I took a course recently through the Brian Peterson School of Photography (I think this is my third class from his website). This one was called Finding Beauty and the teacher was Britt Hammer. From nearly the first 10 minutes in I knew I was going to have to S – T – R – E – T – C – H myself. It seemed like all the nice little rules I had learned over the years were going to be either expanded on or thrown out the window!
Photography and the very definition of beauty, at least from this course perspective, is a bit more unconventional and esoteric than I am used to so I knew I would need to really think things through and not throw my hands in the air and give up.
What we were taken through in the first week was a thought process of Quietness, Simplicity, Breathing Room, and Clutter Free. Sort of… close your eyes, free your mind of everything, take a deep breath, open eyes and….
This is what I came up with for week one (I believe I submitted the first three, which is the number we are asked to submit for each week of the 4 week course):
Britt was very kind in her critique and noted that I seem to have a colour palette. Well, I guess I did in this week’s assignment. I was out in Bow Valley Provincial Park and given the temperatures and icy pathways, I ended up only going about a kilometer into the hike before turning around.
as always you managed to invoke feelings that are thought provoking
Ahh, thank you Anna! You are so sweet. Hope you are doing well.
I think these are beautiful Susan!
Thanks Kim xo
Going forward, would you like comments, critiques, or just cookies?
Well, I don’t usually indulge in Cookies so the other two are more what I’m going for 🙂
Thank you for the images and the clarification. Offering 2 cents is a potential mine-field and so I have learned to not offer unless asked. But now you have asked .. My two cents of course come with my own biases and perspectives.
1) I love the palette. The aged flowers come up to the center line of the image which feels like a wall and that tension runs counter to the softness of the palette. As there is nothing on the right which suggests that the wall is intentional, that empty right half doesn’t add information to my viewing. With that in mind you may want to consider a dramatic crop that still gives the plant space to breathe but doesn’t add the perception of a line. PS I would suggest not going with the rule of thirds as that would make the composition too formulaic.
2) The image has grown on me – the line of the foreground stem is very appealing. The image might have been even stronger, if the focus was the cob web / piece of fluff, as the current point of focus feels a little arbitrary.
3 and 5) Nice experiments.
4) The foreground piece of grass has a lovely glow. The right third of the image does not provide me more information, especially that far right blade edge. You may want to consider croppping this image to a square.
I look forward to seeing more images as your course progresses.
A Supportive Cheers, Sean
Thanks for your insights Sean. You are right about allowing for breathing space and I can see that giving more would have made a positive impact.