The Final Essence...

1

Los Angeles Int'l Airport,

2

Arcadia,


3

San Marino,
Los Angeles County preCov19

images by Taipei-metro

Lumix mFTG6, Zuiko 14-42
SiliconPower 16gb c10 Taiwan made
 
4606773d9ad645be88a6ac5870c7df63
 
In this shot I was trying to capture the essence of the practice of iaido - Japanese sword training in our dojo. It has an elegant flow that works well when captured with long exposures and multiple exposures. These give it something of a "Whirling Dervish" or ballet feel to it.

The Practice of Iaido 2 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
 
peterm1 said:
In this shot I was trying to capture the essence of the practice of iaido - Japanese sword training in our dojo. It has an elegant flow that works well when captured with long exposures and multiple exposures. These give it something of a "Whirling Dervish" or ballet feel to it.
The Practice of Iaido 2 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Click to expand...

You are Notan idiot!
 
Firstly let me thank Helen for starting this wonderful thread.
OK its got me going now so I will chance my hand and try a couple more approaches to capturing the essence that I think work. (Hint - its all in the viewer's mind).

The first is to use a reflection to capture a snippet of the image (although slightly strangely in these cases the "snippet" each reveals more than the rest of the photo). Usually it is the other way around. In any event the aim is to capture something small that is representative of and suggests the whole.

Architecture Reflected by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

City, Reflected 2 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Another approach is to use a shaft of light to direct the viewer's eye and focus attention on the subject. The aim is to use what is there to suggest the bigger truth by suggesting what is not actually depicted - the essence.

A Darkening HIllside in Autumn by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

And another is to use something that distorts the image to merely suggest the elementary essence of the image.

Abstract Figures at the Water Wall 2 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Here is one where I had no choice but to make a virtue out of a necessity. I totally blew the focus. So, instead of throwing the image away I enhanced the blur with texture and vignette to hint at what's going on - busy, busy busy! I think it kind of works. Anyway I like like it.

Dark Street by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

And finally (for now) here is something that not everyone will bother with. Looking at a fairly boring photo where the subject was blurred through low shutter speed. I wondered how to make it work. Eventually I hit upon the idea of using a triptych to cut up an image to produce three images that suggest the essence of the scene rather than just presenting the scene in an unadorned way. (The image in the left belongs on the right, the image on the right belongs on the left). I always think it is more powerful if the viewer must think about what they are looking at and interpret it for themselves based on their own life experience. And that is what saved this image from the recycle bin.

South Bank Esplanade Melbourne Tryptich by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
 
peterm1 said:
That's a step up for me. Mostly I am just called an idiot. :):):)

Notan idiot - I like that.
Click to expand...

Couldn't resist. I was reading the 1940 American Annual of Photography, and in an article about Tone Composition they used the words "notan" and "chiaroscuro" as boring concepts that everyone already was talking about, so I thought I would try an bring the terms back in vogue a little. :)
 
peterm1 said:
In this shot I was trying to capture the essence of the practice of iaido - Japanese sword training in our dojo. It has an elegant flow that works well when captured with long exposures and multiple exposures. These give it something of a "Whirling Dervish" or ballet feel to it.
Click to expand...

Beautiful and most effective shot(s), Peter. Truly captures the grace and violence.
 
peterm1 said:
Firstly let me thank Helen for starting this wonderful thread.
OK its got me going now so I will chance my hand and try a couple more approaches to capturing the essence that I think work. (Hint - its all in the viewer's mind).

And finally (for now) here is something that not everyone will bother with. Looking at a fairly boring photo where the subject was blurred through low shutter speed. I wondered how to make it work. Eventually I hit upon the idea of using a triptych to cut up an image to produce three images that suggest the essence of the scene rather than just presenting the scene in an unadorned way. (The image in the left belongs on the right, the image on the right belongs on the left). I always think it is more powerful if the viewer must think about what they are looking at and interpret it for themselves based on their own life experience. And that is what saved this image from the recycle bin.

South Bank Esplanade Melbourne Tryptich by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Click to expand...

I really like the triptych Peter.
 
Get close - capture the essence. I think there is something to be said for Robert Capa's comment that if your photo's are no good, then you are not close enough (though he said that in the specific context of being a war photographer). It reminds me of the lines in the poem, Auguries of Innocence by William Blake:

" To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour......."



Converging angles by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

_DSC0993 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Convergences by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Stadel in Melbourne by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Lotus eaters by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
 
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