Tag: serendipity

Thursday Throwback – 4

Photography often involves identifying interesting subjects beyond the obvious beauty. A moment in a Chester, CT, fairground bathroom, with striking lines and light.

A lot of photography is about recognizing what might make an interesting image, which is not always the most obvious, beautiful subject matter. Sometimes it’s seeing some lines, a splash of light that works in a certain manner, or just that situation where you think you might be able to elevate what you’re seeing a little bit by framing it just right. There really are a lot of different elements that can make a photo one that our eyes want to come back to.

Today’s image came from a rather interesting moment when I walked into the bathroom at the Chester, Connecticut, fairground, bright and early, before most agility competitors had arrived. Something just struck me…

The Bathroom

Granted, fairground bathrooms are not the prettiest architecture or interior scenery that make us want to pick up our camera and photograph it to our heart’s desire. When I turned my head and noticed the lines and the light striking the side of the barrel and the floor, it caught something in my mind to cause me to go get my tripod and camera to capture this scene. I did get some odd looks when someone else walked into the bathroom, as photographing in a bathroom is not what one might expect (it was rather early).

This wound up making a fantastic print, which hangs in our bathroom at home, so I get to see it pretty frequently and still havent’ tired of it yet.

A Thursday Throwback – 3

Spontaneous moments in photography occur when we look beyond the obvious; sometimes they are right at our feet!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 13 years since my trip to Chincoteague with John Slonina Photography; I’ve been on a number of trips with John, including this year’s outing to Zion, Bryce Canyon and Valley of Fire, and have enjoyed everyone one of them. John’s knowledge of the areas where he does tours is in-depth and I really appreciate the way he adapts to the needs of each individual participant.

Today’s throwback came about from one of those moments where the landscape in front of me was not the most interesting part…

Still Waters

After photographing the famous ponies of Chincoteague, we explored a couple of areas to see what would work best for some sunset photo opportunities. As we did I looked down at the pond where we were standing and noticed some interesting patterns and colors.

This is one of those serendipitous captures that still looks good after a decade plus!

What lies at our feet

The Pond

BY AMY LOWELL

Cold, wet leaves
Floating on moss-coloured water
And the croaking of frogs—
Cracked bell-notes in the twilight.
—-

During those moments when we look for the grand landscape to capture, it may lie at our feet.
During those moments when we look for the grand landscape to capture, it may lie at our feet.

—-

Photography is a funny thing: All too often, we wander around with our fancy cameras with this preconceived notion of what great landscape we are going to capture, only to come up wanting.

This image was captured at such a time during a photo trip to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

Our group was looking for the  perfect spot to do some sunset photography; most were looking for landscape features that would complement the light of the sun, as it descended toward the horizon.

As I trailed the group, I took a moment to look at the pond in front of me.  A bit of experimentation with the composition of what I saw resulted in ‘Pondscape’.

Oh, and that sunset never panned out for us.