The answer, my friends
You usually get straight photography here, but once in a while I show something different, like these 1/5th- and 1/6th-of-a-second pictures of greenthread flower heads (Thelesperma filifolium) as the wind blew them about. Experimental photographs of this type depend heavily on chance, so I can’t know how they’ll turn out. With that in mind, I take a bunch and see if I like any of the results. These two drew my attention. The first portrait is from the front and the other from the back; the darker one looks sideways and the brighter one looks upward. Whether you’ll look askance at these diversions remains to be seen.
In contrast, I’ve more often used a high shutter speed to stop the motion of something blowing about.
© 2019 Steven Schwartzman
Advertisements
Really liking the one with the blue background.. lovely!
Ms. Liz
June 9, 2019 at 4:56 AM
Thanks for letting me know you enjoy the second experiment. Sky blue is a pretty color.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 5:14 AM
Love the second one most! Lovely colours and so alive!
Leya
June 9, 2019 at 6:01 AM
So Liz and Leya in consecutive comments go for the liveliness of the second picture.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 7:16 PM
We do
Leya
June 10, 2019 at 5:02 AM
I love the effect here
ksbeth
June 9, 2019 at 6:28 AM
So we can say that the subjects moved and in doing so also moved you.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 7:17 PM
Exactly
ksbeth
June 9, 2019 at 8:12 PM
I really like the first. The phrase “the wind blows where it will” comes to mind. The entire image seems suffused with motion.
shoreacres
June 9, 2019 at 6:41 AM
The Surrealists (Suffusionists?) might have liked those strangely misplaced stalks in the first photo. The version of the proverb that’s in my head is “The wind bloweth where it listeth.”
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 7:41 PM
Excellent.
rabirius
June 9, 2019 at 7:14 AM
I’m glad to hear it. I’m always happy to excel.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 7:42 PM
Fantastic, Steve. I’m a sucker for a dark background, in case you haven’t noticed. As a mentor once told me not long ago, embrace the wind.
Michael Scandling
June 9, 2019 at 7:32 AM
“Embrace the wind” is a great way to put it. That’s certainly what I did in these two pictures. Another way to put it is: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 7:44 PM
Every once in a while one needs to try something new in photography. You did a fine job with your long exposures, Steven.
Peter Klopp
June 9, 2019 at 8:10 AM
Yes, let’s hear it for experimentation. You could say the pictures were a long time coming.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 7:45 PM
Nicely executed.
lensandpensbysally
June 9, 2019 at 10:16 AM
Thanks, Sally. I’m a benign sort of executioner.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 8:11 PM
Love the photos, and the song, which will be running around in my head all day 🙂
composerinthegarden
June 9, 2019 at 12:24 PM
You’re the first person to mention the song that the post’s title evoked. I hope the running around has stopped by now.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 8:32 PM
Great song, hard to miss it! We had a windy day here as a new weather front moved in, so the song remained 🙂
composerinthegarden
June 9, 2019 at 10:48 PM
As we left Fort Worth for home yesterday afternoon, we just missed the storm that had begun to blow in. Five or six hours later, a thunderstorm caught up with us after we were safely ensconced back in Austin. The song was as appropriate for us as for you.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2019 at 6:08 AM
Both images are successful experiments. The first reminds me of a Rolodex gone wild.
Steve Gingold
June 9, 2019 at 2:52 PM
Hey, that’s a good one: a Rolodex gone wild. Younger folks will wonder what a Rolodex is.
Steve Schwartzman
June 9, 2019 at 8:41 PM
Dos imágenes maravillosas.
Isabel F. Bernaldo de Quirós
June 9, 2019 at 3:30 PM
I’m not looking askance! These are fun. Thanks for reminding me about this kind of photograph. Time for me to try it again.
Linda Grashoff
June 10, 2019 at 8:36 AM
I appreciate your not looking askance. As you indicated in your post, experimenting from time to time is worth it, especially if you succeed.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2019 at 8:41 AM
I also take photos in wind, but somehow, mine are not so nearly artistic. 🙂
Tina
June 10, 2019 at 2:46 PM
Many of the pictures I took during my photo session didn’t come out well, either. These were probably the two best.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2019 at 2:57 PM
Funny title! It’s good to change it up, isn’t it? I really like the second photo, it is joyous.
bluebrightly
June 11, 2019 at 7:37 PM
Enjoy joy, do you? Good for you.
Your mention of changing it up reminds this former math teacher about calculus, which is about change.
Steve Schwartzman
June 11, 2019 at 7:45 PM
Yup, singing, well more like humming, here. I like them both, and can feel the movement. Nice!
Ellen Jennings
June 11, 2019 at 7:56 PM
Happy humming, and happy movement!
Steve Schwartzman
June 11, 2019 at 9:50 PM
Not askance, but maybe slightly askew.
tanjabrittonwriter
June 12, 2019 at 11:00 PM
Touché!
Steve Schwartzman
June 12, 2019 at 11:08 PM
Oh I really like the second one Steve … very snazzy!
Julie@frogpondfarm
June 15, 2019 at 3:27 AM
Oh, snazzy me. The second picture ended up as the overall favorite.
Steve Schwartzman
June 15, 2019 at 6:54 AM