JACK LARSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Fairy Slipper B&W
Posted by john4jack (Corvallis, Oregon, United States) on 19 April 2009 in Plant & Nature and Portfolio.
Xavier wanted to see the April 15 post in B&W; so here it is.
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"Our common humanity is more important than all the things that divide us."
- Mairead Corrigan,
1976 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and cofounder of the Community of Peace People in Northern Ireland.
@Annie Viguié: Thank you, Annie. B&W are the tools of the photographic artist. I have much to learn.
Ajay from Pune, India
Voila!!!! It is amazing mono. But what I like is the fact that you manage to always give appropriate mono tone. Perhaps that's the reason why it is looking better than the last one.
19 Apr 2009 5:50am
@Ajay: Thanks, Ajay.
zOOm from Paris, France
Really impressive scale of greys. it reamins gorgeous even in mono. Details are stunning.
19 Apr 2009 6:04am
@zOOm: Regarding the details, Florence, I had the tripod almost flat on the ground. I was covered in mud. But as you know, with that Sigma 150, if you have it on a tripod, you can micro adjust the macro to get tack sharp detail; it's really all in the lens.
khadi from New Delhi, India
I really like this in black and white as well. The photo is more mysterious and timeless. Good job converting it.
19 Apr 2009 6:19am
@khadi: Thank you.
zOOm from Paris, France
Yes I know, see here and here what I've done with this lens + tripod ! It's just a great lens, offering sharpness and clarity. Perfect for macro really.
19 Apr 2009 6:25am
Scott Schilling from San Martin, United States
I love this - the flower doesn't even look real! Great work and tones!
19 Apr 2009 6:49am
jamesy from christchurch, New Zealand
nice shot but I love my flowers in colour Don't mean to be a stick in the mud
19 Apr 2009 7:49am
"Marie" :-) from perth, Australia
Jack I have to admit it looks great in B&W, (still love the colour version) but if this was a request then it was worth putting on the site. Lovely job.
19 Apr 2009 7:54am
Linerberry from Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand
Nice move with the B&W....works perfectly!!!
19 Apr 2009 8:41am
Craig from Vacaville, California, United States
Perfect contrast! This is my favorite of the two!
19 Apr 2009 8:45am
Barbara from Florida, United States
Splendid in monotone. While the color version is outstanding, viewing the B&W from an entirely different perspective it is just as outstanding.
Well done, Jack.
19 Apr 2009 9:31am
@Barbara: In many ways, Barb, the quote is a commentary on the aminus3 community. There are all sorts of things that divide us as photographers. My decision to honor Xavier's request to post a photograph in monochrome that had originally been posted in color has brought some fairly strong opinions (diverse opinions) to my blog. People's judgments when it comes to black and white vs. color tend "not" to be objective or neutral. For many, strong emotion and feeling and even conviction come to the surface. (Note: this seems to happen only when you post the "same" image in "both" B&W and in color. If you post an image only in B&W, you get fairly balanced comments. And if you post "another" image in color, you get the same kind of balance. However, if you post the "same" image in both monochrome and color, much of that balance and objectivity goes out the window. This is so much the case, that if I really wanted to know what people truly think and feel about my work, I would post every image in both color and monochrome. It's not that people are not telling the truth, it is, rather, that this issue puts people more deeply in touch with an aspect of photography about which they have strong feelings and convictions (feelings and convictions that may lie in the unconscious most of the time). It is around this issue that people come closer to making what I call not simply judgments, but "value" judgments, than any other subject in photography. It is much stronger than the film vs. digital issue. (Of course, there are many who do not have strong feelings around this issue, just like for some, whether it is digital or film makes no difference.) Now to Corrigan's quote. I believe that the people on aminus3 really do believe that "our common humanity" is way more important than whether an image is in color or in black and white. And if we don't believe that, we should. I rarely use the word "should," but here is an instance where I think that it applies. For me personally, there is absolutely nothing in photography that is more important than the photographers doing it. Each of you is sacred and holy to me. But I would go further, "everything" is sacred and holy to me. For example, wild life does not exist to be subject matter for our photography; all creatures have a sanctity simply by being (I, for one, would include plant life and rocks, etc., etc.). We literally know that everything in the Universe is vibrating energy. At both the micro level and the macro level, it is clear that all is One (and this is true whether we like it or not). My value judgment is that it "all" is holy; it "all" is sacred and needs to be related to and treated accordingly.
