Maybe it’s my Japanese heritage or maybe it’s just because I’m cheap. Or both. I subscribe to the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi – or the elegance of simplicity. It extends from my subject matter to the actual tools I use. I use an entry level Nikon SLR (that’s right, no D – it’s a film camera). My favorite lens was given to me after a friend purchased it on eBay for ten bucks. I’m currently shooting with a Fujifilm Finepix S700, a moderately priced point and shoot digital camera.Last night I broke down and purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. This after using a clunky old version of Photoshop (4.0) that came bundled with Pagemaker 6.0 that I purchased about 12 years ago. To give you an idea of how old my version of Photoshop is, it does not recognize or retain EXIF data from digital cameras. That’s because there were no digital cameras at the time, at least not in popular use.
Other than an intimidating user interface (my wife remarked that it looks like the flight controls of a commercial airliner), Elements allows for an impressive array of editing features – layers, curves, distortions – that I put to use right away on the photo above. Elements also features one-click editing for those who value simplicity over roll-up-your-sleeves, let’s-get-into-it technology. All for about 80 bucks or so.
Back to the photo … I posted this flower as shot on a white background yesterday. It got a lot of attention on Flickr and was selected as photo of the day at The World Through My Eyes photo group. I also tried it against a red backdrop (this is the week of Valentine’s Day after all). I like the translucency and delicate softness of the petals. Simple. Elegant.
Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.
4 comments:
I like them both James. The white background leaves to our eyes the job of completing the image. I like the mystery. The red is a great seasonal reminder. Excellent work as always.
::mouth gapes::
I've casually followed your photoblog for a while--you're one of the regular contributers to the photomemes, and the high quality of your photos always makes your submissions worth checking out--and-- and-- and-- I am shocked and appalled-- at myself-- that you use the same digital camera as me.
Wow.
I'm even more impressed than I was.
I like them both too. :)
Beautiful. The red really grabs one's attention. I like the simplicity of the white background.
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