635 - Out Of Time

We live in a time of big shopping centers. Malls, some central streets, they collect all the traffic, and many of the small shops near our living quarters had to close. This is in a way regrettable, but if everybody who regrets it now, had gone out in the past to actually shop there, they wouldn't have had to close in the first place. That's how we feel: we cherish the sentiment for a past that we would not want to live in.

"Uhren" is German and means "clocks" as well as "watches". The Song of the Day is "Out Of Time" from the 1966 Rolling Stones album "Aftermath". I've linked to the UK version of the album, because that's what I own. Hear the song on YouTube.

633 - Undecided

Cameras have a stunning potential to show us a world beyond our experience, yet we are so used to this fact, that it is interesting news to many people, when you tell and show them, that some of what they see on images can't be seen through human eyes. Much of Susan Sontag's collection of essays "On Photography" circles around this very topic of convergence between our perceived reality and the world of images.

One of the main culprits is the shallow depth of field that photographers can use to isolate their subject. The result can be everything from looking perfectly real, via deeply surreal, to completely abstract.

Shallow DOF is an effect that I absolutely enjoy using. Probably I should take my time and label all those images on the blog. I suspect they will amount to something between 50 and 100 by now.

I have long wondered about how to title this Image of the Day. For me it is somewhere in that surreal middle ground. The point of view is so low, that there is some aspect of being caught inside. I am not sure if this is positive or negative. Then there is the vaguely recognizable row of windows, quickly fading into a nondescript mist. There is a kind of gray warmth outside, but it does not give me a cozy feeling. Uncertainty? I don' know. I am undecided.

The Song of the Day is the old Jazz standard "Undecided", and the only version I have is on the 1993 Natalie Cole album "Take a Look". Hear another version by a Czech Jazz band on YouTube. Not bad. Not at all bad :)

627 - Mon Vieux Joseph

As I said, this was a very short intermezzo in Carinthia. I took the train down on Monday afternoon, and today, Wednesday, I returned to Vienna early in the morning.

Of course I was swimming, albeit much too short. On my way to the lake, I took the first image, two blades of spelt (as I found out on Wikipedia), using the somewhat inelegant but extremely effective "machine gun" approach. Of the 11 surviving images, this was the one that I liked most. Talk about industrial image making :)

Technically I have converted the image in Capture NX, because I liked the original approach of the camera and would have had a hard time to mimic colors and contrast in Adobe Camera RAW. The only thing that I did in CS3 was sharpening.

The other two images are from the break between the two parts of the concert. The Clemencic Consort gave Carmina Burana, and it was just as great as I had expected. See this video for a sample. In the Gothic church of Maria Saal we had the slightly nicer environment though :)

I am quite sure that the Saint on the glass window holding the infant Christ is Joseph, thus the Song of the Day is "Joseph" from Georges Moustaki's best known 1969 (what a year!!!) album "Le Meteque". Hear it on YouTube.

625 - Who Cares?

So I wanted to talk about creativity, right? It was all induced by a post on Paul Lester's blog and the discussion that resulted from it. Please go there for the whole thing, but basically I've argued that creativity is not the thing to care about, productivity is.

Creativity is the outside view of a productive artist, answering to the inputs from a source of inspiration, busily producing art.

What does that mean? It means that creativity is something to be observed by non-creative people. It is not a category of any importance to the artist. Creativity is an indirect by-product. If you constantly produce, and if your productivity answers to the inputs of your source of inspiration, then you can't be other than creative.

Creativity was one point in Paul's post, artistic growth was the other, but it is again the same thing. Constantly produce, and you can't help but grow. It's automatic. It's one of the few things in the world that are free and that we don't have to worry about. Being thankful, yes, worrying, no.

Let's get back to the definition of terms. What's a "source of inspiration" anyway? Well, whatever inspires you. I mean it in the widest sense. For me it's the visual world. My surroundings. I am a visual type of person. I see, capture, work on that, and the outcome may be either art or a failed attempt, but in the beginning there is always some visual input.

Other artists may be different. Some may be inspired by music, literature, other art, but for me it's normally raw sensory input. Well, that again can be on a very abstract level, like some lines or angles, an isolated color or some other details that most people wouldn't see. With enough practice you become pretty good at seeing.

It is also not so that I blindly respond to every input at any time, no, I may use a filter. One such filter is the choice of lens. Normally I leave home with one particular lens mounted, and most of the time I don't change it during the day. The lens works as a filter, it causes me to look for a certain category of things.

