A winter-wonder-land.

A winter day can be extraordinary.

Matthew G. Beall Photography   B30 Winter    2011

Prints are available for sale.


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A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.  ~Ansel Adams


Light & shadow can take the every day thing and make it less ordinary.  Is it just a bag? Is there more to the bag than meets the eye? Leave a comment.

Matthew G. Beall   The Bag in Light   2011

Matthew G. Beall  The Bag in the Corner  2011

Matthew G. Beall  The Bag Later  2011

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The ordinary bookshelf. The ordinary book. The mundane for some.

As  have said, I don't have to leave my apartment to find subjects to shoot. I am surrounded by interesting things. I have light. Beautiful, wonderful morning and afternoon light. I have shadows created by my light. Yes, it is my light.

Books can tell you a lot. 

Matthew G. Beall   Books Can Tell You A Lot   2011

What is on your bookshelf?

Matthew G. Beall   The Wonderful Place  2011

 What story do these tell?

Matthew G. Beall  Gone with Books  2011

Tief ... das Sehen

in Dunkelheit

in Helligkeit

Matthew G. Beall  NYC Park  2010

soviel du siehst

ist es was du siehst?

Matthew G. Beall  NYC Park - 2  2010

Schau es an!

Schau mal genau hin

Matthew G. Beall  NYC Park - 3  2010

  Tief ... das Sehen

in Dunekheit

in Helligkeit

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Today

Just thinking. Just reflecting. Just wondering.

Matthew G. Beall       2010/11

In my previous post, I said that everybody sees what they see. Sometimes what I see at the moment, isn't really as it appears. The ordinary, the mundane isn't always what it appears to be. 

Look, See, Think

Matthew G. Beall Photography   As It Appears   2011

  "Hey, look at that," is something we often say when we see things that somehow stand out. I think that's the point where we start to think about the thing we are looking at. It could be for a split second, but that's  enough for some to ponder the thing. Shadow has that affect on me.

I'm always on the lookout for interesting light and shadow. Very often I don't have to go far. I don't even have to leave my apartment.

Matthew G. Beall         2011

Matthew G. Beall Photography         2011

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 I was looking at older posts and came across this one from May 11, 2011. It is well worth revisiting. I see that I made them dark to make the subject of the mundane really focused. I wonder how I would approach that if I were to make these today ... but that's truly the beauty of creative photography and visualization, isn't it. 

Everybody sees what they see. I'm always on the lookout for interesting light and shadow. Sometimes it is found where most people tend not to look or, rather, don't look at. I am talking about the mundane. 

 “I see no reason for recording the obvious.” - Edward Weston

The Mundane

Matthew G. Beall  The Sink   2011

Matthew G. Beall  The Pipes  2011

Matthew G. Beall  The Box  2011

I went to put a letter in the mailbox, looked up the street and saw an ambulance and fire truck. Naturally, curiosity being what it is, I had to take a look. I just happened to have my camera.

A few quick shots to share.

Smokey

Water: a clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid, H₂O, essential for most plant and animal life and the most widely used of all solvents.

Geometry and Water

Matthew G. Beall

Matthew G.  Beall

Water in Monochrome

All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters by James Joyce

Matthew G. Beall

All day I hear the noise of waters
Making moan,
Sad as the sea-bird is when, going
Forth alone,
He hears the winds cry to the water's
Monotone. 

Matthew G. Beall

The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing

Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
To and fro.

Chicago in black and white.

I like cities, big cities. Chicago is a big city with giant iconic skyscrapers. Some of these buildings allow you to stand on air 1,353 feet above ground.

Matthew G. Beall  1,353 Feet  2009/2011

 Views are seemingly endless.

Matthew G. Beall  Endless  2009/2011

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Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk.  Edward Weston

Composition

While good exposure, for example, is a technical requirement necessary for a good image, it is composition that makes a good picture. Composition, of course, is a more subjective practice. There are no rules, only guidelines. Ultimately your aim is to produce a piece that will resonate with you and others.

