enlarge) |
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| 55mm; 1/1250th sec. @ f/2.8; ISO 1600 (click to enlarge) |
Obviously, there is nothing portfolio worthy among these photographs. But I had fun. I challenged myself and, at the end of my walk, I felt energized and excited. To me, that's what counts.
After my short photo walk, again, I discovered I don’t need to go to famous or exotic locations to produce satisfying work. All of these were very nearly in my own back yard.
These are all such appealing photos, both compositionally and in the color palette. I've grown weary of my environs - thanks for the inspiration to look at them a little harder!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Jim. I’ll take credit for discovering and composing these casually made images but I’ll give Fujifilm the credit for the color. Glad you liked them. More on Tuesday.
DeleteI really enjoy "found" subjects like this. They are very appealing photographs, especially the red table and chairs opening image and the water can. Can't wait to see what's on the other side of the street!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob. Tomorrow morning the new post will go out.
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