Another filter, one that was effective when I made the first two photos, those of a street scene in Vienna, another such filter is a concept. Here it was the concept of consciously trying to capture "along-the-street" and "diagonally-across-the-street" views. It's something that I have been on the lookout for during most of the last week. The idea is to slow down on the streets, stop in places where there are no "sights", look for the "in-between" things, denying the view that there are "sights" scattered around with nothing in between. See "Oasis in the City" on Marti Jeffers' blog "My View" for a discussion on "in-between-ness".

I don't know if these two images are art and, honestly, I don't care. This "project" if you will is an attempt to see my own city with fresh eyes. I concentrate on something that I have not done in a while, and looking at the images that result, Saturday's "624 - It's OK To Listen To The Gray Voice", Sunday's street scenes that you see here and so many others that I don't show because they either had some flaws or I simply did not have the time to work on them, looking at these images I am amazed to discover views that I must have seen before, but can not remember. All that is fresh and exciting.

What's so exciting about two street images that look almost the same, you may ask. Well, it's that they are adequate solutions to two very different problems. In fact, that's something important. The subject is not what an image is about. Yes, these two images have mostly the same subject, a crossing of Neubaugasse and Neustiftgasse in Vienna's 7^th district, but that's not the what they are about. The first image is about an urban canyon, a meandering street, a fan-like roof line in the background, and about some details that you unfortunately can't see at this resolution, even when you click on the image. You would need a big print for that.

The second image is not about a canyon. You know now that it was taken at roughly the same place, but from the image you can deduce the other side of the street only by looking at the shadows. They hint at buildings, but there is no way to tell what kind of buildings that are. The curving, diagonal movement of the street is important here, but it is broken up by verticals. I have included the posts in the foreground to take up the dominant vertical movement.

You see, these are images with roughly the same subject, but they are about completely different things. In both cases I have responded to my source of inspiration. I did it both spontaneously and with a plan in mind. The plan allowed me to restrict my attention to those aspects that I wanted to trigger my spontaneity.

Whatever your source of inspiration is, if you constantly observe it, you will find a stream of ever changing input, sometimes more, sometimes less changing, but if your work is based on that, your productivity will always be creative and you will continue to grow. The only way to avoid it, is to stop listening to your input.

That's what happens when artists "find their style". Nonsense! That's a euphemism and it should read "find something that sells and that they stick to for the rest of their now non-creative lives".

Style is another thing that an artist must not worry about. Mind, I don't say "need not", I say "must not". It's another thing that should be left to be perceived by others from the outside. It's not your concern. An observable style will result from busy productive work, it's also automatic, it's also free.

Basically these are two sides of a coin. When you are productive and listen to input, then you will be perceived as creative, because you respond to an ever changing world, and thus your art is ever changing as well. On the other hand, the experience that you gain by busily producing, will allow you to make shortcuts, to re-apply partial solutions that you have found to be appropriate for certain partial problems. An attentive viewer will recognize that, will see you invariably take a certain direction at a certain crossing, probably most of the time take the other at another crossing. That's really what style is all about and why it is so absurd to try to appropriate someone else's style:

From its very nature style is a verb. It is a way of doing, of acting, that is directed by personal and artistic experience. Other experiences, other style. No way to copy that, and why should you want to? You don't have other people's experiences, you have your own, and they are worth to be used.

The Image of the Day is simply funny. A battered sign across, telling van drivers to mind the height of the arch. Obviously nobody cared.

The Song of the Day is the Gershwin tune "Who Cares". Ella or Anita? That's a little bit like Beatles or Stones, huhh?? I prefer Anita on her 1955 album "This Is Anita". Any live recording by Ella could change that though. Give me a hint if you know of a good one.

608 - On The Street Where You Live

Oh my, for two weeks I had nothing but fisheye images. It was time for a change, and what a change it is. You can't imagine how incredibly relaxing it is, to be back to the Sigma 70/2.8. I took this image while sitting outside of a bar, drinking a good glass of "Starobrno", a really fantastic Czech beer - and I was feeling fine :)

The Song of the Day is "On The Street Where You Live" from "My Fair Lady", interpreted by Mel Tormé on "Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley". See him perform live many years later on YouTube.

592 - My Eye On You

I hope you don't mind a big eye looking at you :)

This is another found image, this time today in the afternoon, at my way from work. I began early today, at 6:30 am and left work only at 6:00 pm, but thanks to daylight saving time (Oh how I love this!! Why can't we have it all year?), I was still able to get some sunny images.

Sun or not, I finally ended up with this: an oval window in a door, some reflections and some warmly lit stucco inside. Like so many times over the last six months I used my Sigma 70/2.8. What a great lens for walking around and capturing details!

The Song of the Day is "My Eye On You" from the 1983 Bette Midler album "No Frills".

