Shutter Sisters

out of hibernation

By

A blizzard, then an ice storm. Then rain, then a cold snap, and everything freezes solid. Foliage is dead and buried, brittle or frozen. Everything hibernates.

Go ahead, says February. Find my beautiful. And I’m not talking about that salt-weathered barn in the middle of that field. No standing half a mile back. Get up close. Make something of nothing.

I’ve got a bit of a plan now. A wide-open aperture, a deliberate shoving through of foreground, a focusing on the middle. Lying in snow, stalks tangled up in my camera strap. It makes camera into brush, composition into canvas.

+++

It doesn’t matter what you think you’re shooting. What’s in front of you is not your photographic subject. Your photographic subject is whatever that thing or person or scene evokes. Your subject is the feeling, the story, or the questions you raise by capturing that thing or person or scene one way versus another. Let’s strip this down and test it. Here’s a bunch of stuff.
I looked at the table in front of me. A coil of wire, some reflective paper, a pad of steel wool, some bolts, unraveled wool, crumpled paper and too much else to make sense of. I looked back up at the instructor.

Take whatever looks interesting, and photograph any of these subjects. She pushed a paper across the table to the group of us.

Loneliness
Love
Cold
Warm
Fear
Safety

It doesn’t matter what materials you use. What matters is your creative intention in arranging and capturing them.

I choose ‘cold’ and photographed it. And I forgot it until now, or at least forgot the connection between that abstract photography course and what I’m looking for when I’m outdoors in February. I’m not looking for pretty subjects. I’m looking for shape and line, company and loneliness.

+++

The first time I did it, it was an experiment, an exercise in blurring eyes and looking to see what else I’d found other than a withered, mid-winter hosta. I’ve been on hiatus from Shutter Sisters for a while, and now I’m back at the very peak of my photographic dry season (which I write about every year without fail, each time with that whiny, northeastern lilt). And so I remembered the basics.

Have you ever abstracted subjects to their elements? Have you set out with the intention to construct a photograph of colour – just colour – or line, shape, texture, or space? I’d love to see. Either that, or just tell me how you’re doing and what you’re shooting. It’s been too long.

Comments

  11. Great post! So inspiring! I've been reading photography books like crazy lately. One of the most recent photo assignments was to find find lines and create an interesting photo for the viewer's eye. I took this last weekend while taking pictures of the snow. I'm not sure if my photo assignment author would be proud, but I sure like this picture.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58304012@N08/5424967899/

  20. Kate – I simply LOVE your photo "Hibernation" – I included it in the Visual Diary that I am keeping for my Advanced Digital Photography course – under the category "Shots I wish I had taken".

    Here is my impressionistic landscape – taken looking out the front door window on a day of unusual winter sunshine:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/gottgraphicsdesign/5381281386/in/set-72157623028894223/

    Welcome back to Shutter Sisters – your post was very inspirational.

  34. /Volumes/FreeAgent GoFlex Drive/Hoved iPhoto Bibliotek/Originals/2010/Former.KUNST M/DSC_0006.JPG
    /Volumes/FreeAgent GoFlex Drive/Hoved iPhoto Bibliotek/Originals/2010/Former.KUNST M/DSC_0008.JPG
    Yes ! Sometimes I go for the forms only ! Forms and lines . .