July 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullight/11732772253 This Month's Photograph Being able to visually manipulate time and space is what brought me into photography. I initially became involved in night photography because it didn't make sense to me to stop taking photographs once the sun had set for the day. I loved seeing how light was interpreted by a camera lens, since it is so different than the way our eyes see night light. What I like best about night photography, however, is that I am able to manipulate time by making very long exposures. In this photograph you see an example: a hand with an orange appears several times. This effect is made possible by using a tripod and keeping the shutter open for minutes, rather than for a fraction of a second. To manipulate space, I use wide angle lenses, auto stitching apps, and photo compositing. Favorite iPhone Apps Hueless has become my favorite way to do black and white photography on my iPhone. It has a wide range of controls for dealing with various lighting conditions, brightness and contrast, various grid patterns for composing, and even a set of options similar to black and white filters. This is an exciting app for anyone who enjoys black and white. You can view one of my recent black and white iPhone photos on Flickr. Notable Website After purchasing the book The Americans by Robert Frank in 1973, I became actively involved in street photography, as well as watching those around me who were following a similar path. There are many active street photographers who display their work on Flickr. One of the photographers I have watched most closely is  Maria Plotnikova, a member of the international collective Street Photographers. I like the way she works with very bright colors and often shows us crowd interactions that appear and disappear so quickly that they would be invisible if not captured by her elegant timing.