Matthew G. Beall   Wrap it Up (workers)   2009/2011

Some compositional ingredients:

rule of thirds

viewpoint

background

depth

symmetry

natural frames

cropping

strong diagonal lines and/or curves

patterns

shape

texture

light

tone

At the end of the day, a good composition is one of balance. Strive for balance. 

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You want to improve your photography? Here's how you do it.

Get out and shoot. Shoot a lot! With a digital camera you have the luxury of limitless shots. Use that advantage.  

Look at everything as a potential subject. See it. Visualize it! Compose it. Shoot multiple frames of it.  

The key = Look, SEE, Think 

Matthew G. Beall  Look, See, Think  2011

Then choose the best shots, get them into your post-production software and make them even better. Remember, rarely does that ‘perfect’ shot come straight out your camera untouched.

As the adage goes, practice makes perfect.

I was in Sanok, Poland over Easter.
I am a fortunate traveler with a camera.

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between." Karl Heiner

Matthew G. Beall   
Dzien Dobry   
2011

Matthew G. Beall   
Polskie Krajobrazy 
  2011

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you are probably familiar with Photoshop. Even if you have not used it, you have seen photos that have been Photoshopped, which has become a feature of many websites in recent years. The basic idea of Photoshop is that it can be used to enhance or add to a photograph. What you see is not necessarily what it was.

For example, if a picture has been taken which, on closer inspection, carries traces of something that the viewer “should not see” - such as blotches on the face of someone in the photo, or a stain on the carpet – the use of Photoshop can remove that undesired intruder. Similarly, Photoshop can be used to add things such as color or light.

A more esoteric use of Photoshop can be seen on countless sites around the Internet where photographs are deliberately and obviously manipulated for (usually) comedic effect. Whether it is putting someone else’s head on the body of an animal (or another person), placing a person against a background with comic potential or creating the impression that someone is a hundred feet tall, this is a popular pastime. Sometimes, too much is simply too much

Although Photoshop is not the only post-production software, it is perhaps the most well known. Every amateur or professional photographer will use these programs to enhance their pictures in their own way to their own liking. Photo manipulation has been around since the mid-1800s.   

Although the Internet has dramatically changed how things are perceived, there are still many professional writers with low opinions regarding bloggers and self-publishing. Does this mean that bloggers can’t write? Of course there are those that can’t, but there are a great may that can. The medium has simply changed.

The easier it becomes to do something, the worse the whole medium becomes. This is an often heard (read) opinion about photography.

Matthew G. Beall  Diffusion  2011

 There was once a time that to own a ‘good’ camera you needed to spend a lot of money, and, as a result, there were fewer photographers – when they took a photo, they had to make sure it was good. After all, film was expensive, too. Now you can buy a great digital camera inexpensively, take some shots, and, BAM!, you are a photographer. The idea being that anyone with a digital camera considers themselves a photographer just because they took a black and white picture of an object, which was partially in shadow.

This is really a cynical argument.

Opinions are always going to be divided on the question of whether making something easier makes it better.

Has this led to the death of photography as an art form? Only the deluded would think so. With the innovations that have come our way, people with talent but not much money can now let their talent find an audience. Sure, there are now more bad photographers than ever, but this does not mean there are fewer good ones.

 Welcome to Urbana

 Big cities are awesome. Big cities are frightening. Big cities are fast.

 

Matthew G. Beall  Welcome to Urbana   2009/2011

Matthew G. Beall  The Big City  2009/2011

Matthew G. Beall  Look, It's a Plane  2009/2011

Matthew G. Beall   Urban Motion   2009/2011

Look, SEE, Think

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Urban - of or belonging to a city

Monochrome - a photograph or picture developed or executed in black and white or in varying tones of only one color.

Matthew G. Beall  Stuck in the Middle  2009/2011

Matthew G. Beall  7 Hanover Square  2010

Matthew G. Beall   Bordeaux    2010

Look, SEE, Think

Look at what you see.  SEE what you look at.  Think about what you SEE

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Me, myself and I - Portraits on the afternoon of April 15, 2011

Matthew G. Beall

Matthew G. Beall

Matthew G. Beall

Matthew G. Beall

Matthew G. Beall