Creativity and the creative process itself are things that many have sought to explain. During the course of my undergraduate and graduate education which was in psychology, I crossed paths many times with those much more learned and much more famous that me who wrote volumes on the creative process. But sometimes it is the pithy little saying that really stick out in one’s mind.
I just completed reading a short e-book by photographer extraordinaire David duChemin entitled “The Inspired Eye: Notes on Creativity for Photographers”. It strives to be a practical guide and really is. And it is full of pithy little quotes that I pulled out and jotted down. One that I really liked read:
“Creation is risky stuff. It’s at the whim of lunatics with a bad habit of asking, What if…?”
Well that sentence really hit home because, as anyone who has been following my blog for even a short time will know, that’s where I really find myself. I don’t travel to the far ends of the world to make images that could appear in National Geographic. Rather I putter around my own backyard for the most part, look around me and ask What if…? What if I do this or that? Can I turn the everyday, the ordinary into something extra-ordinary.
This image is just another example of trying to do just that. It was early afternoon on New Year’s Day and we decided to go for a walk along the Cinder Banks, an area close-by along our local creek that is left over from the heyday of the local iron industry. I decided to travel light and just took along a single camera and lens – the 30D and the Lensbaby Composer. As we turned down one of the wide trails that lead to the banks and to the creek, I first saw the potential for a wonderful composition. There before me was the tree and brush lined path covered in snow and taking me and my eye right off into the distance. Then I quickly saw all the footprints of those who had walked this path before us and almost decided to just pass on making the image. In the final analysis, I decided to make just one image before moving on.
The highlight of this day turned out to be the the graffiti-laced rusty shed that I posted a few days back. I still really love that image.
This image, the first made that day, wasn’t even processed. I just left it to wither on the vine so to speak. Then last night I was sitting through another in a series of Nik Software webinars – this one on Silver Efex Pro – and afterwards, as I thought about pulling up an image and trying out a bit of what I had just learned, this image came back to mind. I kinda knew what was in my mind that afternoon as I looked at the scene and I knew that the image, in its original form, wasn’t cutting it. So I went to work. I became that lunatic asking What if? Fifteen to twenty minutes later, I had created an image that was much more in tune with I was experiencing while standing out there on the path. And this is it.
Let me know what you think, if you would.
OK, here goes and this may appear a bit unusual.
I have felt for a long time, as have many others, that life is an illusion. Many times when I’m in the wilderness, alone, and I let my imagination take over, I envision that somewhere along the trail there is a doorway, portal, leading through the veil out of the illusion. That’s what this image symbolizes for me. The sepia tone enforces the feeling of an age old truth, the blurriness represents the border of the portal, the footsteps indicate that many others have passed this way before I and the sharpness at the distant curve in the path pulls me in with wonder as to what lies beyond.
As you can tell, this image touched me emotionally.
Well done.
I think this is an image to blow up and frame on a wall – I echo a lot of what Richard said – and I’m all for the lunatics that wonder “what if?” I happen to be one of them. Very well done. Love this image.
Ed, I love this one. I had the same reaction as Richard, up above. Everything about this shot is just right.
Where were all those people going? The depth of field really pulls you into the photo. Maybe at the tail end of the path, the trees could start turning into color and a brightness could appear from the inner depths of the path. This would make it look like someone who had died and was following the path to the light of which they would pass over. Maybe that is where all those folks had gone to…
Even though the image doesn’t speak to me as to others I’m always surprised, in positive way, when I see that someone takes an image of something absolutely uninteresting to me and turns it into something appealing. And this is the case. Very good job!
Extra-ordinary indeed! You da master!!
)
I agree with Tomas on this one Ed, it doesn’t captivate me like your other images have, but it’s good to see how it affects others.
Extremely interesting range of comments evoked by this image. While I did not take the “life is an illusion” portal to reality path that you described Richard (and others also felt a sympatico with), I did feel a sense of surreal magic that the original image obviously captured but didn’t display the way I wanted to see it. The processing of this image brought out my vision for other others to see and it has taken them (you) to places I didn’t even see. Very cool! It’s not an image for everyone but that’s OK.
Tomas, it IS very interesting. All one has to do is scan down the images that occupy this first page of my blog and then look at the images that you selected on your blog (Close Nature over on my blogroll) as your 10 best of 2009 to see that we have very different world views when it comes to our art. You are much more of a macro photographer and I, while I still love to shoot macro and look at macro from other people, have evolved to much more of an abstract photographer who is interested in things like multiple exposures, blurs, selective focusing, and the powers of post-processing filters. As I said over on your blog, I think we both have things we can learn from each other. I rather enjoy discussing work (mine and others) with other photographers. I may not change your mind and you may not change mine but we can still both grow through dialog. Take care my friend.
Outstanding! Ed, I really love the work you are doing and will have to stop by more often…
I like this, Ed. The lensbaby composer works well for this scene. Nice post processing.