Sandrine from Cincinnati, United States
Excellent in B&W, love the details and textures...
19 Apr 2009 12:23pm
P J W Miller from Chase Terrace, United Kingdom
Not sure if i pref mono or colour, either way another fine composition
19 Apr 2009 1:12pm
-1q5yChØt!c- from Persia, Iran
great and excellent close up
specially in b&w mode
bravo
19 Apr 2009 1:49pm
Don from spokane, United States
I like it in black and white too. I don't think of color and black and white as competitors. A beautiful job of shooting either way.
19 Apr 2009 2:09pm
@Don: I'm with you, Don; I don't see them as competitors. But I do find that each touches different parts of me. Although this is very simplistic, I find that color tends to come from my heart; and B&W tends to come from my soul.
Barbara from Florida, United States
Well stated, Jack. I like both images, reason why I wanted to be neutral and point out viewing each from different perspectives. In order to give both the color version and B&W it's due credit. The monotone has a calming effect, at least for me.
We live in a visual society and many place judgement on how they feel just by what they see. Somehow we are conditioned that way.
I can appreciate what you say about wildlife. I have deep roots for respect of nature and the enviroment we share. I was interviewed on our local news a few years speaking out about how an alligator grabbed a mans pet as he walked it along the shoreline near brush. Ultimately the gator was captured and destroyed.
I explained that WE live in the gators territory and we need to respect that. It was natural for the gator to want to prey on a food source. So many were against the gator. They didn't think of that when they left their suburban manicured neighborhoods to move to Florida, filled with nature and it's wildlife. Incredibly while I was doing the interview the man whose dog was nabbed the day before showed up with his other small dog to demonstrate to the news crew how it happened.
Even though there is a law against it, people still feed the alligators and other wildlife. So when the creatures get too close and trusting, they are removed and destroyed.
I live a little over an hour from the world famous Amusement and Entertainment parks. One stands out with dolphins and orcas kept in tanks living an artificial life. I have never been to and never will go to such a place. They belong in their natural habitat.
19 Apr 2009 2:10pm
@Barbara: When I grew up in Florida between 1935 and 1960, Central Florida was a wilderness paradise of rivers and lakes and piney woods. Then Disney came in, and through dummy names, bought it all up. When they had it all, they announced that Disney World was coming. Although my kids when they were little were taken by their mother to Disney World, I have never been there and never will.
Now get this. The first Saturday of April, I attended the semi-annual gathering of the Nature Photographers of the Pacific Northwest (B.C., Wash., Mon., ID, and Oregon). One of the divisions of competition was wildlife; almost all of the winning photographs were taken in artificial environments. Native Americans have so much to teach us. Many of those we call primitive, I think of as being in touch with reality.
Tracy from La Selva Beach, United States
Good morning Jack! I love this no matter what way you choose to bring it to us...
You are sharing your vision with us; and that vision is so inter-woven with who we are as people, I don't know if we can seperate it, or analyze it...Not sure I want to.
I read Barbara's comment and your response to it...I have a friend (a photographer) who feels that photography is "therapy" and the growing a photographer does as a person is in what he or she learns about himself when shooting...Of course we can learn a lot when we are not shooting too, and I think as photographers it is so important to leave the camera behind sometimes and just experience some things, not worrying about getting a shot. I believe those moments make me a better photographer. A better person. Photography can be limiting... (My son recently asked me on a hike if I was "seeing in rectangles" again-I had no idea how limiting my photography had become until that moment. I don't always want to see the world in little rectangles-those are just the tiny slices of my life experiences that I choose to share-they say alot about me, but they aren't all of me.) That being said:
Thank goodness for people's strong response to photographs- without the visceral reaction (good or bad) there would be less reason to make photographs! I really don't know how long I would be able to be a "photographer" without getting some strong emotional feedback from other people....just experiencing would be enough for me. (and not in a rectangle format)
OK, I think I'm done ranting now! How's that for an emotional response? :)
I sure don't mean to make your page a soapbox- but I agree that photography is all about the people & experiences they bring to us....and us to them; I guess it is another way of connecting as a community.
