For all uploads gallery order is set to file name so please put your name first in the file name so your files are grouped together. When you have finished uploading click "Done" to see gallery.
Creative Exercises 2022
May 2022. The challenge for this month is to photograph NOBODY.
Upload link for 14th May Meeting
https://canberraphotoconnect.smugmug.com/upload/84Rw4m/HollyMAY22
Click this link to see Chris Holly's notes about the group response tophotographing NOTHING.
Upload link for 9th April meeting
https://canberraphotoconnect.smugmug.com/upload/sfV4Rb/HollyAPRIL
April 2022. The challenge for this month is to photograph NOTHING.
How would you illustrate the concept of nothingness - emptiness. If this doesn't appeal photograph SOMETHING ELSE.
Ian Marshall has provided the following:
This video could be an inspiration to those who might want to start from nothing in a photography exercise, also in seeing beauty in imperfection.
WARNING !!! this involves bird photography. https://youtu.be/_LILn3WAJTs
Click here to see Chris Holly's musings and responses to the work presented and discussed.
Upload link for meeting on 12th March
https://canberraphotoconnect.smugmug.com/upload/72hgMR/HollyMar22.
Click DONE to see Gallery
Gallery Viewing Link - February
Creative Exercise for February and March 2022 - Embracing the Concept of Wei Wu Wei (action through inaction in photography
We started a journey of exploration of creativity by literally shooting from the hip and have since explored letting go in various ways – not controlling aperture, not controlling framing, not controlling focus or not controlling exposure. We have also experimented with deliberately working outside the normal bounds of depth of field, focus or exposure using proxies for images such as reflections, photographing through media such as glass or using intentional camera movement.
This month we are travelling further along the road of the spontaneous or serendipitous when it comes to making images by contemplating the concept of wei wu wei. The goal is to take a series of images that illustrate or incorporate this notion of action through inaction.
The link below explores some aspect of this concept from Chinese Daoism.
Another eastern concept that we could use to inform our practices, this time from Japanese Buddhism is Wabi sabi.
"This aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature. It is prevalent throughout all forms of Japanese art. It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin), specifically impermanence (無常, mujō), suffering (苦, ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空, kū)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi
A related concept, also from Japanese culture is kintsugi
"As a philosophy, kintsugi is similar to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect.[11][12] Japanese aesthetics values marks of wear from the use of an object. This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken; it can also be understood as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage. The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage, "Waste not, want not".[13] Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of mushin (無心, "no mind"), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
Creative Exercises 2020 - 2021
Creative Exercise (October 2021 - Meeting 11th October)
For this exercise we are to continue developing the themes we have been working on exploring with focus, photographing through various materials and photographing proxies such as shadows and mirrors. In addition we should explore the constraints of exposure. Experiment with capturing images that are "overexposed" or "underexposed" and examine if this too gives you a new way of seeing everyday objects and scenes.
First Creative Exercise (Nov 2020)
Second Creative Exercise (Point and Shoot with Soft Focus) (Jan 2021)
Third Creative Exercise (Focus Study with Still Life) due Feb 13th
The aim of this exercise is to explore the creative use of focus and blur using a still life subject. Any lens and any camera can be used and the images may be made with the camera hand-held or on a tripod. This exercise is similar to the previous exercise in that you are challenged to step outside your comfort zone with focus and blur, but instead of working with serendipity, this time you are exploring with intent. Use the view finder/screen. Move the camera, shift the focus plane and vary other parameters to play and find images that you find satisfying.
Fourth Creative Exercise (Focus Study in Monochrome) due March 13th
In our exercises so far we have been experimenting with understanding our image making processes and surrendering some of our control over these processes. To do this we have been exploring the creative possibilities of out-of-focus areas and blur in images. In this exercise we are also going to remove colour from our images. The goal is to make up to 6 monochrome (black/white/grey) images while still varying or removing in-focus elements.
Fifth Creative Exercise (Ghosts and Shadows) due April 11th
For this exercise we will be continuing to work in mono and continuing to explore the creative use of restricted focal planes and out-of-focus areas. Thus so far we have removed colour and sharp focus from the image making process. Now consider removing the object from the frame as well. Consider how you might tell a story about an object from its reflection, imprint, shadow or other proxy.
Creative Exercise for June 12th
Continue exploring the themes explored so far and see how far you can push your comfort zone. To view gallery click DONE after viewing the upload page.
Creative Exercise for August 14th
Continue with the exercises examining the creative use of blur. Choose your own contstraint.
Play with processing
Creative Exercise for Sept 11th)
Participants should continue to explore the directions they have been pursuing. Also consider pursuing an idea you have seen employed by another participant. Experiment with putting transparent objects between the lens and the subject - privacy screens, tissue paper, cellophane, bubble wrap.
Upload link
SEE TOP OF PAGE FOR MOST RECENT PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
Nine by Nine Exercise
Click links below to upload into the galleries for this exercise
Click on the following links to view the various nine by nine galleries