In The Yard – ITY23

There are times when I get stuck with my photography because I am looking for that one great image!  The one image everyone will be talking about.  The one image which will make me the topic of the interwebs…  then I catch myself and realize I keep clicking the shutter because I enjoy the whole process.  I enjoy looking at the world around me and seeing the way light plays across the landscape.  I am fascinated by how quickly a scene can change at the the beginning or ending of the day as the color of the light changes.  What I enjoy most is how photography makes me feel.

The other night, at the end of a long day, I didn’t go out to find my next great landscape.  I was relaxing after dinner.  Reading a few articles on the computer, thinking about working on more of my Disney images for that black & white photo book I am trying to finish.  Luckily, my desk is next to the window facing south/southwest because the sky starting its kaleidoscope of colors again as the sun was setting.  At first I wished I had gone somewhere, anywhere, I could have had a cool view.  Duh, the view I was experiencing was pretty damn cool.  Out came the camera, I switched out the lens to my 40-150mm telephoto and walked out into the yard.

So I can put these images into perspective for you, the time difference between the first and the last is only 15 minutes.  Generally the images are either looking South or West except for the one with the tree branches which is looking North.  The clouds were on a very good pace through the sky and the sun was dropping quickly.  That combination helped to produce this variable color palette in the sky.

By using the telephoto lens I was able to accomplish two things.  First, I could isolate different sections of the sky.  My ‘go to‘ lens, the 12-40mm would have captured more of the sky and my goal was not the grand vista image.  Secondly, I could reduce the space between the foreground and the background elements in view.  A good example is the image with the mailbox.  The trees behind the mailbox are about a half mile away.  By adjusting my height when I captured the image and the effect of the lens you lose that sense of depth.  The last image demonstrates the same principle.

If I go back and look at the images I was capturing when I first picked up my point & shoot camera and started figuring out how to use it, I see a majority of the ones I like were capture within walking distance of my house.  I occasionally forget what I enjoy most, showing simple objects in a new way.  And, I capture what I like, not what I think someone else will like.  I swear, I wonder where my head is some days…

In the Yard Playing – 1
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/250s, 58mm, f/8, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 2
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/40s, 120mm, f/8, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 3
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/30s, 150mm, f/5.6, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 4
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/160s, 150mm, f/8, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 5
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/160s, 100mm, f/16, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 6
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/30s, 74mm, f/11, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 7
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/30s, 45mm, f/11, ISO 200

In the Yard Playing – 8
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/13s, 82mm, f/11, ISO 200