Think outside the box

water reflection, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I can't really pinpoint when I started seeing things differently during my 365 project. I just know that at some point things would catch my eye that I may have never noticed before. Shadows took on a different meaning. Reflections in water and glass made me stop and ponder the possibilities, Light and dark teased me. You get the drift...

I played it safe at first and spent hours reading blogs, magazines and books. Listened to several different podcasts and watched tutorial shows. All were great resources but I got so overloaded with information I would lock up when trying to take photos. So and so said to never do this...but that other guy said it's alright. Who was right? I got to the point where I had to stop with the information. This is when I really started to experiment. Not just experiment but take all those rules the "experts" say I have to adhere to and find out for myself if they really need to be followed. Never take photos during the middle of the day...sure the light can be harsh but so what. Work with it...own it...make it yours. Discover for yourself why these "rules" were created.

Maybe I can pinpoint when I started seeing things differently. It was when I decided I was only going to learn how to take a good photo when I started being true to my creative self. I've battled this over the last 2 years of being serious about photography. Having just recently decided that I'm going to take and post photos of thing I enjoy and not what I think others may find of interest.

As for the photo...any ideas on what it is? It has a mix of things that tend to attract my eye. Motion, light, reflection and the appearance of something other than what it actually is.

As always...thank you for taking the time to visit my site.

It was a foggy night...

Seaside, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I wish I could say the light reflections were entirely real but I'd be lying. I did a little work in Photoshop to intensify them.

Reflections

reflections, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

View of Monterey from across the bay. Just seemed a bit boring in focus so played with some out of focus bokeh and was pleasantly surprised with the light reflections in the water. This gives a little insight into my photo taking process. Sometimes like to take several shots of the same image and each time play a little with the focus and/or depth of field. Last night I went out at dusk and after the first couple of "normal" shots I decided I wasn't much into it so went out of focus and looking for light reflections. Had much more fun :)

Dancing

dancing, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Still trying to organize all my photos and find myself getting slowed down by thinking of different ways to present my shots. This is 3 separate photos that just seemed to fit together.

I came across a blog post by Jay Goodrich on the Outdoor Photographer blog that really came at a time where I've been struggling to figure out the direction I want to go in. The blog post title says it all...Developing Vision and Style and it is a good read.

So...I'm going to do my best to stop worrying about what other think of my vision and style and work hard on refining my own personal vision and style to suit my creative self.

Floating

floating, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Old Tire

old tire, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Seems like it's been ages since my last blog entry. Just got back from a 2.5 weeks of vacation and just now going through the photos I took. Didn't take as many as I anticipated I'd take but found a few that I like from those I did take.

My first thought when I saw this old tractor tire leaning up against an abandoned building was it would look good in black and white. It does but my wife asked what it would look like in sepia. I liked the sepia version just a bit more so am posting it.

Just a note on the commenting. Thanks everyone who has stopped by and left comments. I really do appreciate hearing from you all. You will notice that I set it to have me approve all comments. I did this because I've unfortunately gained a Chinese spambot and instead of making you all do the word verification, which I find a bit irritating, I'll filter out the spam by hand. Not like I get a ton of comments to filter through so it's not a problem :)