Now Where Was I?
I have taken a hiatus from posting here in the past month. The end of the semester was upon me and I don’t recall ever being as busy as I have been over the past month, either at the university or in the previous Marketing Sciences career. I am a bit worn out and looking for a kick start. I have something I am a little excited about that I will post on Friday, but before then I thought I would talk about something I participated in last month, which will include some new images to post here.
At the end of October and the beginning of November I took part in an online Photography workshop offered by Derrick Story. The theme of the workshop was The Eastern Sierra, but as you might suspect travel was off limits and what had once been planned as an in person experience became virtual. The transition to virtual also made it possible for me to attend.
The workshop discussed various places in the Eastern Sierra worthy of subject matter for when the day comes that we can all hop on planes without a second thought to that which has hijacked our daily lives for nine months now. The work shop also had themes and assignments to make such a future visit more productive. One assignment concerned composition and the other related to shots that could be taken midday when perhaps the light was not the greatest for many types of photographs. The assignment relating to the second theme was shooting macro.
I have shot a fair amount of macro or perhaps what can be described as “in the field close ups” before. But the point of an assignment is to try something different or return to something forgotten. As I captured images for the assignment it gave me reason to use the short macro telephoto lens I bought a year ago but hadn’t used much and a chance to dust off my fast zoom lens after a spring and summer spent shooting with 25mm (50mm eq) primes or film.
The black and white image was shot at a small pond at one of Indianapolis’ natural parks, Southeastway. It is reminiscent to me of the conservatory work I do during the winter months. I used the short macro lens and would mention that this is a miniature water lily of some sort, the leaves are about 2.5 inches. The color images were made on a hike a Clifty Falls state park. I used the 12 – 40 F2.8 for these. Wide open and at the longest reach.
As I sit here and look out the window, I am feeling a bit cheated by the weather. The show showers I meant to chase today rolled in last night and is for the most part over, leaving neither enough cover for scenic images nor enough of a snowy veil in the air to create layers. I am on the last leg of transitioning my Lightroom catalog to a new machine and a 6 generation jump in software edition. Upgrading the catalog for the new software version seems as if it will be a task for the hours and not the moments.
As for the workshop a month ago, well I am starting another one on Black and White Photography this evening. You can decide if repeat purchase is enough of an indicator for you to consider such an experience yourself. I really enjoyed the prospects of meeting people with who I can share creative thoughts with in the future.
I hope you enjoy these images of the last fleeting moments of fall.