Phoneography and Non-SRL Digital Devices Photo Challenge: Black and White (and the Afternoon Light)

16 February 2015

Lens:

Part One: Afternoon Light in the Parking Garage

1. Afternoon Light in Parking Garage; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved/Lens and Pens by Sally

2. Afternoon Light in Parking Garage; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved/Lens and Pens by Sally

II. Through the Looking Glass

3. Through the Looking Glass; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved/Lens and Pens by Sally

4. Through the Looking Glass; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved/Lens and Pens by Sally

Let me know which you prefer and why. Click each image to enlarge.

Pens:

I fancy myself a skywatcher: mostly clouds and light. Of the two light is my most constant muse. I follow it as though it’s food for my soul. Sunset and twilight are deliciously enticing. But I found myself this week courting early afternoon beams.

The rays of sun flowed into the day with such vengeance that I was forced to find its landing. The dark became exaggerated with contrasts and tones widely visible inside and out. Silence gave me the chance to focus on my pledge: find a place to see, really see, the profusion that I suspected.

American photographer Robert Frank said it with such heart that it’s hard to top these sentiments.

“I’m always looking outside, trying to look inside. Trying to say something that’s true. But maybe nothing is really true. But what’s out there. And what’s out there is always changing.” ~~  from Robert Frank, Moving Out (1994).

Photography gives us the opportunity to fulfill more than the creative act. It allows us to discover the gifts of the everyday. To me some of that learning comes in watching the street: the day-to-day that keeps replicating and yet is evergreen.

I am continually fascinated by street life, passing the same corner or restaurant that is the same and yet different. So much in our pathway is overlooked, is vanished by distractions or concentration on this or that. So as an epiphany rises to seize my attention, I am embraced by a world that seems new. It’s a staggering sensation.

In the Lens section is such an experience. The walk through the parking garage is something that I do occasionally, just for the way the light infuses the space. It’s located on the edge of the main action of my small town’s university campus and Main Street.

While time can conceal an expanse of radiance, this afternoon offered me space to gaze upon what was hidden to so many, at least in this particular spot. Windows lined the lower floor where I wondered to freeze the incoming light.

Part One and Two each have two images that were taken with just slightly different angles. I found each held me captive by the brilliance of the afternoon light. Each pays tribute to the light that continuously casts a spell upon me.

Tip of the Week:

…street photography does not necessarily mean photographing in the streets. For one thing, the street is not always where the heart of the culture lies. More than anything else, I think street photography suggest a photographer’s particular stance or attitude towards the world: a kind of open-ended exploration with an emphasis on discovery, a sense of wandering that’s driven by curiosity rather than an idea or goal.” Alex Webb, photographer and author on many books about photography

“Istanbul,” Alex Webb

Read more about Webb’s street photography here. His work focuses on a particular vision of multiple cultures through street life.

View other entries for this week’s challenge:

http://luciledegodoy.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-6/

http://eclecticoddsnsods.com/2015/02/16/writing-201-water/

https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-black-and-white-airport-au-natural/

https://chasinglifeandfindingdreams.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/memories-of-mom/

https://theyyouandme.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/walls/

https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-how-black-and-white-saves-the-day/

https://decocraftsdigicrafts.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-black-and-white-at-ahuriri/

https://angelinem.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-challenge-in-black-and-whitea-tray-of-miracles/

https://nelkumi.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/i/

https://artisticlicenseoflife.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge-black-white/

https://mamamaitri.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge/

http://helpalongthepath.com/2015/02/16/snow-day-phoneography-and-non-slr-digital-devices-photo-challenge/

http://nwframeofmind.com/2015/02/16/iphoneography-monday-a-black-and-white-dragon/

https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/phoneography-and-non-srl-digital-devices-photo-challenge-black-and-white/

https://amaltaas.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/phoneography-and-non-srl-digital-devices-photo-challenge-black-and-white/

https://claresphotospace.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/mannequin-mondays/

https://allkindsaeverything.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/phoneography-and-non-slr-challenge-black-and-white-7/

https://manylikeit.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/black-white-encroaching-mist/

Note:

As always I welcome comments about this post or any part of my blog.

If you’d like to join the Photo Challenge, please click here for details. If you have any questions, please contact me. Below is a reminder of the monthly schedule with themes for upcoming Photo Challenges:

1st Monday: Nature.

2nd Monday: Macro.

3rd Monday: Black and White.

4th Monday Challenger’s Choice (Pick One: Abstraction, Animals, Architecture, Food Photography, Night Photography, Objects, Portraiture, Still Life, Street Photography, and Travel).

5th Monday: Editing and Processing with Various Apps Using Themes from the Fourth Week.