Harold Davis's Blog, page 132

Echinacea Peeking

I photographed this echinacea (cone flower) peeking through the translucent white rose petals shown in Back to the Flowers with my 200mm telephoto macro lens and a 12mm extension tube. The settings were twenty seconds at f/40 and ISO 100, of course using a tripod.

Echinacea Peeking © Harold Davis

Venice Destination Photo Workshop Rescheduled

We’ve rescheduled the Photograph Venice with Harold Davis destination photo workshop. The new dates are October 23-29, 2016. Click here for details. Please let us know if you would like to join us in Venice!

Bridge of Sighs at Night © Harold Davis

Destination Workshop Description: Venice is the largest preserved antique city in Europe, and possibly the world. Extravagant, decadent, charming with ever-changing light, Venice is a photographer’s delight with its fairy-tale canals and endless maze of footpaths and bridges.

Join acclaimed photographer Harold Davis for the experience of a lifetime exploring and photographing La Serenissima, the most serene and exciting Republic of Venice. There you’ll have the opportunity to experience firsthand the places and sights that have inspired artists for centuries.

We’ll focus our lenses on canals, reflections, and the infinite wonder found around every corner in Venice. There will be special emphasis on techniques for impressionistic rendering, and several sessions will be held to teach the related post-production techniques, as well as how best to use an iPhone camera in Venice.

Click here to learn more!

Piazza San Marco © Harold Davis

Remains of the Clematis

What happens when the bloom on the clematis fades? When the leaves fall off, and all that is left is the wabi-sabi of the central flower core?

Remains of the Clematis © Harold Davis

Shown here photographed on a light box, in Photoshop converted to monochromatic, and duplicated—with the duplicate L-channel inverted in LAB color to substitute white for black, and black for white.

Back to the Flowers

I’ve been in Europe (rural southwestern France, and then Paris) for most of the past month, which has blissfully enabled me to avoid American politics. Except when I admitted to someone that I was American, in which case loud laughter and pointing commenced. Followed (after the second bottle of wine) by the lachrymose admission that things were just as bad locally.

The Wild and the Tame © Harold Davis

So coming home I do feel that I’ve slipped into Bad Biff’s alternative universe in Back to the Future Part II, with he-who-shall-not-be-named all too likely to become our new overlord. The only defense to this mass insanity is to practice Back to the Flowers as a viable alternative to Back to the Future.

Fetish

Technically speaking, a fetish is defined as “an inanimate object worshiped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit.” I photographed the fetish object shown here in the lobby of my Paris hotel with my iPhone, then processed it on my iPhone to convert to black and white, and to add the background texture. By the way, if you noted that my iPhone itself is a fetish, you might not be far off.

Fetish © Harold Davis

Eglise Sainte Jean

The doors to the church in Najac, France are closed tight—which helps lead to the visual sense that one never really knows what goes on behind closed doors. The entrance to the church of Saint Jean is photographed here with my 16mm rectangular fisheye to emphasize the circular effect of the placement of the doors.

Entrance, Eglise Sainte Jean, Najac © Harold Davis

Impressions of Giverny

In addition to Monet’s bedroom, here are two more iPhone impressions of Giverny: The outside of Monet’s house from the front steps, and an impression of the famous garden.

Monet’s House at Giverny © Harold Davis

Giverny Impressions © Harold Davis

Diamonds and Contrails

The group went to the court of the Louvre to photograph the Pyramide, with the idea being to start with sunset and see how it went. I was a little skeptical that I could best previous results (check out this one, and this more recent example too!). But I enjoyed the scene, and the girl from Russia in a red dress who asked me to take her photo with the Pyramide in the background. Then as the sun set I saw a new viewpoint on the diamonds of the Pyramide, contrails and all, and aimed my 16mm rectangular fisheye lens at scene and reflections!

Diamonds and Contrails © Harold Davis

Looking Up

Sometimes a view from underneath looking up is a great way to present an unusual composition, and interesting light. People don’t look up nearly enough! Some cases in point: Here are two views from underneath, one looking up at the Eiffel tower and the other from beneath a weeping willow at Monet’s Garden in Giverny.

Underneath La Tour Eiffel © Harold Davis

Under the Weeping Willow at Giverny © Harold Davis

Claude Monet’s Bedroom

At Giverny during the regular admission hours it was too crowded inside Monet’s house to even consider photographing with a “big boy” camera. So I had fun working with my iPhone instead. This image shows Claude Monet’s bedroom, processed in my iPhone using Waterlogue for a somewhat impressionistic effect.

Claude Monet’s Bedroom © Harold Davis