Red Fall Mixer

My friend, Gordon Bowbrick, has done amazing work developing a

technique to use camera and car movement, along with slow shutter

speed, to produce many wonderful images. His work has piqued my

curiosity to make it irresistible to experiment in his direction. This

is one of three pretty crude attempts to try and interpret the color

and movement of Fall in a way I imagine may be a start in Gordon's

direction. This was done hand-holding the camera and turning it as I

pressed the shutter. This one actually worked pretty much as I'd

hoped, and produced the spinning effect while placing a fairly

recognizable image of a leaf in the center of the swirl. I'm asking

for critiques to find out if others find this interesting, pleasing,

effective or not, and to solicit suggestions and comments about the

style and whether it has photographic and/or artistic merit. Thanks

for taking the time to read this ramble, and to look at the picture. I

do hope you'll comment, and please don't hesitate to tell me to leave

this kind of stuff in Gordon's capable eyes and hands!

Nice abstract.

I find it very interesting and pleasing to look at. I messed with abstract using my software, and my husband paints abstracts. this looks like a painting to me and I would certainly hang it on my wall.

Wonderful color. A fine experiment with an excellent result. Lovely. Warm regards...

I like this too, its dynamic and mysterious, but with vibrant colour. It's also nicely framed.

 

My ONLY concern is that the centre shape has the form of a marijuana leaf - I hope there is no attempt at subliminal advertising here! ;-)

Doug: Thanks for looking. I'm glad you like it, and much appreciate that you told me.

 

Sandy: Wow! You couldn't say anything more complimentary than to say you'd have this pic on your wall. Thank you very much!

 

Joe: You are so encouraging, and you know how important your opinions are to me. I'm glad you like this shot.

 

Shaun: I'm really glad you like the color and framing, because both are as it came out of the camera... well, OK, I did convert it from a raw file, but without emphasis in one way or another. As for the shape of the central leaf, I had the same thought, but there's definitely no intent at subliminal messages here. It happens that Japanese Maple leaves do have a shape that's similar to that other, less acceptable plant!

 

Thanks to all of you. Knowing your thoughts and reactions always helps me see more about what I've done and learn new ways to apprehend and describe aspects I haven't thought of myself. Warm regards, David

Very nice, I like the colour palette and the swirl. You have obviously come to understand that the distortion radiates out exponentially from the centre and have used this to good advantage here with your leaf in the middle.

Shaun's thoughts on botanical origins echoed my first impression.

 

As for your question regarding artistic validity; I'm hoping this technique has merit or I'm way down a dead end road at this point :) I have noticed a few people here at photo.net experimenting with these techniques and it always impresses me how very differently the result turn out with each individuals style and approach.

 

 

Regards Gord

And I'm sure the factor of increasing effect farther from the center is one of a whole bunch of factors you've found through much practice with this. This particular aspect of this style has the ability to create a sense of depth... kind of a funnel effect that I liked in this shot. I'm truly honored that you like this. It doesn't get any better than to get praise from The Master!

 

Obviously, I need to stay away from Japanese Maples. Given the resulting image, one could get accused of smoking one's photographic subject! Warm regards, David

Some people have to do things the hard way.

 

When I first looked at this, for a second, I thought you had just added the swirl effect in Photoshop. I was very impressed when I read that you hand turned your camera. You must have a steady hand to get the recognizable leaf in the centre. I love to see photo/artists experimenting like this. I really like your results. It looks to me like a bird's eye view of leaves caught in a whirlwind. If you had done it Photoshop the swirl would be uniform. One of the things that I like about this is the natural, uncontrolled swirl. It's like the difference between digitally created flames, and real flames. I have no problem with the Photoshop effects, and enjoy using them. I see them as artist's tools. It is nice to know that there are people who try interesting experiments like this. I think it is wonderful, fun and good for the soul. I also love these colours. They happen to be the accent colours in my kitchen. It would look good on my wall too. Regards, Linda

David, this has worked a treat - wonderfully vibrant colours and beautiful effect. You have done a good job. I like the maple leaf. I have never ever seen a marijuana leaf in my whole life so I was able to see this image in all innocence ;)) I look forward to seeing more of what you can come up with.

 

I really appreciate your appreciation! I, too, have no problem with folks creating within Photoshop and I think it's a marvelous tool. But I like to try things on, if you will, and see how they feel in the making. Part of the fun of photography for me is trying new things, and I had a great time doing this one! You've made it all the better by your wonderful compliment that this would look good in your kitchen! Regards, David

I'm happy that this tickled you so! And you know, of course, how very much I value your opinion and encouragement. I'll be interested to see what I come up with, too! ;-)) Regards, David