Welcome to (The Occasional) Photo Tip of the Day! Please also visit my main site jeffwignall.com. Text and photographs Copyright 2016 Jeff Wignall.



“The best way out is always through.”


Saturday, November 24, 2012

To Power Line or Not to Power Line

Normally when I'm out shooting photos I go out of my way to exclude things like power lines from landscape scenes, but in a way that kind of feels like I'm creating a false reality. Lately I've been hanging out with a friend, just taking drives around town and plunking shots with my little Olympus zoom camera (an Olympus UZ 810 with a 36x optical zoom) and I've been trying not to be too critical about what goes into the frame. Really all I want is a record of what the town looks like now, today, without trying to clean up the scenes too much. I shot this frame--power lines and all--as I walked into a beach-side cafe and literally just pointed at what I saw and shot--I made no effort to get rid of the power lines.

Of course, the picky perfectionist in me did walk a few more yards and I took some more shots without the lines, just to show this pretty little beach at twilight sans power lines or cottages. The shot (below) is cropped a bit differently, but the significant difference is just the lack of anything man made (other than the stone jetty). Is one better than the other? I kind of like the shot with the cottages and the power lines--the beach seems more lonely when you know that its inhabited, I think. And those power lines leading into the shot help to exaggerate that feeling. The second shot is quite a bit more blue partly because it was 10 minutes later, but largely because I Photoshopped them differently.
Note: My main site is down temporarily. I've taken my main site down temporarily because I wasn't happy with the hosting service. I'm looking for a new host and when I find one I like I'll create a brand new site. The old one was looking kind of dusty anyway. I'll keep you posted (a blogger's joke, arr arr).

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Great Hurricane Sandy Photos

I live on the Connecticut shore (actually a few miles inland) and so had a front row seat to Hurricane Sandy. Fortunately I was able to keep power throughout and so felt relatively safe--even with 80-90 mph winds smashing the house for hours at a time. It was scary, but quite exciting, too. Tragically, however, the storm ruined a lot of lives and totally destroyed parts of Connecticut, New York and especially New Jersey.

Once the storm was passed I figured that going out to shoot photos would only be gawking at other peoples' misfortune, so I resisted the urge. But I did find a site with some excellent photo coverage--and I highly recommend taking at look at the great photos gathered there. I hope that the folks who were most affected can regain their normal lives as quickly as possible.
(Photo: MICHELLE MCLOUGHLIN/REUTERS)