Storm Coming In

Amy,

The mix of colors is somewhat unusual, yet they work well together.  The indigo in the clouds is tinged with reflected light from the city's sodium vapor lamps, and the parking lot lights give a greenish cast.  There is a single car in the lot, suggesting aloneness, and with the storm coming in, perhaps a bit of uncertainty or dread.  It sets the mood well.

At first, I let the blurriness bother me, and I'm still unsure why the entire scene should be out of focus.  By eliminating detail, the color and general forms become more prominent.  Maybe Monet would have titled it Impression, Storm. 

Ooh, this is gorgeous, Amy.  I hope you got to shelter soon.

 

--Lannie

A-ah. What a weather. Great shot, Amy. Thanks for sharing.

A real sense of immediacy with this one. I'd head for cover if I were you. It feels like we're about to be set upon by an immense swarm of locusts.

Yes, Jack this is right.  It's downright biblical.

 

--Lannie

I'm a little surprised by the lack of comments on this being entirely out of focus - it's the elephant in the room.  Normally, such lack of focus is a detriment and considered a flaw.  Would this shot have worked just as well or better if it were sharp (or in-focus but blurred from camera movement)?  Why did Amy choose something so badly out of focus?  What is added by this?  It would be helpful to me to hear other's take on this.

Mark,Lannie,Ilia and Jack: thanks to you all for checking out this shot. This is pretty much straight out of the camera (iPhone). It was truly eerie looking weather. I didn't know it at the time, but as I drove home that day I kept seeing limbs and debris on the roads- we had had a pretty big storm of which I had been totally unaware, tucked away in my office without windows.

Mark, it is very out of focus. I'm not sure why and it certainly wasn't an artistic decision at the time of exposure. I took it a couple months back and for some reason it kept calling to me as I'd look through my shots. I have always been drawn to soft-focused images. My theory is that this inclination of mine has to do with my being very myopic without correction, and that's the way I am used to seeing the world. That may be totally off base, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)

Amy

Amy,

Thank you for your explanation.  I can empathize with your myopia, as I'm pushing minus five diopters myself.  Bucky Fuller had bad eyesight from birth and could only see broad shapes and shadows until he got glasses, and he attributed his later accomplishments in part to seeing that way in his youth.  So, bad eyesight can be turned around and made into an asset.

It's interesting to know that shooting it out-of-focus was not your intention.  Serendipity happens, and I'm glad you posted this shot.  I'm still curious what others make of the blurriness - why in this case it is a good thing, or not.  I assume people liked it, based on their comments, but it wasn't specifically addressed.

 

!!!!

The brooding color of the storm is well captured, albeit a little disorienting.  I like how the lights burn through, almost beacon-like.  The color noise in the rightmost cloud adds some visual interest, and I'm glad you left it in.

Drew and Jeff: thanks so much for weighing in on this one. 

Amy

The out of focus effect (serendipitous) adds to the strength of the impending storm.  It is the feeling of being off balance when a big storm approaches that you have accidentally demonstrated in this image.  I knew it was an iPhone pic because of all the noise.  Great capture.

In today's auto-focused and photoshopped world, blur is a welcome sign of authenticity and here it's rather a feature (of the atmosphere captured) than a flaw. Also reminds me of pointilistic paintings, where you have to move away (or abstract in a way) from all the dots to understand that all the dots are in fact a flower or a bright reflection of a sailing boat.

I rather like the out-of-focus effect, serendipitous though it might have been.  I have chased plenty of storms, and there is always a sense of things being slightly out of kilter, even slightly mad, when one gets just a bit too close.

 

--Lannie

Lynne, Wolfgang and Lannie: thank you all for sharing your impressions. 

Amy