Epiphany

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

Nelson Wheel

So, I imagine I will have to explain the title of this post. For those of you who do not speak English, or do not speak it well (which is, sadly, most of us), an epiphany is a sudden insight into something, My epiphany, or sudden insight, came to me as I was looking at a multitude of other photos by other photographers. And I came to realize that I usually stand back from the subjects of my photos. I am an observer, distanced from my subject. I very rarely get right up in your face. But I found that the images that most stayed with me, left an impression, were those that involved the spectator in the scene. I thought f I had something, some object, in the foreground, as if obstructing your view, you would need to lean over or around that object. So I played hooky from work last Friday and drove down to Nelson, Nevada- which is about 1 hour southeast of us- with my wife and my camera.

This was my favorite image of the day. It is an epiphany that I will work on to perfect and to use as one might use any other tool in their camera bag.

There is a color version , if you care to view and compare.

Or not!

33 thoughts on “Epiphany”

  3. Wonderful shot Emilio an particularly love the balance between the wheel, the Champlin sign and the window in between. Have fun with your feelings, everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose.

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    1. Thank you. This is a place not to far from my home that keeps evolving as the owners find new vehicles or structures that they can move to their site.

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  6. It’s funny that both you and Joe have commented on the depth of field. Since it was shot at f/3.6, the background is slightly out of focus. I would have preferred for it to be even more out of focus, I think. But I am definitely happy with the way it turned out.

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    1. I don’t know what focal length you used but by indicating an aperture of f/3.6 I would say you used a pretty wide focal length i.e. 18-24mm. The wider the lens the more difficult it is to throw the background out of focus even at wide open apertures. With my post tomorrow afternoon I went for the opposite effect 😊

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  7. I have to agree with Joe. I don’t normally care for b&w but it really is my favourite in this case.

    I too am trying to pull in closer to the scene I’m trying to capture but I still don’t think I’m ‘aggressive’ enough. I like the way you composed this photo.

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    1. I usually shoot inanimate objects so it’s much easier to get aggressive with them. I’m not giving up long shots. Not by a long shot! 😉 But I think having some object in the foreground really helps. Probably not always. But now I have a different perspective to play with.

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        1. A smaller aperture will usually do the trick Joanne (by smaller I mean a higher f/number i.e. f/8 through 11). On your X30 you would have to be in “A” on the top mode dial and you would use the ring behind the zoom ring to change your f/number). It is possible to over or under expose your images in this mode so be careful but experiment.

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  8. Good picture.. it looks like the person in the window maybe watching for something, so the car in the FG may be a taxi-cab or spouse? That’s what I got out of it, beside the fact that the style looks 1950s maybe?

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    1. Definitely 1950’s. I was going for a film noir type of effect. Glad you like it. I’m enjoying your interpretations of my photos, too.

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  10. I love the detail in the wheel as well as your choice of DOF so the reflection of the clouds in the window is crystal clear Emilio 🙂 Superb work.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. The technique is still a work in progress for me. I didn’t know if I wanted everything in focus or not but this one seemed to work out best for me.

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