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Curtis Hendricks

DamnPhotoArtist

Photo Art* & Small Literature**
* Computer-based art that uses a photograph as a base
** Short Prose

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Wisps On The Wind

5/28/2019

1 Comment

 
I suspect one of the reasons I’m drawn to florals is that more often that not it requires the use of macros. And shooting in macro, my friends, is the great equalizer.

Shooting great landscapes or seductive portraits or fashion photography really does require professional grade equipment; in the case of the latter to get the lighting exactly right, in the case of the former to capture the lighting that is available. A friend once showed me a gorgeous photo captured of the Grand Canyon at night, illuminated by lighting strikes. That shot, I calculated, would have required a large format camera ($15,000) using an unusually sharp wide-aperture lens ($3,000) with a heavy filter to prevent the lightening from washing out the rest of the image ($500) connected to a light sensor that would fire the shutter at exactly the instant the lightening bolt became visible ($1,500) as well as a series of strobe lights that would fire to illuminate the foreground which the filter would otherwise darken ($2,500), mounted on a heavy tripod to prevent movement caused by wind gusts ($600) and proper tenting to prevent sudden rain from ruining all that equipment ($1,000), and the shutter would have to stay open a good long time so the mountains in the distance would be properly exposed. Then, of course, there was the photographer’s time and travel to set all that up on numerous occasions to get the right shot. For one shot, or maybe a series of the same shot.

Much of those necessities go away with macros. Even many smartphones can take good macros. Sure, the photographer still has to get the lighting perfect and set the camera distance correctly to the subject, balancing perspective with a tight focal plane to create depth. But those are more creatures of skill and timing opposed to massively expensive equipment.

​I still prefer my Canon G11 when I set out to shoot macros. It has a precise macro and its zoom allows me to adjust the perspective to fit the situation. New versions of the Canon G-series run, what, about $700? Mighty Mouse!

1 Comment
H link
5/28/2019 08:30:18 am

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing that perspective Curt. I believe there is quite an art to photography, but I also believe the quality of the equipment can separate us amateurs from the professionals. Since I don't have those kinds of funds, I often have relied on chance. Shooting a hundred frames and hoping I get that one great shot. Not a professional approach, perhaps, but it has worked occasionally, at least to my satisfaction :-)

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    Curtis Hendricks

    All my life I have had to learn to do things differently. To see the world differently.

    Art attracted me from the beginning. Almost every home in the tiny farming village where I grew up had DaVinci’s ‘Last Supper’ on the wall. I would come across modern abstract art in magazines and be absolutely fascinated by the colors and techniques.

    But there were no artists in my village. No one understood what modern art was. Or why it was. But there was an appreciation for photography.

    I began shooting with a 1960 model Agfa rangefinder fixed-lens 35mm camera and learned to use darkroom techniques to finish my work. Graduating to a single lens reflex camera I worked primarily with Kodachrome. Digital photography opened a new world. The computer became the artboard I never had; the darkroom I could never afford. I discovered there would never be a camera or a lens that could capture what I saw in my head – that, I had to learn to create on my own.

    I use the photograph the same way a painter uses a charcoal sketch – as a starting place. I squeeze out the unseen hiding between the pixels; the angels, the demons of my own imagination.

    ​Light. Color. Darkness. Perspective. Introversion. Mystery. Love.

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