Tag: New England

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Friday Inspiration: David Fokos

I first came across David Fokos’s work at the Granary gallery on Martha’s Vineyard last summer.  David works in black and white using long exposures ranging from 20 secs to as long as 60 minutes.  Using long exposures David is able to ‘average time’ to give results that he believes are more representative of our impression of the world around us.  This is particularly evident in  his water series where the raging surf is tamed to give images that are more calming.

In the video below David discusses his process and his inspirations.

David Fokos on Plum TV from clifford reese on Vimeo.

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Along the Shore

Along the Shore

I continue to work through the images I captured at John Paul Caponigro’s Maine Islands workshop. I have plenty to work on!

One of the topics for discussion was the use of graduated neutral density filters. With a well captured image the tools available in Lightroom and Photoshop make this type of filter redundant. However, I’m not ready to give up my filters just yet. I will usually take a number of images with and without the filters and see which I like the best. Even with the expensive ‘neutral’ filters from Singh-Ray, under the conditions I usually photograph I get a pronounced color cast. Sometimes I like it, sometimes not so much. The image above was taken without a filter and then processed in photoshop to add a digital neutral density filter.

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Still Motion

I’ve been developing a series of images exploring the juxtaposition of motion with stillness.  I’ve shared some of those images here previously.  More can be found on my main website here.  At John Paul Caponigro’s Workshop I spent time trying things that were on the fringes of what I would normally do.

One of the images that I made that I quite like is shown above.  It fits into the general idea of what I have been trying to achieve with my Still Motion series and yet is a departure.  This image was made on Monhegan Island on a misty morning, with very limited visibility.

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No Excuses

For photography, perhaps more than anything thing else I’m involved in, having a group of people who can give you solid feedback when you ask for it, applaud when you’ve done well, and give you a kick in the pants from time to time is absolutely critical.  These need not be accomplished photographers themselves but people who are going to give you a relatively unbiased opinion, who want to help you succeed and will hold you accountable.  To those people in my life thank you!

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Look What You're Missing!

As the days get longer I’m finding it increasingly difficult to get up for sunrise shoots.  I’m not sure that there’s really a cure for that other than sheer dogged determination to get up and get going, something I was reminded the other day as being the hallmark of a true professional.  It’s not hard to understand the motivation to get up and get going when you are often treated to glorious sunrises such as the one I was greeted with on a recent visit to what has become one of my favorite beaches.  This shot and others like it are posted in prominent places around my home and every morning I don’t get up for a morning shoot they scream ‘look what you’re missing!’.

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Rocks and a Sun Rise

I mentioned last week the process of virtual scouting that I use to help me find interesting places to photograph and to make sure that I am there at the right time of day to achieve the photograph that I am aiming for.  The image above was the result of spending an hour or so looking at the satellite map within google maps to find and interesting collection of rocks at the waters edge.  It was then a relatively simple task to work out what days I could expect clear morning skies and what the tide would be on those days.  I arrived here when it was still quite dark.  As the sky became lighter I was able to get a better sense of the beach and how I might photograph it.  Starting on the beach I made a series of images that had me getting closer and closer to the water until the final set, of which the above was the best, where I was stood on the rocks in the breaking surf.

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Black Rock

Not too far from my home on the south shore is a curious little island.  What intrigues me the most is the building.  Is it a house, fishing shack, government outpost?  Is it abandoned?  I’ve never seen anyone there at any time of the year.  One of these days I’ll find someone to borrow a boat from and go exploring.  Until then I’ll be trying to work things out from the shore.  The light here dies well before sunset.  On this particular evening I spent a while poking around on the beach and realized that there was some nice soft color developing in the sky.  Fortunately I was able to get the color in the sky while the island was still lit by the setting sun.

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Exploring Tools for Learning

It’s been some time since I was last a student but have decided to jump in and explore some of the options that are currently available to develop and enhance photographic skills and abilities.

I am currently considering the following options:

  • Books
    • Essential reference tools to support on going learning process

Updates on my experiences will follow in future blogs!

I am continuing to explore the coastline around my home and in particular to try different approaches to capturing what are all too familiar scenes.  After trying out the obvious images from this view point I decided to try an image where I moved to exclude the obvious.  From my initial edits this was the most successful of the series.  I like the effect and will try more of this style in the coming weeks.