19 Apr 2009 2:22pm
@Tracy: Bravo, Tracy. I think that conversations where people openly express their thoughts and feelings are healthy. As long as we communicate with respect, and are willing to really listen to one another, I think that this kind of dialog can help us to grow, both as photographers and as human beings. And I agree with you that at its root, this is an artificial distinction. Such distinctions have value only for some degree of self-understanding and of our ongoing conversation.
I think of myself as being a mystic. And for a mystic, the world of space and time is to some degree an artificial construct. This may sound weird coming out of a photographer who works so intimately with space and time. But when photography works best for me is on those occasions when I feel completely at one with everything, including my camera and what I am photographing. My camera is not simply a tool for me; it is as much a part of me as my body; I feel a mystical oneness with my camera (yes, this is not true all of the time, but it is true much of the time). I also often feel a mystical oneness with what I am photographing. I think that when your son was asking about seeing rectangles, he was asking if there would be room for you to see him, and to see him as the incredibly special person that he is. It is so easy for our passion, whatever that passion might be, to make us obvlivious to everything else. Dealing with all of the demands and needs and expectations of others is an unbelievably difficult job. Few do it all that well; I certainly don't. Having said that, when I look through that rectangle, I often am pulled right through the lens into a merging with the subject matter. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Photography at its best for me is a soul-connection.
I am profoundly grateful to have found people on aminus3, such as you, with whom I can have these kinds of conversations; conversations that I find so integral to my journey.
Mariana from waterloo, Canada
Delicate, elegant, full of pride !!!! BRILLIANT !!!
19 Apr 2009 2:53pm
marc battault from clermont ferrand, France
wonderfull b&w macro with many details !
friendly jack !
19 Apr 2009 3:29pm
Mathilde Collot from Fontainebleau, France
A large B / W velvety and subtle! I admire! très, très belle image!!!
19 Apr 2009 3:34pm
Michael Rawluk from Williams Lake, BC, Canada
I am a big fan of b+w for flowers where one is shooting for the form. The form and lines of a subject often gets lost in a mass of colour.
19 Apr 2009 3:46pm
@Michael Rawluk: You are absolutely right.
Peggy M. from somewhere in, France
A magnificent dragon ! The nature is full of surprise, I like very much your choice to put the photo in black and white
19 Apr 2009 3:55pm
@Peggy M.: Thank you; and as you would say, Kisses.
xavier cardell from menorca-barcelona, Spain
Defenetly better in BW. Powerful image
19 Apr 2009 5:11pm
@xavier cardell: It was all for you my friend. And as you can see from the comments, you have lots of company.
adele27 from tonekabon, Iran
oh thnx very much for all this useful disscussion, and i respect u all, great
19 Apr 2009 5:52pm
Judy from Brooksville, Florida, United States
While I love nature in its natural colors, this black & white image is astounding!
The details aren't 'lost' in the strong colors.
I love your discussions above, about who we are in relation to our world and the art of photography. Many of us feel our camera is a permanent 'appendage' yet we can't lose sight that God gave us eyes to see, whether through our own eyes or a camera's lens.
PS: Our granddaughter is Fiona Hope. Skye or Hope, they're both beautiful! :D
19 Apr 2009 5:58pm
@Judy: Only a grandparent has any idea about the indescribable joy that our grandchildren bring to us. I think that an unexpected and added benefit has been increasing my longevity by another 20 years.
Susan from Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
Image is a bit more dramatic in b&w....contrasts are wonderful...and I love BOTH of them, Jack. Not much for many words today, but I enjoyed reading the comments above.....
19 Apr 2009 7:07pm
Marie-Hélène Ammor from Casablanca/Paris, Morocco
Hello jack ! At first This photo is beautiful in B&W ...really strong ! About your discussion ,I thank every member of this Aminus community for what you bring to me ...!! And you 're right about grandparent !! My grandchildren make me grow and love nature and world (sorry my english is not good enough to tell exactly what I want !! :-) !!
19 Apr 2009 7:08pm
@Marie-Hélène Ammor: Your English is beautiful to me. Thank you for your gentleness and kindness.
observing from North West, United Kingdom
Fabulous, I prefer this one to the previous image.
19 Apr 2009 9:14pm
@observing: Me too.
Ron from Saint Louis, United States
Extraordinary, Jack ... love the deep rich tones ... ron
19 Apr 2009 10:30pm
jeff (aka dogilicious) from Millerstown, PA, United States
Didn't have time to read itall but I love the b/w. It really brings out the structure of this unique flower.
