What comes first, the image or the title? A visual or a concept? For me most of the time it’s the image. Only very rarely do I try to visualize a concept, and when I do, then Ted calls my hand a dead fish 🙂
Today it’s something in between. I had the Sigma 10-20 mounted from yesterday and thought to myself, heck, why change? Sure, it can easily get a little awkward using it in town, because all the conventional strategies don’t work. There is too much around, it changes too fast and completely unpredictable, so forget about wide-angle cityscapes like you would do landscape, grand vista plus blown up foreground. What does work though, is going near. Very near, I mean. 10 inches or so, I mean.
Basically, while in town, I frequently use the ultra-wide for its distorted perspective only. I don’t even pretend to care for any illusion of natural proportions. Ted would probably call it the “comic book perspectives”, and if I had already read “Understanding Comics”, I’d know for sure 🙂
Anyway. The funny thing is, that my first idea, even before I had left my flat (yes, that’s an apartment, guys), was to go near on a car, preferably near the headlights. I had an old car in my mind, but I didn’t see anything suitable for the whole day. I saw this Mini though. Cute eyes, aye?
The Song of the Day is “Them There Eyes”, but not from Billie Holiday, not even from the fantastic Anita O’Day (the fastest version I’ve ever heard!), no, this particular eye calls for Louis Armstrong. I have it on one of the 42 discs in a collection called “The Ultimate Jazz Archive”. It’s not officially available in the US (I believe it is produced by a label in the Netherlands) and Amazon asks an obscene price for it, so if you’re interested, get it elsewhere. These are recordings from the beginnings of Jazz up to 1955, i.e. they are now in the public domain. That’s the reason why I could get the whole set new for 99 Euro or something like that. The recordings are not of a particular good quality, technically I mean, but there are some jewels and this is one of them.
There are 2 comments
Ted Byrne (2007-03-08)
Ditto all that stuff that Michael said. So since I cannot say it better let me talk about something else.
The headlight. I have become intoxicated by the engineering art that is lavished today upon head and tailights. Once it was merely their shapes, now the shapes are functional packages for a wizard's collection of objects inside that seem well beyond anything I can comprehend. It is almost as if they are flaunting their modern abilities to make beautiful mysteries ... tangible.
And this one, framed by a syrup in blue is just sufficiently hidden by the reflections to even deepen the mystery of its innards. Can you imagine showing this to any intelligent person, chosen at random from say, 1964? They would go immediately agape. Its complexity would cause them to mentally stutter.
Someone will do a series on these man made jewels. And it will cause us to go agape. They are details which scream out our success in things scientific, even as so much of the world screams out its inability to hold together the civilization which is essential to create and build upon the gem you have pictured.
How odd the contrast... it is as if you have taken a shot of a glamorous society woman walking through a third world slum. That these things exist simultaneously with... with...
But finishing that sentence would open the Pandora's box of politics. Let us leave it locked.
Again, a provocative capture Andreas, thanks for sharing.
Ted
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mcmurma (2007-03-07)
What a rockin' macro wide. This image has a built in energy, which is one of the interesting features of all good WA macros that I have noticed in the past. The perspective seems to bend the brain, forcing you to somersault your thinking into the netherworld of curious angles as you try to match the hows and whys with the form and content.
You have pulled it off brilliantly here. And you managed to include just enough of your subject to allow it be recognized as a mini, even though I am not that familiar with them.
Thanks for posting,
-Michael
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