Thursday, September 4, 2008

Bounty


Some stuff from my garden: Yellow and zucchini squash, chard, Thai basil and a plum tomato. There was broccoli too but it somehow didn't get in the frame. You regulars might be somewhat amused to know that this was taken last Saturday, the last day of my Colour Challenge but after I'd already posted the daily photo. Oh well...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic.

First, thank you for visiting my blog and for commenting there.

This photo is like something Rembrandt would paint but he would made the edges of the picture as well as some of the items fade almost to black or to brown/black as he often did.

When I see a photograph this good I always wonder if the person knows about Rembrandt and his work or some of the other old Dutch masters.

This is really a worthy picture.

Victor said...

Good morning Abraham and thank you for your kind words. Yes I know about Rembrandt and the Dutch Masters but I wasn't thinking about them or any other painters that day. I'd just brought the produce into the kitchen and laid it on the table to show my wife. It looked pretty good in the light from our French doors so I rearranged it a bit and banged off a few frames.

Benjamin Madison said...

Not to be critical but this is a real color photo - most of your other color photos were really black and white shots in color (black and white and blue or black and white and orange, etc.) but there's no pussyfooting here. Hmmm now if I could only make the same breakthrough with BW myself - I've been shooting in BW lately but the results are hopeless so far. Glad you're enjoying the buskers series - it's been very interesting getting to know them a little. People are my favorite subjects. I always enjoy your photos and remarks.

Lynette said...

I've enjoyed browsing all of your recent posts, but I particularly like your veggie photos. Mr. Lincoln's right, one hundred percent right.

Thanks so much for stopping by Portland Oregon Daily Photo.

Mama and I had some pretty good store-bought veggies tonight that I cooked, steamed broccoli and sauteed yellow and zucchini squash, sauteed with some walla walla onion. Yummy! Your fresh veggies must have tasted heavenly.

Victor said...

Hey Benjamin, thanks for your very astute observation. Just to be sure, I scrolled back through last week's images and indeed, each one is basically a monochrome photo in colour. Maybe someday I'll get the hang of it but if I don't, oh well. My heart is really in black and white anyway. I wish you luck with your experiments in that direction. People photos are a great place to start. Cheers!

Julie said...

Sorry, but I don't understand - how are they a B&W photo in colour? Monotone concentrates on things other than visual: on texture, on content, on pattern. How is the cat/guitar image structurally a B&W image? How is the buddha (?sp) structurally B&W?

Snapper?
Brad?
Babooshka?
Others?

I thought I was constructing an understandable schemata now I have no b*** idea!

Victor said...

Julie, I think Benjamin would be best qualified to address your question but I'll give it a shot. Let's take the Buddha photo: It would work almost as well (some might say just as well) in BW. Bounty would not. I guess what Benjamin has pointed out is that my approach to colour is monochromatic and he's absolutely right about that. As a viewer, I am much more attracted to images that only use one or maybe two colours. So, even if I hadn't taken it, Morning Meditation would be my kind of colour picture, something I might buy a print of from a gallery. Benjamin has a completely different take on it. As do we all I suppose. Have I made this any clearer at all?

Rob said...

Interesting! I've read your comments here and had to look back. Amazing, all photos are simple colors, 3 at the most, rather monochromatic. So are you saying this is the way to create such wonderful black and white photos? Every day I learn more about photography. Thanks!

I am sure looking forward to the autumn harvest. A harvest as pretty as what you shot here. I saved a co-worker's heirloom tomato for the seeds. I hope to plant them next spring.

Julie said...

Okay ... getting there. If the pallette is naturally restricted, AND if there is sufficient shadow and texture THEN the image will work well in B&W ... if an image is evocative or likely to encourage the viewer to reminisce or relect, then the image should work in sepia.

Anonymous said...

The broccoli is missing because I ate the broccoli. Yumm.

Julie said...

*chortle*

Jane Hards Photography said...

Apologsies for not getting here this week. Internet and island are not always as one.Interesting topic. Benjamin is spot on. Most images I take are really images that should be mono. Opposing colours are true colour images. Complimenting colours or 7 greens etc in one shot, are a mono shot. Food is great example of a colour shot. I would never shoot a pepper in mono. Red Yellow green need to be seen.

Victor said...

"Red yellow green need to be seen"

Now that's a quotable quote! Thanks Babooshka.

Benjamin Madison said...

Greetings all! I finally have time to try to explain a little better what I meant in my first comment and I find that it's already been done. Basically what I was thinking was that black and white photography is all about the contrast between light and dark areas or chiaroscuro. Color photography has this kind of contrast but also has the contrast between colors to work with. Morning Meditation, a lovely peaceful photo, for example, exploits subtle light/dark variations within the red/orange spectrum rather than using contrasting colors to define the image. So I saw it as closer to a black and white photo in terms of technique. Descanso Bay Blues is similar. What made me remark on Bounty was the contrast between red/green/yellow that really exploits/celebrates color as the defining element. I'm just feeling my way through this stuff but here's a question that may make the distinction between BW and color clearer: In a black and white photo, how can you tell if a tomato is ripe?