I had a teacher in college (Mr. Clark) that was a great teacher. He had some interesting outlooks on life, however. One of his favorite things to say was “It takes a fool to believe that there’s only one way to spell a word.” Of course, he liked this saying because his spelling was a little…well…creative…and his typing was even worse. But, as someone who learned to read phonetically, his belief rang true for me. In fact, I think many words are misspelled, really, what’s the deal with silent letters? Take, “psychology”, why isn’t it spelled “sikology”. Now, that would make sense…
I was also recently reminded about rules in photography. We are taught that photographs need to be well balanced, sharp, properly exposed, etc. Is that really the case? Sure, sometimes, when that’s what you’re looking for. There are just as many times where adhering to those principles is just plain boring.
Tonight, I was at a meeting. It’s a large room, minimal lighting. I had my G10 with me, so the fastest I could get the lens was f/2.8. Even wide open I was looking at a 1/2 second. I could have pushed the film speed from 100 to 400, or even 800. That would take me to a 1/8 or an 1/16 of a second. Still, perty slow. Then I remembered…the rules…maybe it’s time to break the rules…
How’s this for an interesting progression of images…
Here is the room
Now, let’s have some fun…
Left-right motion
Spining motion
Shaking Camera
After the meeting, I was still kind of excited about this. So, I broke a few more rules on my drive home…In this picture, I was shooting at 1/4 second, wide open, top down, holding the camera as high as I could. This is a picture of a car dealership on Harbor Blvd in Costa Mesa. I was going about 40 MPH. It looks like the strip in Las Vegas. You can’t tell me we’re not having fun now…
Car Dealership - Drive by
Here’s another unexpected result. This is the Trinity Christian Center in Costa Mesa as viewed from the freeway. Again, hand out the top of my car like a snorkel, taking a picture without looking. It came out looking like a carousel, or a UFO…not a building.
Trinity Christian Center - Drive By
One final image. This, if you can believe it, is a Carl’s Junior Restaurant. Again, taken from my car while driving.
Carls' Jr - Drive by
So, maybe there is something to the “rules” we’re supposed to follow, maybe there isn’t. I’m going to start evaluating these rules society gives us. I may keep some, I may throw others out, I may make some of my own. I see more fun in my future…