So, the weather is getting warmer and warmer (except for few days) and my chances of strolling out are getting lesser and lesser. We passed through some phases of dusty days as well and I heard of a wave of cold winds arriving from Siberia up in the north (we have these every year at this time). I think by the end of March we might also get a wave of rains (locally called Sarráyát and probably it is equivalent to monsoon seasons elsewhere). Probably we will be having another experience with the floods waiting for us!
Anyway, I'm not here to talk about the weather, am I? I'm going to talk a bit about my second stroll so far, and which I've done back in February actually, and again it is around my neighborhood, as I'm trying to capture something from my environment since I'm still not feeling like going far away (and probably it would be hard to drive far by now).
Stroll II
So, for this stroll (which took place on February 13ʳᵈ) I headed out using another infrared filter, Neewer's 850IR, with a threshold of 850nm; A bit lesser than the previous the one used for the first stroll which was 950nm. As for the lens, I'm going this time with my 50mm, as opposed to 20mm the previous time, thus narrowing my view (or vision so to say). 50mm seems the perfect choice for abstracts most of the time, at least in my case. Moreover, my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 provides a shallower depth of field which enables for more "creative" pursuit. The autofocus function here is critical as well of course but I would say this is natural for lenses over 35-40mm range. ًWide angle lenses won't be harmed much for not having such function, mostly.
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| Wheelies |
So, in the beginning I set my foot walking to the east side of my neighborhood (previously it was to the west) as I'm trying to explore that "region". I don't know why but I didn't go walking there as much as I did to the western side. Anyway, I had to change the course of my walk as some trucks (I think the garbage collection truck) was making a mess and so much dust in the air was blowing off, so I turned around and started to walk in between the houses. Honestly, at this point, I've lost the needle of my compass and I didn't know where am I walking. However, nevertheless, I've seen many nice things that are suitable for abstracts, but I couldn't think of shooting them for fear of violating someone's privacy or trespassing where I shouldn't, and I'm already in no mood for more troubles.
Anyway, I've came by some towing carriage (used to carry boats) and I kind of liked the lines and shapes here, so I shot Wheelies, but to be honest, I was not quite satisfied. I was hoping that the shallow depth would add some interest in the image. In the processing phase, I had to crop so much from the image in order to add more focus to the little wheels around the center. Still, I think I've failed with creating something interesting out of this image. Honestly, I didn't feel any connection fo the subject here despite being in love with the shapes in front of me.
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| Rounded To 3 |
I kept trying with that towing carriage anyway and shot several shots of the 3 wheels, trying to find some patterns here. When processing the image in infrared, I've actually found the ground more interesting than the wheels! Guess it's because of these little grass spots that turn white when adjusting the white balance and correcting the colors in the process. Anyway, at this level, the sun had become a nuisance and I could barely shoot (because using an infrared filter forces me to use the LCD or LiveView). In the process, again, I've tried to crop as much as possible to lead the focus to the wheel at the center. Again, I'm not personally satisfied.
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| Cast |
The fun part comes later when I started to load the images and process them, when I realized that I've shot the shadow of the shrub and not the planet itself as can be seen in Cast! Despite this mistake, I really liked it, unlike the previous two shots! It's strange how a coincidence, not to say a mistake, would turn out better than planned shot (planned in a short time sense that is). It would have been nice though to shoot those green leaves as they would turn out white (usually) with such filter. I might try to find this area again and pay another visit at another time. I actually like this image so much that I've tried another edit with color-grading, but a bit of an extreme one.
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輕快 |
Not far from that "blooper" of mine, I've encountered another tree with fine branches, and again, the sun started to blind me as I was trying to focus and shoot the branch. I did it after all and made several shots here. Anyway, when processing I thought it would such a boring monochromatic shot, so decided to color-graded the photo with colors taken from one of my images from Malta. The image needed some cropping as well to get rid of empty spaces on the edges. One thing that I wished I've done already before finalizing the image is removing that bright spot closer to the top-right corner. I think it is distracting so much now, and I'm not sure why I didn't see it in the first place as I was editing it! About naming the image in Chinese, well, it just flashed in front of my eyes like some of those classical Chinese (or Japanese for that matter) paintings. The colors are kind of childish as well (without me really planning it to be so); fluctuating between baby blue and pink, and thus it inspired me with the name: Lighthearted.
Now, these are mainly the ones I've processed form this stroll but actually there is a number of images that are still in RAW which I might go back and check them later in hope that I would squeeze some more art forms out of them, but this has to wait as I'm working on another set of ultraviolet images, which I will hopefully talk about later in time in here. In addition, I'm hoping to do more strolls around.
Finale
It has been some rough week here for me as I was struggling with mood swings and my push for more strolling outside and trying to create more photos. I feel guilty of being dormant like that but not doing anything with my camera (or anything). Some might say: It's OK, it will come in time, but I say: I hate it.
This said, some issues about my camera had been crossing my mind, like doing a stroll with my Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens which of course would be without any filter (or I could improvise an infrared filter on its back). But there are issues crossing my mind like would I need a mirrorless camera right now? My camera is pretty old by now (got it back in 2010, and the modified one in 2017). But having a mirrorless would disturb so much in the system; Like, none of my lenses would fit and of course I won't be able to shoot infrared or UV with it. I think it's a big No-No for now, and better forget about it for the time being as long as necessity is not an issue, yet.
But these camera issues are not the only thing that make my mind murky at the moment. Strolling and walking around taking pictures is merely a way to vent and forget a bit about my inner problems and my "lost" mind and spirit. As much as I'm trying to slow down and focus on one thing, the brain loads just don't stop hammering down like an advanced level of a Tetris game, when you have no time to find a proper place for the block coming down, while down there, there is no hope of any new lines to be made. Sometimes I do wish I live somewhere else, where I can walk peacefully, shoot peacefully, and drive peacefully even with my own eyes problem, but all in all, I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason…
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