Friday, August 9, 2013

Today's Paper Photography Project

As I walked by one of the exterior windows at work a week (or so) ago, I noticed an eye-catching art display. It is columns and rows of stacked Asian-inspired papers created by a local artist by the name of Eva Isaksen. There was something about the flowing nature of the papers and how they danced thanks to the air vent in the window display area that captured me.

I decided to get brave, go outside of my comfort zone, and ask the building management people if there was any way I'd be allowed inside the display area to photograph the paper; shooting through the windows wasn't working for me... too many reflections and not the right angle. The very nice lady that I spoke with said they'd be happy to let me in if I received permission from the artist. After giving myself a pep talk (I really do hate being shy) and telling myself the worst thing she could do was say "no", I emailed Ms. Isaksen and explained that I'm participating in a daily photography project (365 Project) and was wondering if I could get up close and personal (so to speak) with her collage; I also included a few of the photos I'd taken for the project, so she new I wasn't a quack who didn't know aperture from a hole in the wall. :)  She responded VERY quickly with a resounding "yes." (Woo hoo!!)

Today, with emailed permission in hand, I was granted entry into the sacred hallows of the window display area... do I feel special?? Oh yeah I do! ;)

I played around with shutter speeds and depth of field in hopes to catch the feeling of motion created by the air vent and paper, but most of those shots just turned out blurry and unimpressive. (Thank goodness for digital photography... no waste like I'd have with film!!) The still paper shots seemed to be the keepers of the day; it's funny how you expect one thing to be great, but something completely different works out instead!

I'm sure I was quite the sight to see as I laid down to get upward views of the paper, pressed my head and camera against the wall to capture the vastness of the paper, and hunkered down while blowing on the papers to get a wee bit more movement. 

All in all, it was a great experiment and fun challenge. 





And now for a little black and white to spice things up even more!





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