586 - SoFoBoMo - Editing Till Daybreak

This is an image that I made Wednesday morning. I had risen early to write Tuesday's entry, and this is what it looked like, out of my kitchen window. Well, sort of. I had seen the strong color contrast between the artificially lit window frames and the blue outside. I took some images, and when I felt satisfied, I went to the computer and found ... the memory card already in the card reader. I had taken the images into the internal buffer, and when I turned the camera off, they were gone. Oh well, there's a first time for everything, I guess :)

Of course, when I returned to the kitchen, the light was gone. What you see here is a careful and thorough reconstruction of what it would have looked like when taken earlier. No problem, just a little work with color temperature, color relations and tonal values. Why easy when you can have it the hard way?

SoFoBoMo progresses. Not in wild strides, but it does. Still, I'll have to speed up now. The problem is, while some images come easy, some really need attention. This one, for instance, took me three iterations until I was satisfied with the distribution of light. Now I feel it's perfectly balanced, but that's after more than an hour of work.

Another problem is the forest light. I want a wide variety of colors, but there must still be a green cast. I need to control contrasts and I want nice vivid saturation, but without being gaudy. See the problem? Here we have the result of another two hours. And still I have no idea of how to make a book :)

The Song of the Day is "Daybreak" from Lisa Ekdahl's 2002 album "Heaven Earth & Beyond". No sound samples from Amazon, but at least a commercial with part of the song on YouTube. A nice song and quite fitting, as I see day break while I write these very words.

572 - As I Went Out One Morning

As I went out Wednesday morning, I began shooting when I walked down the stairs. I shot plenty more images that day, mostly documentary, and this is what stuck with me.

"As I Went Out One Morning", the Song of the Day, is from Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding", one of Bob's masterpieces, even when I wasn't generally received as such at the time.

565 - Miss By One

It's late Friday evening, these are the images for Wednesday. Let's see how far we get tonight. This first image is of a view that I've seen thousands of times in 24 years. Morning light falling through my living room window in Vienna. It's a tad on the yellow side, isn't it? Uuhh ... yes. This is the JPEG from the camera, and I had left it set to "cloudy" white balance from the day before. You know, normally I'd have corrected the white point, brought in a tad of color variation, increased contrast, etc, and I shortly tried, but ... it completely ruins the shot. Some images are not meant to be "optimized".

Wednesday was traveling day, and when I am packed with my big camera backpack and an extra bag, I normally use public transport and most of the time that means the Underground. Not so this day. I decided to ride by tramway for some stations, and then go the rest of the way to work. When I left the tramway in Josefstädter Straße, the sun was shortly gone. I used the light for some images of tulips and came up with this. Did you know that all tulips originate from Kazakhstan?

Later on, at work, I used the opportunity for another portrait of Erich. He was very concentrated and left me the time to focus the 50/1.2. Never be sloppy with this lens, because, when using the focus indicator LED, it is crucial to set the focus point to exactly where you want it. At f1.2 the plane of sharpness is so thin that it becomes apparent that it is no plane at all. It is curved, just like the lens. Forget any focus-and-recompose technique, it won't work. You'll never get sharp images.

The last one, the Image of the Day, was taken shortly after the tulips. The sun had come back and I used a polarizer to get rid of the reflections on the peeling paint.

Now, why is this a "miss by one", you ask? Well, the thermometer shows 18 degrees Celsius, which is quite nice for 8am, but I had hoped for 17. Missing it by one made me reconsider the title. You know, I really had to have "17 Again" from the 1999 Eurythmics reunion album "Peace" as Song of the Day one time :)

I absolutely adore Annie Lennox. She has such a wonderfully powerful voice and the end of this song is ... special. If I remember well, they have performed the song to an overwhelming reception in the morning of New Year's Day 2000 at a concert in London's Trafalgar Square. I really would have given a lot to not only see it on TV :)

There is a remixed version of the album, that's what you currently get if you don't care, and nobody seems to like it. I can't tell, I have the original, but you are warned. See the video on YouTube.

538 - This House Is Empty Now

It's funny. Sometimes I come home and I am absolutely sure that I have no usable image. Well, turned out I had two. This is from Thursday, and both images were shot with the Nikon 18-200 VR.

The Song of the Day is "This House Is Empty Now" from the Anne Sofie von Otter / Elvis Costello collaboration "For the Stars". Video-wise I don't have this version, but I have found one of Costello's collaboration with Burt Bacharach. See it on YouTube.

527 - Meet Me In The Dark

The snow had finally gone away by today's late afternoon, though it was a bleak and dreary day, and I had not gone out photographing at all. And then, in the evening it began to ... snow? Not exactly what I call an easter weekend :)

In the evening, when I really should have been desperate for an image, this one just happened. I went up the stairs to the first floor, when I saw the light glowing through the window of glass bricks, painting a pattern of light and shadow on the landing. This is a 10s exposure from the tripod. Nikon 18-200 VR at 44mm and f8.

