Results and feedback for the "Discovery" Weekly Photography Assignment

[keithsnell]

The guidelines for this assignment were to compose an image that describes a unique aspect that you discovered during the course of photographing your subject.


Rebecca's Emerald Lake Hillside image was a great example of allowing the process of discovery to unfold through our photography and lead to a new understanding of our subject.  Her composition of the wildflower-covered hillside, which included the patterns of the tall stalks of the Monument Plant, piqued our curiosity about these plants.  This curiosity later led to a conversation that left us with a greater appreciation of the unique life-cycle and beauty of these plants, and an appreciation of how lucky we were to have witnessed the rare blooms.

Emerald Lake Hillside
Photographed by Rebecca

Monument Plant close up
Photographed by Rebecca

Michele's In-flight and Crane images also led to a process of discovery.  I thought the bird looked much like a Great Blue Heron we see here in the States, and so I did a little research.  According to Wikipedia, "The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England."  I think we can now modify that to read "It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores, England and Switzerland!"  Great job capturing this magnificent bird in flight Michele.  I was fascinated by the detail and patterns in the flight feathers in your second image.

In-flight
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Crane
Photographed by Michele Bollhalder

Congratulations to Dave, whose Billy Tripp image won the vote for People's Choice.   Dave did a great job using fill flash to separate the bike and rider from the background without letting the image look "over-flashed."  It sounds like Dave made quite a few interesting "discoveries" while photographing the bike.

Billy Tripp
People's Choice
Photographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust)

Like Dave, I must have been "hungry for color and light," because his Peaches image was one of my favorite from the assignment.  Dave did a wonderful job handling the high contrast lighting in this image.  The highlight areas "pushed the envelope" a bit with respect to blown color channels; however, the overall exposure and colors in the image were very effective at conveying the feeling of being in the bright sun & shade dappled orchard.  Beautifully handled Dave.  I've selected this image as Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit.

Peaches
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit
Photographed by Dave Leiker (prairiedust)

I always enjoy Lars' Photoshop creations, and love the way he can take a simple subject and transform it into a work of art.  Lars took an image of a simple candy wrapper and created an image that made us curious and invited us to explore the unusual shapes, forms and colors.  Thanks for sharing your creativity with us Lars.

Discover beauty in a simpel way
Photographed by Lars

Rick's image of the Old Coral in Colorado was another shot that made me want to explore.  I found myself wishing that I could zoom into the image to see more detail in the fascinating patterns and textures of the wood rails.  The Old Coral looks like an intriguing and rich location to explore with a camera.  Great job composing the overall scene to convey a sense of place and leave us with the desire to go exploring.

Old Coral in Colorado
Photographed by Rick Pepin

My Discovering Wildflowers image was a tribute to the wonderful photographers that accompanied us on our explorations around Crested Butte, Colorado.  Many of their wonderful compositions will remain in my memory, and help to redefine how I think about wildflowers.  (Now that I look at this image again, I think it is a bit over-sharpened.  I think the varying sharpness throughout the image tricked me into over-sharpening the foreground.)

Discovering Wildflowers
Photographed by Keith

Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Discovery" assignment.  I suspect that like me, many of you enjoy photography because you recognize how it enriches your lives by providing an avenue for you to explore, discover, and share interesting aspects of your world.  Recognizing this process of discovery, and consciously giving it time to unfold, can help our photography become even more enriching.  I hope you enjoyed this assignment as much as I did.

Keith

[prairiedust]

Thanks everyone, and of course, to Mr. Tripp.  The peaches are really good as they look this year. We bought a bunch from the local farmer's market, locally grown, and they are great.

[marilyn]

I really enjoyed all of the photos and felt badly that I didn't get one submitted, but hopefully I'm now back on track!  There are some amazing images discovered and discoveries made in the process of shooting, composing, reflecting, etc.  It's an awesome assignment, Keith and I know that I will think about the ideas expressed long into the future.

[keithsnell]

Thanks Marilyn.  I'll try to keep the assignments interesting as we go forward.  I felt a bit distracted with all of our traveling, but now that we're back in Kansas (at least for the month of August) hopefully I'll be able to spend a bit more time on the assignments.

If you have any suggested topics for future assignments, please be sure and let me know.

Keith

[Michele]

Hi Keith, thanks again for researching my bird.  Surprisingly, these past few years, I have seen quite of few of these guys.  There is a nest pretty close to my house.  It's funny but traffic does not seem to bother them.

Thank you again.  I thought it was a fisher.  Here they are called Fischerei.

Have a great Sunday.