Everybody’s a Critic

The Critic, Museum of Modern Art, NYC © Steven Willard

When everyone’s a critic it can take a thick skin, or a healthy amount of self confidence, or both, to display one’s work. We can begin to wonder if our work is good enough and start trying to make our work perfect. That can be a formula for disaster. In Shakespeare’s King Lear , the Duke of Albany offers this warning, “striving to be better, oft we mar what’s well”. Wanting to get better at what we do is admirable, but not if it stifles our art, or spoils the fun.

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Tangled up in vines

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Tangled Tree © Steven Willard

I struggled at first when I tried to refine the composition of this photograph. I thought there should be a way to crop, or a better angle to simplify the image. I was fighting with reality. In the end, I accepted the fact that what drew me to the image in the first place was the chaos, and how the eye wants to zigzag all over the frame before it lands on the little “bullseye” in the top center of the image. It was an image that knew what it wanted to be before I did.

Olympus OMD-EME1 with 12-40mm f2.8 zoom converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2 in Lightroom.

You can see more of my images at https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com

Lean on me

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Lean on me © Steven Willard

It sounds ludicrous to say that I stumbled upon one of New York City’s iconic buildings, but that’s how it felt. I was part of a group taking a photo walk around the city, and had no idea we were near the Flat Iron building until we were standing in front of the pointy end of it. I wanted to record it in some way, but was a loss how to do that under the circumstances. Fortunately a woman stopped at just the right time and in just the right place, and the image was made.

Olympus OMD EM1 with 12-40mm f2.8 lens.

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Framing Arizona

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Framing Arizona © Steven Willard

View from Meteor Crater, Arizona, I loved the idea of putting a frame around it and calling it a picture.

You can see more of my images at http://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com

Olympus OMD EM5 with kit zoom.

The glazer’s bad dream

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Glazer’s bad dream © Steven Willard

The outbuilding was some way off the road. What caught my eye was the reflection of the sun off the broken glass. As photographers we are constantly searching for interesting elements; lines, textures, contrasts, and tones, and hopefully meaning*, which offerers the biggest challenge. Does the image serve as a metaphor for something deeper?

*Minor White asked us to not just, “photograph a thing for what it is, but for what else it is”, which I believe is the best advice to photographers anyone ever offered, “f8 and be there”, a close second.

Olympus OMD EM1 with 40-150mm f2.8 lens, processed first in Snapseed® then moved to Nova® for conversion to black and white.

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

Sunset, Peru, Massachusetts

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Peru, Massachusetts © Steven Willard

I had wanted to photograph this church located in the small town of Peru,Massachusetts for several years. The problem had always been a matter of light, and the fact that I didn’t get by there very often. This day, however, my companion and I had left Shelburne Falls, earlier than usual which put us in Peru at just the right time.

I worked for a bit trying to photograph the building without including the wires, but it just wasn’t possible, and in the end decided that they were part of the true image and could be included without ruining it.

Olympus OMD EM1 with 12-40mm f2.8 zoom.

More of my images can be viewed at https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com

A wall we can afford

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

Affordable Wall © Steven Willard

Perhaps it isn’t a wall on our southern boarder we need, but a really imposing gate. With this as an example, we can see that by showing people an imposing gate we project the idea we must have a fence to go with it. People will believe anything if it’s presented with enough authority.

Rolliflex with Ilford FP4 Plus, developed in PMK, scanned from gelatin silver print.

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The meaning of Lillies

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

I’m not sure I understand what it means that the flower most associated with funerals is also the thirtieth anniversary flower, according toTeleflora’s website. Sometimes it’s best not to read too much into things.

For more bits of useless ramblings visit me at https://stevenwillardimages.wordpress.com

Say What?

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

You know how you can be walking around and catch a part of a conversation that attracts your attention? On a recent meet up with some members of the Monochromia blog we found ourselves waiting in Grand Central Station. I was walking past the information kiosk when those words caught my attention. That’s all I heard, but it was enough to spin me around in search of the source, hoping for a photograph. I saw this and the camera came up long enough to record this image and then everything changed. People stepped in front of me, and by the time I got another look it was all over and the woman at the window was gone. Damn, this street photography business is hard for an old guy like me!

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

The Drive By

Black And White Photography, Photography, Steven

An unusual situation for me, because I can’t recall where this image was made. What I do remember is that I caught a glimpse of the arch out of the corner of my eye as I was driving down a two lane country road someplace in Litchfield County, Connecticut…as if that narrows it down. I pulled off the road (not an easy thing on some of our roads) and walked back to make some exposures. I hadn’t seen the antique barrow until then.

Olympus OMD EM5 with Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens, one of my favorites. I love how it “draws”, and produces an almost 3D impression. It’s inexpensive, too.

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