That Was a Mistake
Last week’s blog pretty much “took it out of me”. I am struggling to understand a difficult concept, which is dynamic symmetry. It would help if I could find any source that explains how those two words work together. Symmetry is not usually known for its dynamism. One aspect of dynamic symmetry is the use of grids including, but possibly not limited to, the Golden Ratios. I took up that topic last week, in a most basic way. There is room for many more blogs on dynamic symmetry, but that is not going to happen, at least this week.
So now the problem becomes, what will the subject for the blog be this week? I have a variety of starter topics written down. There is a reason they never became blogs. Many of the topics seem to have a single idea that cannot be expanded. But I did find one starter topic that will be quite easy to write about - my mistakes in photography. In fact, I am certain this is a topic I can easily write many blogs about over time. Each week there is new material. So here is a little trip down memory lane.
Let’s start with a recent mistake. I would not say street photography is going all that great in 2022. We are almost a quarter of the way through the year and I have zero candidates for my Album, The Best of 2022. It honestly feels like I have seen everything there is to see in my little space on Broadway. Of course, that can become self-fulfilling prophecy. I was pleased when I found this new wooden statue outside of the Sun Diner. It was placed against a perfect background. It was clear to me that the shot I wanted would be to catch people just on the left side of it. Nothing is ever easy. It was feast or famine relative to subjects moving through. Either there were none or many because people had just crossed the street on a green light and were walking toward me. In my current photography stage, which I suspect is a permanent stage, I am looking for not just good separation of subjects, but rather, perfect separation of subjects. Let me assure you, there are a lot of places in this scene for people to be all tangled up together. I had taken a good number of pictures. I understood how to frame it to get the entire rooster in the frame. On that issue, I think I succeeded every time, until this picture. This was finally the picture I wanted to get, but I missed the framing. I hate, really hate, to cut things off. It is hard for me to get past the loss of part of the rooster. So here we have it - photographer error.
The red cup by the rooster’s foot is a terrible distraction. For that matter, so is the red cup held by the woman.
On this day, there was a second error. I gave up too soon. I knew I had not gotten the picture I wanted. I decided, as I often do, “I’ll just come back and try another day.” On Broadway, there is a great likelihood there will be no second chances. I have had windows fenced off, honky tonks closed, and regulars disappear before I got the shot that I truly wanted. There is no reason for me to believe that rooster will ever be out again.
This establishment closed at the beginning of the year. It is not that I had a particular picture in mind, I just enjoyed shooting this particular place.
I am not exactly sure that I will ever totally know “when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em” as the idiomatic expression goes. I certainly should have left before the angry Greeter accused me of being a stalker. I have to live with that consequence each week as I pass him, camera down to signal that I am not taking pictures of him or his establishment. That experience has made me less inclined to stick around in order to get the perfect shot.
This fellow was downtown every time I went in the fall of 2020. I expected that to last forever. I wanted a picture of him flipping off of buildings. I did get some, but they were technically sophisticated for me to take, so I needed lots of practice. I have never seen him since 2020.
Now for a little color theory.
Blue
Blue is the most common favorite color. It is the least commonly occurring food color. Because the ocean and sky are blue, it conveys a sense of freedom and open space.
Blue is associated with:
Calm, serenity
Responsibility, reliability
Truth
Trust, sincerity, loyalty
True blue.
Out of the blue.
True blue friend.
The flip side:
Sadness, despair
Conservative
Passive
Predictable
Coldness
Feeling blue.
Blue laws.