Olio: noun - a miscellaneous collection of things
This is, possibly, the very best definition to give to what I am doing in this blog. Since no one reads what I've written and no one visits this blog to see my latest photographic musings I decided that I have carte blanche (noun complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best) to put down here whatever strikes my fancy. To exercise the prerogative all old people are said to have to not give a hoot what someone else thinks.
Hahaha, that's been a goal of mine for many, many years and now I am at a point where I should be able to stop caring what others think. So this is what you get...my blog, my rules, my pictures, my observations, my way. No excuses.
So this blog will not be a story. No, it's a personal olio...my miscellaneous collection of pictures, thoughts and adventures. Plus, I am going to use it to help me define what it is I take pictures of. What am I doing.
These pictures are presented in the order in which they were taken. Hahaha, no need, right now, to organize and try to tell a story. They're here in the order they were created and follow no particular pattern or theme.
It's appropriate that the first ones are B&W. Heaven and I both know I've muddled through a lot of pictures trying to capture 'something' in B&W. I like the stark simplicity of these simple tones. Jet black through the shades and tones to pure white.
What a challenging artistic medium. A demanding one. It seems so spectacularly simple but that's a lie set up to lure you in, get you caught and then to torment you ever after. Hahaha, and I've been tormented. A lot
A couple weeks ago I was fiddling with the controls trying shots with different apertures and f/stops. Just playing. I shot the front door with all it's varied accouterments. Do you see how this verges just on the edge of being 'slightly interesting' as a composition? That's the way it is with me and B&W. I always feel I'm this close to maybe getting something of some slight value but, always, close to it but never good enough.
I had expected to delete all this 'test' pictures but liked this one enough to let it hang around and see what it could do to me.
I have learned that I have a thing for patterns, lines, angles and shape. Especially when rendered in B&W. Same story as above...shooting the shades in my front room with different modes and trying to see what worked afterwards.
Hahaha, if I were a bit more entrepreneurial with an artistic reputation I bet I could slap a snazzy frame around this with a black mat and sell it for $250 or $300.
Seriously, the lion's share of art is being able to market yourself (i.e. your 'art'). It's having the guts enough to put yourself out there. I've learned that I am desperately lacking in entrepreneurial spirit, Heavily lacking.
Still, I can enjoy my stuff and, someday, I might begin to frame some of it.
Which leads me back to what I was doing...playing with the controls, modes, manual focusing, shutter speeds and f/stops was my way to get started understanding these wonderfully complex and accomplished cameras I have.
A lot of these, the lion's share, were taken when I went on a walk.
I carry a camera with me most of the time. When I go out I've gotten into the habit of grabbing a magic light box. Usually it's the little Canon, the SX170. Next up for when I'm feeling a bit more adventurous I carry the Canon SX60. Only when I am feeling a bit randy do I reach out for the Nikon P900.
Out on a walk (so I had the SX170), I came upon some tulips. Something about their angular, straight lines and the incredible beauty of their blossoms draws me to them. Oh, and their colors, too. And I always tend to see them alone in a long, thin vertical.
If there are enough of them, I will shoot the bulbs in a horizontal composition trying to find that interesting mix of them.
Interesting sidebar: I think I was happiest walking around grabbing shots with that SX170. I may have gotten some of my best compositions with that little beauty. Note, I said compositions and not photographs. I take lousy pictures. Lack of clarity, focus...the technical things. I take some pretty good compositions, though. Some damn good compositions which is setting up the picture, making it semi-interesting and putting shapes, colors, lines, etc., in a pleasing manner.
Big difference between photographs and compositions.
The life of a retired gentleman.
This one involves Kiwanis and supporting them...and Carol. Like the quarterly clean-up of their section of The 101 just south of Taft.
We met on an ugly Saturday morning, a jolly band of donut-eating, coffee-drinking enthusiastic Road Warriors. But, after some careful consideration and several donuts, it was decided to defer the clean-up until Sunday...when the weather might be a little more gentler.
The idea of putting folks along the busy 101 in a steady rain was too daunting. We were ready but caution dictated we live to fight another day.
Carol enjoys her membership in Kiwanis and is a member of the Flag Committee. I, I am there as an FOK (a Friend of Kiwanis). I am a steady and loyal FOK...as long as Carol is there. Hahaha, the role suits me. I'm not an official member so I don't have the guilt when I miss an activity but I have been to so many meetings, events, etc., that most of them assume I am a member and I get all the benefits of this close association.
Carol is, quite simply, my best friend. She's my opportunity to get out and about. I'm not keen about doing by myself. I learned on my trip to Ireland that while there are advantages to traveling and living alone there are definite drawbacks. Together, we have more fun than if we were apart.
Anyway, we found a clever way to mask our disappointment at not being able to clean-up The 101.
We went over to the Snug Harbor for a hearty and satisfying old-fashioned breakfast. Word of caution - make sure you know what kind of coffee it is you're ordering. Our two coffees ended up costing around $15. What!?!?! Yeah, that's what I thought.
Note to self: No coffee in Snug Harbor.
I've been experiencing some difficulty lately. Seems I have been having minor bouts of angina, a chest pain or discomfort caused when your heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen-rich blood it should. I believe that is contributing to my fatigue and overall general laziness.
So I've set myself to a goal, easily and often broken, to get out and walk a bit each day. Plus, and this is a big one, I've determined I shall "eat better."
