Shutter Sisters

Sunday School: Shifting Focus

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There’s a lot going on right now in my life.  From work projects to a family vacation in our beloved Pacific NW to Cadence starting preschool at the end of the month, among other things.  Busy stuff, hard stuff, good stuff, fun stuff.  I’ve never been all that good at multi-tasking, so I’m having a hard time finding my focus these days.  In fact, stringing words together into a coherent post is kind of beyond my grasp right now.

Which brings me to the point of this week’s Sunday School.  I’ve discovered that when you’re on a shoot, and there’s a lot going on and you just don’t know what image to capture first, you can often get an interesting photo by shifting your camera’s focus onto something that’s not the actual focus of attention and letting everything else blur into the background (or foreground).  Doing a few shots like this may give you a clearer vision of how you want to document what’s going on.  You may even find that what you’re really interested in capturing is not what’s actually the center of everyone else’s attention.

Hmm…Maybe I can apply this little tidbit to my life right now.  Maybe what I need is to focus on something less obvious or even nothing at all for a while.  One of the things I actually like about the photo above is that when I stare at it, I feel like I’m zoning out, but in a really meditative way.   It’s actually quite soothing.

Check out this uniquely focused and meditative photo by Amy Sahba, or this one by jennyhud and this one by Danisoul.  How about you?  Have you shifted focus lately?  Please share your images and/or stories.

Comments

  5. My focus is definitely shifting, from carefree outdoor-intense summer to fall routines and school structure. September is most definitely a transition time.

    My camera focus has still been on my (slowly dying) summer garden:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28442274@N07/2833339547/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28442274@N07/2834179494/

    But my mental focus for sure has been on planning this next season of homeschooling for my 9,7 & 5 year old.

    http://fimby.tougas.net/school_planning_starbucks

  8. Well, I don’t think this picture has much focus at all, but it encapsulates the feeling of the first day back at school. As a teacher and single guardian to a three year old, the beginning of the school year is including a few weeks of imbalance. The focus is shifting from fun, beach, having my camera with me all day…to morning rush, school days, and early baths. I’m sure it will fall into place, it always does. But I concur with the lack of focus!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko2008/2835381227/

  16. thanks for the shout out – i am glad you liked the photo!
    i really enjoyed looking at all the other ‘shifted focus’ shots!

  23. agreed… i’m going to have to try your strategy up above…

    i’ve been feeling kind of unfocused and overwhelmed in my world of photography these days…

    here’s one that kind of embodies the idea of shifting focus…not so much in a blurry/sharp way, but more in a compositional way…

    http://flickr.com/photos/msquid/2840673018/