Steven

Lunch Break

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Ornamental Grass © Steven Willard

I remember sitting in my car eating a sandwich, watching the effect of the passing clouds on this clump of ornamental grass. With every cloud the light would change; with every slight adjustment of my head, the composition changed.

When my sandwich was gone I picked up the camera from the seat beside me and stepped out of the car, made perhaps a dozen exposures, then time to go. Lunch break was over, time to get back to work.

Olympus OMD EM-1 with 40-150mm f2.8 zoom, Processed in Snapseed.

I invite you visit my blog http://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com

Inversion Therapy

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Inverted, © Steven Willard

We have a tendency to look at things from the bottom up. Generally we scan buildings from the ground up, and landscapes from near to far, which usually means bottom to top. Of course there are exceptions; dramatic images of clouds or mountains for instance, or portraits where we usually are drawn to the eyes first regardless of where the eyes are in the frame.

As an exercise, I’ve been trying to make photographs that turn things upside down, that draw the eyes first to the top of the frame, then work their way to the bottom. It produces a tension we aren’t used to in seeing in images. Finding these images is not as easy as it sounds, and I offer it as a challenge.

These bare branches hanging down from a clump of pine needles reminded me of roots working their way deeper and deeper into the earth; the textured wall in the background serving the visual equivalent of earth. While this image was photographed as presented, it works almost as well when inverted. Try looking at it that way.

Olympus OMD EM5 file processed in Snapseed and Stackables on my iPad Air.

Viewpoint

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

A different point of view

I don’t know the name of the plant featured here (can anybody offer offer a name?), but usually I see them from below the leaves. Today, however, I was searching a bit of wetlands from a pedestrian bridge using my longest lens-the 40-150mm f2.8 zoom with a 1.4 teleconverter. This yielded a focal length of 210mm on micro four thirds or 420mm on full frame. I’m happy with the results hand held, and like the new view of the subject.

Olympus OMD EM-1 WITH OLYMPUS 40-150 F2.8 zoo + MC 1.4 Processed in Snapseed.

Please visit my blog https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com to view more of my images.

What do you see when you close your eyes?

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Of Hieronymous Bosch © Steven Willard

The first thing I thought of on converting this image to black and white was the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch and the writhing, tortured figures in his paintings of Hell. But that’s just me.

Pentax K5IIs with legacy 50mm f1.4 processed in Snapseed.

The Look of LF*

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

The look of large format

I was hoping to emulate the look of a large format negative contact printed on platinum paper.

*My apologies to Burt Bacharach and Hal David 🙂

Pentax K5IIs with FA 50mm f1.4 (75mm eq), processed in in Snapseed and PhotoCopier.

Please visit my blog here: https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com.

An end to house and tree

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Dead tree, Ruined house © Steven Willard

The tree just gave up and died, the house is for sale and will likely be torn down; it sits an a beautiful piece of land between Woodbury and Washington, Connecticut. The tree will be removed to make way for a much grander house. I’m not sure which affects me more.

I wrote about the house on my personal blog here https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com.

Olympus OMD-EM1 with 12-40mm f2.8 zoom, processed in Snapseed.

Post 4th of July

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

In honor of 4th of July

For me the 4th of July used to be a much more colorful and joyous day. I miss those times when things weren’t so dark, when our country was more hopeful.

Please visit my blog here: https//stevenwillarsimages.wordpress.com.

Spring meadow

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Spring wildflowers and hay bales © Steven Willard

I had driven past this spot countless times knowing there should be a picture here, but always finding it lacking something, until this day. The wildflowers in front, the rolls of hay beyond, all lit by a soft overcast provided a shadowless effect.

Olympus OMD EM-1 with Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 zoom, processed in PS Express and Snapseed.

Visit my blog https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com.

Approaching Storm King

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Storm King Arts Center © Steven Willard

I finally got around to visiting Storm King Arts Center, which is located just north of West Point, about an hour from New York City. It was well worth the trip.

Panasonic Lumix GX85 with the Leica designed 15mm f1.7 lens.

Please visit my blog https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com.