The Photographic Epiphany

[another view]

First off, credit for the idea of this thread goes to Sebastian. He emailed me two recent shots he did for the newspaper he works with and was very proud of the fact that he left his "comfort bubble" to look for something unique. It paid off very well - the images do a great job of communicating but are also unique and just plain cool! I suggested that this might be a great thread, so here goes.

Every once in awhile, you try something new and are pleasantly surprised with the results, and that reminds you why you need to look a little different and a little harder for the shot sometimes. Or maybe you learned a new technique, applied it and the result is just what you were hoping for. At that point, the technique is yours.

Take a look through your images, post one along these lines and tell us your story behind that image and why it's important to you. It doesn't have to be a perfect shot (I can think of one where I learned the value of shooting in RAW purely for the extra bit depth - because I didn't ). I'll look through mine and already have a couple in mind. Should be fun and we'll all get to see some great shots!

[lidarman]

This post definitely puts expectations and pressure on one. However, I will jump in since I love the thought provoking aspect.

The pic below kinda summarizes a lot of what i get out of my passion of mountain biking and photography. What makes me satisfied with this image is that it accomplished the intent I was looking for. I didn't go out and capture this by accident. I was out riding with my camera and saw these pools of water and thought to myself "I want to photograph the coincidence of mountain biking with the rare occurance of water in the desert environment." I saw these pools and knew I wanted to use the water as a mirror to be the palette for my adventure there. It was a rare site in Moab, UT and we were enjoying these pools across the slickrock. I had to incorporate them in our experience.

What satisfies me is that IMO, I achieved my goal in that I knew what I wanted and got the end result!

[mtbbrian]

I'd have to go with Rich on this and post an MTB photo of mine, it is one of my "Single Track Dreams" photographs that I did with a Holga.
It too, combines both of my passions photography and mountain biking.
It was the begining of when I turned my lens toward mountain biking.
For me it communicates a lot about mounatin biking and the dreams I had at the time.
Great post Steve and you too Seb... ;)
I LOVE this one too Rich!
Brian

[walterick]

I've posted this up here before but it really stands for the patience and vision I had that night in waiting for "the shot." Standing out in the swirling wind and increasing rain drops, I captured this just before the skies opened up. It only took 2 frames to get it

I can still remember the awe in seeing this slide.

[almo]

Great thread idea AV!

Well I was just walking along the riverwalk downtown in Jacksonville, Fl., and sorta slummin' round the friendship fountain area, slummin' cuz that is like the most photographed spot downtown. Well anyway I noticed this trash can that just kinda' looked neat to me, and so I stopped and just looked at it for awhile. It was early in the morning, and I had been up all night, kinda' like tonight... and anyway I was kinda getting loopy. I just remember this strange thought I had that the lid was floating and was just gunna take off of it's own accord, so I snapped off a few shots and came home to play with them in Photoshop. Some creative cloning and a layer or 2 later I had an image that I thought was pretty cool, not perfect, but nontheless cool. I would love to have a chance to reshoot, but derned if they didn't go and buy new cans for that park. You know the government only works that fast when they know you wanna' take a picture...


almo

[Sebastian]

I'm with rich on this one, and that's why I'll start with the following shot.

It was the first time I visualized something, planned it and quickly threw it together and got exactly what I wanted out of it. In the past I would always mess around with lights and see what happens, but this marked a change in that sort of thinking. At this point I had accumulated enough experience to know ahead of time what i wanted to do, and it was a wonderful feeling.

[Sebastian]

And these are the shots Steve was referring to in his first post. These are meaningful to me because I greatly stepped out of my comfort zone to achieve stuff that I would otherwise not have.

Stedman Graham speaking to teens in Aurora.

[another view]

Great shots, everybody! Sebastian's first shot - the backlit one - was the one that really got me of the two, it just all came together and I don't think it would have been a shot that I saw. Here, the smaller exposure latitude of digital actually works to an advantage IMO.

I have yet to cough one up but I'll try to do it tonight. My idea was not to post the best shot you've ever done, because trying something new might not lead to the best you can do with that idea. Take the new idea and work with it - but what was that idea/shot that made you say "Yeah! That's what I was trying to do!".

[mtbbrian]

The photo I posted is what I think of as my best Holg/MTB photo. In addition what I said earlier. When I was working on that series, that photograph was the one that made me realize the value of Holgas. Prior to that time, I had used a Holga once, but since this photograph and series I have been using them a lot more.
I love Holgas, they are truly "craptastic"! Craptastic, meaning that you'd think they'd take crappy photographs, but turns out that they take quite fantastic ones!
Brian

[another view]

OK, I guess I better post one. Two of those moments with this shot actually - it was taken about four years ago at a nearby state park. One evening after kayaking on the lake, I was loading up my car which was parked in about this spot and noticed this scene. I didn't have a camera with me other than a point and shoot, so I went back the next night with a long lens and Velvia. Overcast, didn't happen. Tried it again, but nada. Third night I had clear skies again and my shot happened. This is exactly how I imagined the final shot looking (although the scan isn't the greatest).

The two epiphany moments are in previsualizing the shot and getting what I wanted, and also in learning to trust the spot meter. This is a low contrast shot, but there was still a leap of faith involved with taking the camera off of matrix metering.

I'm glad I kept waiting for the right conditions for this shot because a week or so after I took it, the park got all new plastic canoes. Just not the same...

[mtbbrian]

Excllent Photo Steve!!
I don't think I have ever seen it before?
I love the colors and the shapes.
It seems like some of best stuff comes from our other passions!
I like how you were peersistant and got the photo.
My photograph was previsualized too. As I have mentioned, this photograph came from some dreams I had . I was "just be riding along", when I sort of experienced deja vu, from the dreams I had. So I would stop, do the first exposure, the trees and continue on. Later on my ride I see this guy coming down the hill so I rushed and pulled out my Holga and got him for the second exposure.
Brian