It's been said, "necessity is the mother of invention". No one knows exactly who said that but some site Mark Twain. That quote evolved from, of all people, Plato who said, "Our need will be the real creator".
I would like to further modify that and say limitation is the mother of invention or the real creator.
Often we think of limitations imposed on us by others (i.e. parents, authorities, governing bodies, social norms etc.) but there is another self imposed limitation and that is the direction I'm moving in with my image making. Before my camera work has always been shot in the 3:2/4:6 frame format and if I wanted something different I would crop that raw file before moving further in the editing phase.
I've decided to upend that by only shooting in 1:1 frame format. Yesterday and today were my first days limiting myself in this way. It's interesting how looking at the view screen and seeing only a square image changes how you think about seeing. In some ways it's changed my subject matter. In other ways it's changed how I photograph the same old subjects that I would photograph before in the more familiar landscape/portrait format. I'm still interested in the same things it's just that I am seeing them differently. And it's not like I see them one way and they deliberately change how I want to see them via cropping. I'm actually forcing myself to see them squared.
I don't know how long I'll do this but it will be for some length of time to see how this will change the way I see and perceive things over time as I get more used to this square format.
Todays images are of palms of my left and right hand. An abstract, inverted presentation that I find interesting. Again these images were shot square format /raw. Editing in Photoshop.
Well, it's Tuesday. We'll call it Thinkers Tuesday. The thinker (above) wanted me to post his favorite Crimson track, CAT FOOD but I kindly explained this was my blog. 🙂
STARLESS, originally recorded by King Crimson for their Red album. This cover by the Crimson Jazz Trio (CJ3) is an amazing jazz cover. I've always loved the trio format in jazz. For me the trio highlights the individual talents better and poses a greater challenge to how you fill/don't fill the silent void.
The trio includes one Ian Wallace, himself a onetime contributor to the rock behemoth, King Crimson in the early 1970's for Islands and Earthbound albums. King Crimson founder, Robert Fripp, has said about CJ3: "The CJ3 have respectfully and irreverently taken eight Crimson classics, repositioned them in the musical spectrum, and delivered their first songbook with superb musicianship in service to wit and invention". That is high praise indeed.
So enjoy this installment of "Under The Covers" and I'll add the original King Crimson version below.
After more than a month of posting nature and "noir" images today, December 1st marks a return to the abstract that I love so much. Enjoy this abstract journey through December. 🙂