Letting Go

I noticed this one leaf while out shooting among a field of winter brown and green, lit calmly by the setting sun I was walking toward another subject at the time but had to stop to grab a couple shots of this because I love turning such simple, minimal subjects into something grand. I had nearly forgotten about the photos until tonight while looking around for a new image to share. Seems to be one of those rare last leaves of fall that just refuse to let go of what they have.

Oddly enough, this left me feeling sentimental for things left behind (so pardon me while I think out loud). Life goes by so quickly sometimes and while there are instances where letting go is the best thing you can do, I still feel there is so much you should hold close and never let go of. We are constantly reminded to leave the past behind and live today like its our last, or other such motivational this and that, but hearing it gets tiresome after a while. Our minds gloss over advice amid our busy digital lives and being social within this weird new definition of the word where you don’t actually have to be with anyone to be social. This or we take this kind of  life advice to heart and become so desperate to connect with our inner selves that we end up getting lost in the very act of trying. This makes it harder to feel much honest connection with notable moments in our lives and by the time we realize how great life has been it’s already passed us by. I always remind myself not to forget that every moment I am alive I am graced with something undeniably beautiful if I look closely enough and pay attention. Both in times of unbearable joy or times of hardship and struggle.

One of the saddest things anyone has ever said to me was while they were looking at a photo of me taken when I was a teenager. She told me I was so beautiful when I was young but it made her sad. When I asked why she replied, “it’s your eyes, there seems to be something in them here that I don’t see anymore.” That stuck with me over the years and ever since then I have been trying to get it back. I realized that to be honestly happy about my life and everything that happens within it I must embrace all of it, good and bad. It’s important to keep your imagination and lust closely guarded and never stop exploring, stay hungry and foolish so they say. The most creative, capable people out there in this world are the ones able to take experiences from the past and use the knowledge and emotion surrounding them to build a better tomorrow rather than letting themselves get lost in a maze of regret.

One last thought I would like to include that feels like it ties in to what I am waxing poetic about is probably my favorite Steve Jobs Quote which is on creativity:

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” Steve Jobs, Wired, February, 1995

Sentimental rambling aside, as much as I love the lens I shot the above with, the 55mm f/1.2 Olympus Zuiko, I have decided to sell it and buy down into the more modest 50mm f/1.4 in the same series. Mostly because I feel as though I could spend that money better elsewhere. I know it seems like I never stop with the cameras and lenses and friends give me a hard time about it but I love to explore everything photography has to offer. I like taking digital photos but left it behind emotionally  for reasons I can’t quite put into words. Keeping up with digital photo tech just got old and when I realized my 5d was more than enough camera to satisfy my digital needs I stuck with it and put my curiosity elsewhere.

Film cameras and experimenting with them brings me so much more excitement and satisfaction that I can’t help but want to continue on exploring. This and I know readers love to hear about interesting new cameras and opinions on them and the only way to continue this is to keep trying new systems and reporting back to you.

Antelope Island

First of all, isn’t this a great photograph? I love the way the plant life in the front of the image gives a nice overall softness yet when your eyes are inevitably sucked inward to the buffalo there is a crisp sharpness. I’m jealous of this shot because it’s not one of my own. I wanted to kick off my guest desktop series with a great image and one has stuck in my mind for quite some time now which I found among a readers web site and knew I would eventually have to find an excuse to post it eventually. The photographer is Tim Sondrup of Utah. I am happy to share this lovely image with everyone and I hope for it to mark the begining of a great new series on 50ft. As you may have noticed, wallpaper posts which contain photos that are not my own will have a nice little tag to let you know that it is a guest image. I have asked Tim to share a few thoughts on the photograph, so without further adeu, I will hand this over to him.

