Photos of the Week: Sept. 8, 2011

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I often tell people that I practice photography, like meditation or Tai Chi, in order to elevate my awareness of subtleties in nature that often go unnoticed. As a professional who strives to continually create original and inspiring images, I frequently return to old subjects and attempt to shoot them anew. One technique I have used successfully involves building unconventional relationships between the subject and its immediate environment to give a fresh face to the familiar. The two photos I am sending this week are excellent illustrations of this concept.

The upper image features ripe sabra fruit which had toppled into a field of dry grass. Sabra fruit and flowers are normally seen as part of the larger, green and spiny cactus plant, so this image offers an alternative to the traditional view. The blurred blades of grass don't impede the viewer's eye as it searches for the photo's subject. Instead, I think they add a bit of realism to the photo as the fruit appears in a natural state, exactly as it was found on the day I walked past it.

The second image emerged while pursuing a shot of black grapes. In the end, the grapes take a back seat to the leaves and the beautifully textured vine, which comes to dominate the photo. I left just enough of the grape cluster visible to help the viewer identify the subject. Here, too, by altering the proportion or the position of the main subject, a new perspective is unveiled, and an old subject is reborn.

Technical Data:
Upper Photo: Nikon D300, 18-200 zoom at 75mm, f6.3 @ 1/640th sec., ISO 200.
Lower photo: Nikon D300, 28-105 zoom at 62mm, f9 @ 1/200th sec., ISO 400.