Light, line, path

I attended my first Denver Photowalk Meetup this morning at Confluence Park, just east of downtown Denver. Today’s assignment was to shoot as many photos as possible for an hour, then focus on just a handful of shots for another hour. The lesson: to discover the difference between shooting indiscriminately and editing in the camera.

Given that I’ve been reading about mindfulness in the midst of an overwhelming week, the assignment seemed right on target. The group leader, Alex, suggested that we have a theme or focus in mind. I wasn’t sure until I got started what would draw my eye, but pretty quickly I settled on light, line and pathway. I also decided to work with my Nikkor 50 mm F1.8 lens, which I love but haven’t shot a lot. I wanted to play with depth of field.

This morning at 9, the light was cold and hard. Every line was doubled by dark shadow. I decided to take advantage of the light conditions (after all, that’s what photography is all about) and catch as many contrasts in light as possible. I put on my headphones, pushed play on a Moola Mantra track set on repeat–a chant my birthmother sent me for Christmas that lights my brain on fire–and started shooting.

First, I wandered along the South Platte River, spending about 30 minutes shooting reflections in the water. This is one of my first shots of the day. I love shooting reflections. I spent the first 20 minutes shooting variations of this shot: wide, close, catching the edge of the river, varying shutter speed and aperture. I’m most satisfied this this shot, but I don’t think it’s as interesting as my later shots. Still, it exemplifies my themes.

When I got tired of shooting reflections, I started walking north on the path and the grafitti’d underpass caught my eye. I love the “neopolitan ice cream” aspect of this shot. I took about 12 shots here, deciding on focus and trying not to blow out the left side of the shot.

I love traintracks, and I especially love cairns. They are symbolic of being in the moment and marking where you are in that very breath. In playing with my theme, I stacked these three rocks on the rail and aimed. I took about 40 shots here, finally settling on this composition, focus and depth of field. It’s not quite right … I wish the focus were a little to the right. This is not about perfection, but about practice.

As I was walking back to the group after the first hour, I saw this shot and it struck me as a visualization of my belief about life path: Like the zigzag shadow, you do your best to align with the train tracks but always zig and zag along the way. I like the perspective. I took 3 shots of this scene, playing only with depth of field once I had the beginning, middle and end in frame. I’d like to come back to this shot with a different lens, maybe, or shoot it sitting down … I love the idea of it, and the story of it (the beginning, middle and end), but there’s too much in focus, I think. Maybe cropping would help?

One of my last 3 photos. I took several shots of this scene, playing with depth of field (getting used to manual focus on my Nikkor 50mm 1.8). I love the kacina-doll effect of this angle on the bike rack, the contrast of angle and curve, and the hard shadows. I also like the softness at the back of the photo, which adds some mystery … my idea of “the path.”

One of my last 3 photos. I took 4 shots. This is a horizontal crop of the original. I love the repeating shadows transected by the bottom of the wall, the way the wall cuts that diagonal from southwest to northeast, and the peeling, fading paint. I love the hard light we had this morning.

One of my last 3 photos. I took one shot, intrigued by the line of shadow on the ground vs the burst of light across the purse, all of the diagonals, and the hook.

I met a few people, took some interesting photos and had a lovely time. It’s a good group; I’ll join them again.

Which shot is your favorite? What’s your perspective on life path: a straight line or a zig-zag. Does your ultimate destination change throughout your life?