By Michael Chinnici
PHOTO WORKSHOP ADVENTURES
On a recent trip to France I captured yet another example of “THE ART OF SEEING” technique we teach on our Photo Workshop Adventure Vacations. The Art of Seeing is the ability to observe your environment, look ahead, look around, and hunt for potential photos that might not otherwise be so obvious. While walking across the bridge in Avignon, France, I admired the bridge design and noticed the marker pole ahead of the bridge which is used as a guide for the river cruise boats.
The first photo I took below was to document the location and use for this presentation. As I studied the bridge, I became fixated on the unique shape of the bridge support and its beautiful curved stone work. I thought if I lined myself up with the marker pole I could maybe get an interesting symmetrical image. As if the bridge is pointing to the marker. I took the next image (see below) and was satisfied with the results. But as I studied the location more, I decided to eliminate the marker and focus only on the bridge support. As my son Alexander says, this is the first part of THE ART OF SEEING. How you study the space and how you frame it within your little box. I like the “within your little box” touch.
But let’s not forget about the light. The light on the bridge was perfect, as we planned it. But the light hitting the top of the bridge support was the most inspiring to me. So I focused on this next. Framed and leveled in camera, and captured my favorite image, which I knew had added potential in post-processing.
So in the end I came to photograph a graphic image of the bridge support. The final image is technical and emotional, and a mixture of textures and colors.
Documented photo of the Bridges in Avignon, France (Above).
FujiFilm X-T1 18-55mm @ 18mm f/8 @1/100 sec ISO 800
Next I walked over to the bridge support and lined myself up with the marker and took this photo (Above).
FujiFilm X-T1 18-55mm @ 18mm f/8 @1/13 sec ISO 200
In Black & White (Above).
FujiFilm X-T1 18-55mm @ 18mm f/8 @1/13 sec ISO 200
Next I focused on the bridge support and the light, and took this final photo (Above).
FujiFilm X-T1 18-55mm @ 23mm f/8 @1/9 sec ISO 200
While editing I thought that this might look good using different techniques such as pastel, infrared, etc
Below are a few of the choices I made (Below).
Conclusion: Explore and photograph what you see. Stretch the imagination and dig deep to find hidden treasures. Sometimes objects present themselves as graphic elements or abstracts like the images above. Like them of not, they are good examples of hunting for the unusual and possibly finding that illusive “Great Photo”.
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