Photo of the Week: Dec. 16, 2009

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: One of the great joys of photography is creating images that cannot be seen with normal viewing. There are two ways of achieving this: by random experimentation or by pre-visualization and intent to create what one envisions. This photograph was made via the latter method, in an attempt to take a frequently-photographed subject and make something entirely fresh.

This shot required fooling the camera into shooting what it considers to be a mistake, namely a subject that is way out of focus. I have my camera set so that the shutter triggers only when the camera locks on focus. In order to throw the intended subject out of focus, I had to point the camera at a distant object, press halfway down on the shutter release button to activate auto-focus and then, without releasing the shutter, recompose the image with the closer, but now blurred, subject. May the light of the menorah shed new light on all your creative adventures. Chag Urim Sameach.