3. February 2012 by Friedhelm.

You find this type of wooden fence in the country side around Merced, CA. I converted it to black and white to give it a more “historical” feel and I also wanted to emphasise the structure of the wood.

Enjoy and photograph during the week-end!

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6. December 2011 by Friedhelm.

We had a pretty good frost last night in central California. I went out early this morning and shot some flowers in my backyard with my cell phone.

Enjoy and keep on photographing.

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28. November 2011 by Friedhelm.

Go walk though your town(s) and look for graffiti. You will find all kind of different “art” from gangs marking their territory to political statements expressed in graffiti. Have fun!

I photographed this graffiti in former East Germany. I think it speaks for itself!

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3. November 2011 by Friedhelm.

This gentleman is picking up a little girl. The man on the left is watching and so is Mom. I like the dynamic of this image, the relationships between the people and the little girl that is watched and hopefully well cared for.

Keep on photographing!

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6. October 2011 by Friedhelm.

This is the “over the hill” view of a purple sage plant. I used an f2.8 aperture to blur out the background.

Enjoy and be passionate about your photography!

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16. September 2011 by Friedhelm.

In this image I also wanted a shallow depth of field. Therefor I used an aperture setting of f2.8. Watch where your eyes go automatically and how you can create attention to your focal point.

Happy week-end and keep on photographing!

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9. May 2011 by Friedhelm.

According to Wikipedia Conceptional Photography means that and “Idea precedes the actual photograph” (See the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_photography)  I would go a little bit further. Conceptual photography includes feelings, ideas, faith, basically anything that the eye “normally” can’t see. The art is to show these “invisible things” by showing “visible things,”  for instance showing joy by photographing a child that just received a great gift etc. This week I challenge you to create one photograph that expresses “Balance!”

Imagine a client comes up to you and want an image that says “Balance.” How would you proceed? Where would you start and how would you get a great image for your client. During this week I will share with you my “work-flow” and at the end I will hopefully have a great image that I could sell to my client.

So, let’s get started! I like to start from scratch, using my sketchbook, which I hope every serious photographer has. It is a simple notebook where I write down my thought. I sit down and brain storm the word “Balance:”

Fiddler on the Roof, scale, justice, tightrope, edge, constitution, balance of power, balanced diet, rhythm, cane, walk the talk, balanced image, static, office chair, sleep - awake.

That’s it for the first day!

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9. August 2010 by Friedhelm.

This weeks photographic exercises emphasise the usage of light. Take your camera and pick one lens that you use for all the shots. I picked my 85mm portrait lens and a 12mm extender because I wanted to shoot close-ups. The pick a f stop that you use for all your shots. I picked f2.8 because I wanted a very narrow depth of field. The use of a tripod is highly recommended to keep the camera stable. The pick a light source. I picked a small umbrella with a daylight (5600k) light bulb. You may choose any other light source even a flashlight. Then set up and focus your camera and take at least two shots. The only difference between the shots should be the direction of the light. Your subject can be anything in your house or apartment. Here is my first example:

My subject is a knob of my wife’s drawer. As you can clearly see there is a very shallow depth of field and the light is coming from about 1o’clock.

In the second example the light is coming from 11 o’clock giving the image a totally different feeling. All the settings are the same, only the light comes from a different direction.

Happy photographing and don’t forget “photography” means painting with light!

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