Sean Duggan Blog

Umbrella

Umbrella at the Water's Edge  [Canon 5D]
(click in the image for a larger version)

This was taken this morning during a field photography session for a workshop on Digital Black & White that I am teaching this week at the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging in Los Osos, California (near San Luis Obispo). I actually placed the umbrella on the rocks for a pinhole photograph with my ZeroImage 6x9 camera, but decided to also take some digital shots as well. In an earlier shot it was closer down to the water in another section of beach and my shoes and ankles got soaked in the act of rescuing the umbrella from a frothy wave that came up much farther than expected (as waves are wont to do at times). As the umbrella wasn't very expensive, I wasn't so much concerned with losing it as I was with littering the ocean with more junk. There's already way too much of that as it is.

We had a good morning of photography at this cool rocky cove (and were even visited by a flock of about 15 turkey vultures and an equal number of brown pelicans) and then finished up in a gnarled, moss-festooned oak forest that could have served as a location for one of the "Lord of the Rings" films.

Just Like You

Seven Bones  [Canon 5D]
Jan 27, 2007
(click in the image for an ever so slightly larger version)

Glinda's House

Glinda's House  [Canon 5D]
Jan 18, 2007
(click in the image to see a larger version)

"Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?"

She Waited at the Gate...

She Waited at the Gate  [Canon 5D]
Jan 3, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

5.0 seconds.
San Francisco...9:36pm
She was waiting, I was walking
Sharpness is overrated, Part III.

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As the old saying goes...It never rains but it pours.

A chapter deadline rush for my current book project, as well as an unexpected, work-stopping computer coma last night (all is well now after applying some technical voodoo), and preparations for an out-of-town workshop next week, have interrupted my plans for a lengthier discussion on the beauty of the blur and the limitations of sharpness. {my, that was a long sentence!}

I wanted to get the last image from this series posted so things did not get too stale around here.  But I will return to those themes in the near future when I have a little more time. Besides, I have plenty of beautifully blurry images to use for illustrative examples!

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Upcoming Workshops:

Digital Black & White
Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2007 (next week!)
The Lepp Institue for Digital Imaging, Los Osos, California
Click here for a class description and more info
(last I heard there's still 2 or 3 spaces left...)

Her Shawl, Like a Rose Cascade...

Her Shawl, Like a Rose Cascade... [Canon 5D]
January 3, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

San Francisco...9:35pm
4.0 seconds.
They were walking,
I was walking;
Sharpness is overrated...(part II)

As Susan Burnstine reminds me in her comment on the previous image, the incomparable Keith Carter coined the aphorism on sharpness being overrated (thanks, Susan!). If you have not seen either Keith's or Susan's images, click on over and give them a look. There's some very fine work to be seen.

I have one more image from this series, which will be posted in a couple of days. By then I should have time to gather some thoughts for this space on the issue of sharpness and the beauty of the blur. Stay tuned!

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Upcoming Workshops:

Digital Black & White
Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2007
The Lepp Institue for Digital Imaging, Los Osos, California
Click here for a class description and more info

The Tree Between Them

The Tree Between Them  [Canon 5D]  2.5 seconds
(click in the image for a larger version)

San Francisco, 9:35pm...
I was walking,
they were walking,
sharpness is overrated.

More thoughts on this theme coming in the days ahead.

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Upcoming Workshops:

Digital Black & White
Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2007
The Lepp Institue for Digital Imaging, Los Osos, California
Click here for a class description and more info

3 Bottles and Duck in Flight

Still Life with 3 Bottles and Duck in Flight  [Canon 5D]
January 6, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

I was prowling in a nearby antique store over the weekend and found this ready made still life among the jumble of dusty offerings.

Though I do not have any good examples to show here, this image calls to mind (for me, at least) that genre of realist still life painting that became popular in Europe in the late 1600s and early 1700s, that often included dead game hanging on the wall or draped over a table. This is a modern day take on that as seen in a typical American junk/"antique" shop.

An Interlude of Light and Shadow

Glass Drafting Table [Canon 5D]
San Francisco, January 3, 2007
(click in the image to see a larger version)

We were in San Francisco for a couple of days last week. The friend with whom we stayed had a glass drafting table next to the windows and in the afternoon the angled glass surface created cool reflections of the window blinds. There are some scenes, created by the delicate interplay of light and form, that are so wonderfully simple, elegant and graphic that they are irresistable and I find myself reaching for the camera bag almost unconsciously, the hand moving of its own accord, the mind already weighing exposure considerations and the best way to meter the scene. This was one of those scenes.

Though this is a "good" photograph, there is nothing remarkable about it. Indeed, such scenes as this have been recorded on film or pixels many, many times and will be again, by people all over the world...the siren call of such light and shadow dances is hard to resist.  But it is still satisfying in a small way. It gives a little pleasure, it invites one to look a bit closer and to see a bit farther, and perhaps notice things that we might not have. And really, that's what photography is all about, isn't it?

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Upcoming Workshops:

Digital Black & White
Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2007
The Lepp Institue for Digital Imaging, Los Osos, California
Click here for a class description and more info

The Day After Christmas

The Meeting [Canon 5D]
Dec. 26th, 2006
(click in the image for a larger version)

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Upcoming Workshops:

Digital Black & White
Jan 29 – Feb 2, 2007
The Lepp Institue for Digital Imaging, Los Osos, California
Click here for a class description and more info