19 Apr 2009 11:34pm
@jeff (aka dogilicious): Thanks, Jeff.
JamesC from portland, United States
Well done, lovely background and sharp contrast details.
20 Apr 2009 12:56am
@JamesC: Thanks, James. I assume that you had fabulous weather today in Portland, just as we did in Corvallis.
willow from Chelsea, United States
I love the mood set by the B&W tones. Somber yet stunning!
20 Apr 2009 1:42am
Viewfinder from Bradenton, FL, United States
This BW image captures the essence of the form; the color version captures the celebration of life that it represents. Both are essential for their own reasons.
The conversations you've had in today's comments by your viewers, and the posting you put up here have been a very refreshing and thought-provoking break from the "nice shot/thanks" kinds of bland remarks we're all guilty of leaving far too often (speaking for myself). So I appreciate the interaction.
A couple of places I land in the conversation about the sacredness of life:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being through him was life..."
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
If all that has been brought into being by our holy, Creator God, then all is sacred for God's sake, if not also for its own.
It saddens me beyond measure that transplanted people are crazed by an alligator eating a dog in the gator's own backyard, to the point that they would demand it be killed simply for existing and doing what alligators do.
And I agree with Barbara, that the artificial environments whales and dolphins are forced to exist in, for our amusement, seem like a terrible injustice to these magnificent creatures. Likewise the animals living in zoos and preserves have similar lives. Yet if we humans don't get to see them up close and personal, we may never develop a fuller appreciation for the sacred nature of their existence. Or get beyond our demanding their deaths for any trespasses they may commit against us, when they behave as they were created by God to behave.
20 Apr 2009 1:45am
@Viewfinder: Thanks for jumping into the conversation. There is a bunch more that happens in email exchanges.
EYES WIDE SHUT from The library of my soul, United Kingdom
An amazing photograph Jack, beautifully observed and so perfect in mono. I can add nothing to the words that have been said today by yourself and so many others, just read and acknowledge
20 Apr 2009 3:28am
dj.tigersprout from New York City, USA, United States
a lovely shot truly!! my favorite is the blurred stem and soft background!!!
20 Apr 2009 4:30am
Sof from Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Magnifique Noir et Blanc.. les détails sont superbes
20 Apr 2009 6:03am
Polydactyle from Montreal, Canada
Stunning!!! What a grat shot! In my collection VFXY
20 Apr 2009 1:02pm
ordinaryimages from Kentucky Bluegrass, United States
The b/w better defines the form of this particular image...I feel STRONGLY...both ways : ] best...jerry
20 Apr 2009 2:52pm
@ordinaryimages: "STRONGLY" - I thought that you were laid back.
@Diane Schuller: Thank you. Our Digital Photography Group meets tonight; I'm prints of both the color and the B&W versions.
Anita from West Nottingham, United States
Jack: In this case, I prefer the B&W to the color. I like the simplicity, darkness and mysteriousness of this image.
21 Apr 2009 3:08pm
@Anita: I prefer the B&W to the fake HDR. However, having printed both the original and the B&W, for me, it is a toss-up.
Véro from France
so delicate ... it seems that it makes us a beautiful reverence in thanking.
21 Apr 2009 5:23pm
Mike from Viols le fort, France
Magnifique!
Le traitement en N et B va très bien à cette orchidée. La profondeur de champs fait bien ressortir les fomes de cette belle fleur
21 Apr 2009 7:23pm
@Mike: Thank you, Mike.
akarui from Kagoshima, Japan
THe BW works very well. I like it better than the color one. Very good.
21 Apr 2009 10:40pm
shallowregret from Kongsberg, Norway
can´t believe i am saying this in public, but i think i prefer the color one. Both great though.
23 Apr 2009 8:53pm
@shallowregret: I must admit that I am shocked!!
Anita from West Nottingham, United States
Jack: Replying to your response to my comment: I've noticed that seeing an image on the computer monitor and seeing it in print, is not always the same. Some look better on the monitor, some look better in print, and most, look good both ways. Do you print your own?
26 Apr 2009 9:22am
Nikon D300
1/60 second
F/5.0
ISO 200
225 mm (35mm equiv.)