Welcome to the first posting of “Fables of the Mind”.
My plan for this blog is to talk about the things that I am passionate about. For the most part that will be photography, music, science fiction and games (video and board).
To kick things off I am going to start off with some photography. I have had cameras for as long as I can remember. As a kid my parents started me off with a little Kodak 110 instamatic camera. As a teenager I upgraded to my first “real” camera; a Pentax K-1000. With this I went through a lot of film experimenting and learning the ins and outs of photography.
In high school I took a course load that was heavy in arts and science subjects. The arts helped me learn what was “good” art and what was “bad” art. Good and bad are such subjective terms. What is good to you may be crap to me and vice versa. When I speak of good and bad, I am not referring to the content but rather to the techniques and the aesthetics. These are things like composition theories, colour theory, depth, lighting, etc.
Although some are will argue this, but painting and photography are very much alike (when I say painting, I am including sketching and drawing). They both are methods to capture a moment in time. Both are a reflection of what the creator envisions in his mind. The main difference that I see between them is that the painter adds what’s important to the picture and the photographer is removing or excluding what is not important.
I like to photograph many subjects, but I mostly concentrate on things without people. I know that’s a bit broad, but let’s try to narrow that down a little. Much of my photography could be classed as landscapes or nature. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. I also love abandoned things; building, cars, whatever. When things start falling apart they decompose in such a way that it provides interesting patterns.
When it comes to nature or landscapes I focus a lot on waterfalls. There is an infinite array of images that can be found in a waterfall. It could be the whole cascade itself, or the splash pool below waterfalls, or the rapids down or up river from the falls. I love slowing down the shutter and making the water a smooth silky flow. This brings us to the first image I want to showcase.
This is taken above Hilton Falls in the Hilton Falls Conservation area. If you hover your cursor over the image you will see the f/stop, etc. When I saw this log at the top of the falls I was drawn to the way it was just hanging in the torrent of water above the drop off. The colour of the water and the log both drew the eye. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tripod with me on this trip, so I couldn’t slow it down too much. Fortunately a handy tree and a VR (vibration reduction) lens helped me get it acceptably sharp for my final product.
I don’t want anyone to think I am trying to pass myself off as a professional photographer. I am far from it. I am always learning and always open to criticism of my work. Fell free to tell me what you think of it in the comments. What I would like is to get a conversation going. If you are going to comment, don’t just say you hate it or like it, also tell me why!