Tuesday Photo Challenge – Unusual – Dutch goes the Photo!

Welcome to episode 21 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge! As we jus thad another great week of contributions, I thought it might be time for another curve ball with this week’s theme.

I’d like to challenge you to produce photos with the following theme: Unusual! Capture something or someone, clearly at odds with its environment or looks rather strange all by its lone self. This challenge is very much about observing your environment, and noticing what is out of place, which is a great exercise for the mind.

This also will give you an opportunity to hone your photography skills, because you’ll have the opportunity to capture the reason for why your subject is at odds with the world around it.

As an example of what I’m looking for, here’s a little vista that I uncovered when looking to photograph a beautiful sunset during a trip to Chincoteague…

Chincoteague-Sunset_57A3976_7_8 — *Unusual Vista.*

You can see what I was thinking, as seeing the dumpster and port-a-potty right on this beautiful beach made me chuckle; it gave me something to contrast the beauty of what Nature presented against what humanity contributed.

For those who’d like to participate in this weekly challenge, the rules are the following:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

I have every confidence that each of you will be able to highlight the unusual in the world! This should be a lot of fun to see all the results of your creative endeavors!!

Technical Details

This image was captured with a Canon 5D MkII using an EF 24-105mm f/4 lens. The exposure settings were 1/160 second, at f/8 and 400 ISO.

Author: jansenphoto

A Fresh Perspective Photography is more than just a vehicle for capturing the world around me; it provides me with a palette and a set of brushes, with which I paint not only what I see, but also look to express the emotions that are evoked by the scene in front of me in that moment. Growing up in the Netherlands exposed me to a wide cross-section of visual arts that laid the foundation of my photographic view of all that surrounds me. Early influences were the Dutch Masters of the 17th century, to whom I was introduced by my grandfather during museum explorations; favorites among them are the scenes of quotidian life depicted by Jan Steen and Frans Hals and the vivid landscapes of Jacob van Ruisdael. My classical high school education was supplemented by the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum, where I spent many a lunch hour exploring its great collection. Here I was introduced to surrealism with a particular love for the approach taken by Salvador Dali; Dali also rekindled my appreciation for the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who often showed the folly of us mortals. Universal Connections My approach to any photographic subject is to look for understanding first; in this I look to establish either a connection between the viewer and the subject or capture the connection of the subject with its surroundings. The captured image then aims to portray this connection from a perspective that is part of my personal interpretation. This interpretation is often a form of externalized introspection, which may alternately display the connection of isolated beings and items with their environment or highlight the whimsy of the profound world, in which we find ourselves. The universe is full of connections, many of which are waiting to be discovered; part of my journey as a photographer is to document these connections. Any assignment, be it an event, a product shoot or a portrait session is always approached through communication with the client; this is where the first connection is established. Ideas are exchanged and a collaborative plan of action forms, ultimately resulting in a set of images that aim to exceed the expectations of each client. And, lest we forget, it is important to have fun while practicing the serious business of photography! View all posts by jansenphoto

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