"Meet Me In The Dark" is maybe the most beautiful song on Melissa Etheridge's 2004 album "Lucky". It's unbelievable that until two years ago this wonderful singer has completely escaped my radar. Well, not so any more. See the video on YouTube.

499 - The World Outside My Window

Today was the warmest 24^th of February in recorded Austrian history, a clear day for a difference, and what did I? I sat at the computer, edited yesterday's images and talked to robots about my blog :)

Anyway, this is a view out of my window. Sort of.

The Song of the Day is "World Outside Your Window" from Tanita Tikaram's most successful first album "Ancient Heart". See the video on YouTube.

312 - Back to the Sunny Side

It's 6:30 in the morning, not much time to write now. After this I'll still be a day behind. I haven't even had a look at yesterday's images yet. It's a little tight at times.

OK, here we are, this is for Tuesday, it was late in the afternoon and I was in Kaiserstraße, very near home, using the Nikon 18-200 at 200mm. I use this lens a little more often now. It's my longest telephoto lens at the moment, and sometimes I long for details or, as here, compression.

As regards the Song of the Day, it's "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" again. We had this once by Cyndi Lauper (and that was a fantastic version), but now we are back to real Jazz: Italian born singer Roberta Gambarini, now living in NYC I believe, has an absolutely divine version on her debut album "Easy To Love". The second album has been out some time now and I just ordered it :)

285 - Oh So Many Windows

I felt better today. Not completely well, but better. Good enough for a trip to the city of Speyer, a short while south of Worms, and another city with a big and famous cathedral. This is not the cathedral though, it's one of the streets leading up to it, a street that curves a little. I took the image with the Nikon 18-200 VR.

I found nothing applicable for the Song of the Day, so Bill suggested "Inside - Looking Out" on The Animals' "Retrospective" album, whereas Rick Orrell voted for Melissa Etheridge's "Come To My Window" from her 1993 album "Yes I Am". Thanks Bill, thanks Rick.

Btw: If you haven't been to Bill Birch's "Augmented Reality" yet, why not look today? Or maybe Rick Orrell's Smugmug site?

254 - Waiting For A Train

Not a great day, photographically. I took some shots of insects in the garden, and later in the afternoon I tried some landscape shots. The light was not right, I was already in a hurry and all that kept my inspiration low. I had already decided for a very tight crop on a grasshopper.

Then, in Velden, waiting for the train, I saw the wall of the station building (I guess from the 1950s), the window and the cart. I see them every week, I have even taken some photographs, but this time I decided to use them.

I'm glad I did. Velden is one of the glamorous tourist centers on Wörther See, and more so since the new luxurious hotel in Velden's castle with its apartment complex has opened. But of course the guests who stay there don't come by train, and so Velden's train station radiates the sleepiness of the province, the charm of the 1950s, static and slow.

And so is this image. I have dabbled in RGB again, taken the blue channel and overlaid it in "Soft Light" blending mode for contrast with a mask on the window and the cart, did some color adjustments and in general brought detail from the highlights into the mid-tones. The whole method is pretty old-fashioned, just as the whole subject.

The Song of the Day, "Waiting For A Train" has been sung by many people in the country scene. We go for a Southern touch here and therefore it's again the venerable Dr. John on his 1983 album "The Brightest Smile in Town". He has extended the traditional lyrics a bit (or he sings the original?), so what you hear in the sound sample, you won't find in the lyrics that I've linked to, but it's still that song.

247 - Cobweb Summer

Around noon I had to fetch something from the basement, and turning to the window facing east-south-east, I saw the cobwebs behind the window illuminated, interspersed with fallen rose petals. I knew I didn't have much time, ran, fetched the camera, found the contrast impossible to cope with, ran again, fetched the tripod and, well, here we are with another HDR image from seven bracketed exposures.

The approach was different this time. I used two different exposures as layers and an HDR image tone-mapped with Photomatix as base, duplicated some layers and threw in some blending modes and a mask.

Basically, the idea was to map with Photomatix to an extremely flat image with not much light smoothing, an image that would hold maximum detail everywhere, and then use the other layers to modulate this detail base in different blending modes and opacities. There are endless possibilities and the result is somewhat random. Effectively I used what finally looked good.

I had not known Lambchop until last fall when I saw them in Vienna's "Konzerthaus". Well, I guess you have arrived at respectability once you play there :)

The Song of the Day, "The New Cobweb Summer" is from their 2002 album "Is A Woman".