Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Round Robin Challenge: "The Hand... Untouched"

"Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together."

-John Ruskin

The great female photographer, Diane Arbus, once said, "The world can be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind." She's right, it's true. Sometimes, when I have had an especially good day with the camera, I will sit in front of the computer, looking at the images that I was able to capture with the camera earlier in the day, and wonder about how quickly the message goes from my brain to my right hand... the hand that snaps the photo.

Many times, it doesn't even seem like my brain has anything to do with the photos I achieve, when I am on the run, and I have to go on instinct. I think maybe, after the point where I am aware of the lighting around me, it's like little unseen, artsy, fairies who actually get the photo. LOL. Nah... it's me who takes the picture, but it is certainly a combination of eye, hand and the quiet mind, not the noisy mind, that sees the photo in time, as to not loose it to momentary hesitation. Sometimes contemplation makes me over think the shot, and lose the perfect photo because I hesitated. I think my photos have been getting better in the past year, because I have learned to slow down my thinking, block out the noise in my brain, that has nothing to do with the picture in front of me.

Thank you Brad, I learned a lot from this challenge. Now to answer the questions about the settings I used. In the case of this photo, I used the portrait setting, in low lighting, with the auto focus setting. Other than a soft focus (noise reduction) I used no other enhancements.

Be sure to visit all the participating Robins, just follow the links below...

Linking List

1. Brad... We-Is
POSTED!

2. Carly... Ellipsis... Suddenly Carly
POSTED!

3. Janet... Fond of Photography
POSTED!

4. Suzanne R... New Suzanne R's Life
POSTED!

5. Karen... Outpost Mavarin
POSTED!

6. Julie... Julie's Web Journal
POSTED!

7. Linda... Blah Blah Blog
POSTED!

8. Steven... (sometimes) photoblog
POSTED!

9. Gattina... Keyhole Pictures
POSTED!








-OndineMonet
"My Hand"
Berkeley, California
March 5th, 2007
Late Evening

10 comments:

Love in Winter said...

so beautiful blog!

Gattina said...

It was hard for me to find "hands" I have hundreds of pictures with paws, but hands ...

Gattina said...

I see you love art me too ! if you wish you can have a look at my paintings.
http://gattinapaintings.blogspot.com/

Suzanne R said...

I like the way you have gone in-depth here into your thought processes as to how you photograph your fantastic pictures! The one here gives your hand such atmosphere!

Anonymous said...

Carly, even your hands look like they are 20! :-)

Anonymous said...

You know...that's it exactly. I think my mind is very quiet, and it's why I notice things. Well put!

Love how you framed the picture, too :-)

Nancy said...

Ah yes, noise in your brain is far worse than noise in your photos.

Nice entry...

Nancy

Steven said...

Good looking hand there. Good musing on the shots. I do some of that while shooting and sometimes not.

Karen Funk Blocher said...

Very lice. I love the way it's framed in the compact mirror, and at a nice angle, too.

Anonymous said...

Hi Carly, that's a good photo of your hand. I like the way you framed it. I didn't do this challenge...I don't particularly like my hands.
Pamela