The latter is deliberately vague so as to allow myself a great deal of fudging either left or right as the mood swings me. No use being a fanatic about it, right? I figure if I eat even a little bit less of the crap I usually shovel down then I'm ahead of the game.
So this chilly morning found me wandering about outside and wondering at the frost covering the ground growth.
There's another thing about carrying a camera about with me. It forces, allows, causes me to look at the world a bit more keenly. I find it occupies me and gives me pleasure to not only look at a scene but to look into it as well with an eye towards divining any "compositions" that might be hiding there...to find the small tableaus hidden inside the overall Big Picture.
I've found that as I mature, my pictures have shrunk in size and scope. I used to go for the grand scenics or large views of a city scene. I shot big. Now, however, I find a lot of my compositions are small; intimate; more concise; brief but comprehensive.
Someday I might even get good at it.
And that brings me back to Flax.
Angles, lines, patterns, facets and inflections...they're all there in this simple plant. Every time.
Fun Facts: Phormium Tenax (New Zealand Flax New Hybrids) - Phormium, a native New Zealander, is pretty new on the scene here in the U.S. It has long been grown for its strong, upright and fast growth habit and is sometimes called an ornamental grass on steroids which makes a great accent plant. Gardeners know New Zealand Flax as a large and often colorful spiky plant that makes an arresting focal point in the garden or in containers.
Hummingbirds love to feed on these nectar-rich blossoms. Phormiums are salt tolerant making them ideal for planting in coastal areas.
Hahahaha, I didn't know this was from New Zealand. A Kiwi!!
To me it's just a neat composition opportunity that sings to that part of me concerned with motifs. It really is, when you look at it, quite an impressive opus of visual complexity.
There's a pile of it in front of a rental on 34th, just around the corner from me. This means I will pass it nearly every time I am out. This means I look at it a lot. And shoot it, a lot. And for that I fall back on the early screed where I expounded, at length, upon my hard-earned new ability to not give a Fickle Finger of Fate for what others thought about me.
I likes it...I does it. 'Nuff said.
Gotta love the nature 'round here. It's such a kick. And, yeah, I still get a large charge of pleasure when I spy an animal I rarely encountered in my wasted youth.
Like this hummingbird. There's a place along 34th up towards the Garden with a bunch of bird feeders set out and about in the yard. And one of them was this hummingbird feeder which was, as I looked, occupied.
Coolio!! And he hung around enough for me to zoom in with the 170, raised above my head to get over those stupid leaves in the foreground. Neat opportunity and I was uber pleased the pictures were viewable.
Ah, Nature. Cool.
New day, another walk, same plant.
Different exposures and different zoom lengths and, most importantly, different crops, one of my favorite tools in iPhoto.
I'll be back when the sun is really out and try and get this bad boy backlight.
Walking on further, and immediately after shooting the Flax Plant, I came upon this ornamental grass growing in some nameless yard along 34th.
Again with the patterns, shadows, nuances, lines, movements. This time with a different subject.
Still, I remain true to my inner muse. Although I don't believe a bit in any of that astrological crapola, I do tip my hat to my Virgo tendencies towards order and attention to small details.
Hahahaha, love the crop feature.
I don't know why I shoot rhododendrons. I am almost always disappointed with the results. I just looks like it could be a good composition but it rarely, like the slot machines at the casino, pays off.
This one survived because of the contrasts. The green and the colors hidden in the rhodies. Plus, I think it's a pleasing composition - the forms work well within this small frame. Hahaha, I like it and that means it completely fits my rigorous and refined criteria.
Distance to subject matters. And I was a good distance away from this clump of grass when I grabbed this shot.
I enjoy the effects the lens puts into the composition because of the greater distance. The compression. Putting so much more into the scene.
Here we go again. Someday, I swear, I will get a good B&W composition.
I saw these house numbers and switched to B&W on the 170. Then I hit the film noir effect in iPhoto.
Trying to be realistic about myself, I acknowledge, as I look on it after I'd taken it, that there are a lot of lines, tones, shades and static movement in this composition. I don't know I was aware of these aspects when I composed the shots.
A color bonanza.
I likes me B&W but I do appreciate color. And this is a riot, sort of, of color. And that was it. The whole appeal of shooting this scene (and this is one of several shots) was to try and capture the color and the power of the scene. I like the juxtaposition of the painted flowers to the real ones.
The long, angular and simple tulip. I saw these next to a house with the wooden fence behind and took the shot.
Now, in my mind, I am chastising myself for being such a lazy slug. I'm thinking I should break out the bigger cameras, bring along the tripod, set up the whole thing and maybe get some white board to get some fill light...I'm thinking all this and I just turn towards the tulips, lift the 170 up in front of my face, zoom out way too far and try to control my breathing so I can hold the camera stay and then I snap away.
Hahahaha, I hit my goal. It works well enough for me. No clarity, not sharpness but as a composition it's OK.
And I'm good with OK.
Is that a bad thing? Hahaha, at my age I don't really care anymore. I'll keep on playing with B&W and composition and the things that bring me pleasure. And I'll keep on trying to avoid shooting beyond my abilities, beyond my pleasure-dome.
There's what I've done. Gone for walks and carried a camera along.
It is an ugly, blustery, gray, ominous kind of day here in Lincoln City.
So I'll leave it today with this thought from the estimable Dr. Suess.
Hooah!!
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