“Antelope Island State Park, located on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, is a quick 20-minute drive from my house, and yet whenever I go there, I feel like I’ve stepped into a whole other realm. The island is beautiful, immense, and perhaps more than anything, quiet. In addition to antelope and other wildlife, the island is home to more than 500 free-roaming bison, which can usually be seen from the main road. Such was the case with this particular bison on the horizon. I saw a perfect photo opportunity, framed my subject, and pressed the shutter button.” – Tim (Shot with a Canon EOS 5D & Canon EF 50mm f/1.4)

Slight

Last week I had the urge to go out shooting so my brother and I took off chasing the sun as it sank lower into the sky. We found a couple of nice new spots to explore as we drove blindly down streets unfamiliar to either of us. The smaller the road became, the more interesting the surroundings. Sometimes it surprises me to discover how many places I have yet to discover within a city I have lived in for so very long. The spot where this photo was taken was in a field near the runway of an airport, overgrown with weeds and brush yet the whole place was glowing in the the light of the last five minutes of sun during the day. I love how delicate this one little piece of this bush was and the way it seemed to stretch so perfectly upward with its gentle curve. The wide aperture took this little wisp of a twig and gave it life. I love the ever so slight way that it drifts out of focus toward the top.

As the sun dipped below the horizon we started to head back and along the way discovered a great new spot to go relax at the end of the day. It may seem odd to some of you but it’s a new gas station that serves cheap food and has a few tables both outside and in. The nice thing about it is that the seating has this fantastic view. It sits right next to an airport field and faces west so you get this wonderful view of the sunet over the field. The thing that drew me to this place, however, was the fact that while I was there I had that unmistakeable feeling of being somewhere that does not at all remind me of home. That subtle high that I get while traveling places unfamiliar to me. I thirst for that feeling and it’s exciting to find it, even when it’s somewhere unexpected like while sitting at a random gas station overlooking an airport. I find great comfort within this kind of place and its a feling I cherish any time I manage to grab hold of it. These moments are easy to miss so keep an open mind and your eyes open because, at least in my experience, it can lead to a feeling of peace not often found otherwise in your daily life.

After

After the fall quickly leaves us we are left with the cold, the piles of dead leaves, the humbling realization that time is still moving forward with or without us. Winter, just around the corner, and for many of us, already well settled into place. It is a perfect time to reflect as the crisp air bites into our senses. I love the cold weather and as backwards as it may sound, my favorite part about the cold is getting warm. Is it not a wonderfully satisfying feeling to be bundled up and protected from the cold outside? I love the way a fire feels against my hands in the cold, the embrace of a good scarf around my neck, the chills that run through my body as I tense up and shiver when the cold sneaks in despite my efforts. It makes me feel alive, alert, ready. Then there is that overwhelming sense of calm that overtakes me when I get inside a warm building or under a blanket and the cold slowly starts to vanish from my senses.

Maybe I’m crazy but I have a lot of respect for the winter. If the fall is the season of change, then the winter is the season of reflection and rest. To me, it’s beautiful, a chance to get inspired, read, create, and recharge.  So here’s to a great start to the new season, I hope everyone can get as much love out of it as I manage to.

Fell

The second photo from this years fall desktops is a classic in the sense that photographs such as this with a shallow depth have quickly become a defacto approach to shooting in an abstract or seemingly delicate way. To some cynics out there it is seen as taking a shortcut to getting a photo with apparent depth or a sense of awe. If you have been following 50ft for any length of time then you are well awaret that I have an affinity toward a shallow depth of field. I use it as a means to create negative space while composing an image where there often is none. I don’t think I have ever used shallow depth of field as a gimmick or because I was feeling lazy. For years now I have explored it as a means to simplify an otherwise complex world.

That said, I would like to share my point of view while shooting this way. If you stand and stare at an empty forest in the fall it is but a noisy, colorful blur, or to me, a blank canvas. As you wander forward through the leaves and branches, particles of light start to solidify and ideas bloom in your mind. Then as you explore different angles and viewpoints patterns begin to emerge and interesting shapes will form. You start to connect the dots into a beautiful self realized constellation of sorts and the forest comes alive. Using a wide aperture I can mimic this play of shape, light, and color with the lens and exploit the beauty that hides among the noise.

For years I have been discovering these sorts of hidden forms and using a wide aperture as means to pull forward details. Early on I came to realize that there is a large difference between abusing shallow depth simply to get all those pretty shapes and using it to a true advantage. The rules of composition still apply even when dealing with such abstract forms and a healthy amount of experience and exploration still has to go into the process to become refined. At any rate, pardon my musing on the subject, I hope you enjoy the fresh desktop!