digital photography

/ mobius faith

I love going to carparks early on a Sunday morning when they are mostly empty. I like driving real slow through all the levels. One thing I love is that it is like a drive-thru gallery (or sorts). Each portal to the outside is like an artwork hanging on a gallery wall.

dumpster life lessons

/ mobius faith

If you see something (or dare I say, someone) that you or others would label an “eyesore” or pain-in-the-ass.    Look again.   I dare you to find beauty and meaning in those things.   It is difficult; but, it can lead to new understandings, acceptance and maybe even appreciation.   My interest in dumpsters or what others may call containers (or whatever you use to collect rubbish, trash, garbage) is well known and long standing.   Dumpsters are not only utilitarian but can reveal a beauty that was forged within their utilitarian function.   This morning (2/14/21) I decided to head out with my camera (my valentine – LOL).  I came across this large dumpster at a building where construction was being done.   I almost never ever pass up a dumpster opportunity and this was no exception.  You can see from the first image – the setting.  Unimpressive, maybe even documentary.   But that doesn’t stop me.  That’s just the entry point for my imagination and creative thinking.   I somehow am inspired by suffering, difficulty and challenges and find they are signposts along the road of life to happiness.   I don’t seek them out but when they present themselves I do seek to turn around those situations into something worthwhile or worth living for.   

Hinge:   It all hinges on seeing that difficulty as an open door to something better.  Unexpected – most likely.   But a door or pathway revealed that I may not have considered before.

Overview:  When we are confronted by such a door we must take a step back and take time to look at the details.

Details: These details offer clarity, understanding and unapologetic saturation and texture that makes it possible for us to complete the transformation from repulsion to acceptance and maybe even a sense of beauty.  Art.  Life is art – from beginning through to the end – and after the end, in memory and spirit. 

*to view larger individual images in order: click on the first image below showing the dumpster in it’s habitat.   Then click on the arrows to navigate through the complete set of images.

experiments

/ mobius faith / 2 Comments

I decided to post a couple of experimental shots. Imperfect shots with little to no retouching. It is necessary to step outside ones comfort zone from time to time and just “wing it” with a shot that you may expect to throw away. That was certainly the case with both of these images. Like much of my work they came to me without me looking for them. I guess that’s sort of the “spiritual” nature of my photography in that I typically do not have a plan. I just go – camera in hand – and what happens, happens. I have never felt real comfortable with reflections (and yes I’ve posted some in the past – but not many). So reflections for me are more experimental in that they typically do not draw my attention. But as I suggested earlier its important to see what the “spirit” will reveal to you and your creative endeavors and that means sometimes it will reveal things to you that are outside your comfort zone – like reflections.

In the image on the Left I had taken my trash out early evening last fall and saw the postal carrier delivering mail to the cluster of mail boxes for my apartment complex. I decided to wait in my garage and then go pick up the mail. As I was waiting and milling about the garage I ended up leaning on the rear of car. I’ve seen this view “a thousand” times before but never thought anything about it. But as I stood there this time and began to think about it with my limited/hyper focused view it seemed a diptych of sorts and then it started to become interested as I started looking at the details. I went and got my camera and took a few shots. I still find it surprisingly interesting with the look out at the trees at the end of my driveway compared to the abstract reflection of the garage door opener and light off the rear window of the car. I thought about a square crop but it didn’t work as well for me. I liked the “weight” of the black at the bottom of the image in contrast to the lighter outdoor scene above. The only editing was a few minor tweaks to the lighting.

The second image was taken inside a car park in downtown Akron near the university. The office of the car park was dark and as I was driving toward the exit I found the view you see above. I like the angles, the deep dark shadows compared to the outside being reflected on the office glass. Like the first image I did very little editing. I tweaked the color saturation only minimally. The biggest change was the crop. I did a re-alignment and used a 16×9 crop to cut out the very bottom of the image that just seemed wasted space. I thought about taking out the very top part of the image also to let the window frame better frame the image but like the “garage” photo on the left I liked the “weight” which I feel helps add to the context of the place the photo was taken in. So for better-or-worse I left it alone. Maybe in the future I’ll think differently but I didn’t want to mess too much with it right now.

Hope you enjoyed reading a little about my thought processes for these two images.

****as is often the case when I post multiple images. If you click on one it will bring up a larger version that you can view….