Retro//Reflection - Issue #12
Fun little projects. Something you can do in an hour or two from start to finish.
Once or twice per month I send out a letter with a handful of (my) photographs and share a bit of insight on the ‘why?’ or ‘how?’. As an enthusiastic photographer, anything goes.
Maybe you learn something?
Or perhaps it will spark some inspiration?
“Projects” is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration to describe this, but fun little projects is about completing a photography process from start to finish within a few hours. It’s not about striving for perfection, or to be too technical about things, but simply to pass the time meaningful with photography and, at the end, to have something completed.
Done.
Finished.
I often look for a subject nearby (in or around the house, garden or maybe in my neighborhood), grab my camera and simply take a number of photo’s of that subject.
Afterwards, I import them in Lightroom, Capture One or PhotoLab and only do minor adjustments - heck, I might even opt for a preset to start with (sssht, don’t tell anyone ;-). Export the files and done.
“But what do you do with these photos?”
Well, I think it’s more about the process (or progress) than anything else. There is no “greater purpose” really1. But, to post them here at least gives them a some purpose I guess. And I do kinda like ‘em, so why not show them? ;)
One of the fun little projects I did was take a number of photo’s of a small Hot Wheels car. I think most of you will recognize this one. It was somewhat more famous as a time machine, than it was as an actual street car2.
I used a Canon 600D with an EF-S 60mm Macro lens on a tripod without any special setup (apart from a white sheet of A4 paper as surface to have the car sit on) and just daylight coming in from nearby windows.
Apart from the first image, all where taken at f8 to f10. but with a macro lens this means still a (very) shallow depth of field. But this is a fun little project, so no focus stacking or anything fancy!
I think this model car is quite detailed, and now looking at these photo’s, I might want to scavenge my kids bedrooms for other cars and have a go again ;)
Each issue I want to end with mentioning a photographer, a photography-related website or publication, simply to show my appreciation for what they do.
If you’re ever in a creative rut, have a look at Denis Cherim’s work! His (ongoing) Coincidence Project is really unique and very inspiring. As Denis puts it: “As the project´s name reveals I look to capture different scenes where the subjects appear to be coincidently together creating an amusing combination. A combination that makes you look twice and tells you a whole new story about an everyday situation.”
https://denischerim.com/CoincidenceProject
That’s it for this issue. Thank you for reading until the end. Feel free to leave a short comment or message. Appreciate it!
Until next time, cheers,
Ronald
ronaldsmeets.info
ps: this article/newsletter/post is free, because I’m not doing this to make a profit. Also, I don’t like subscriptions at all (Tom Pendergast has a great article about not going paid, which I agree with). However, if you do want to show your support, a coffee always helps me writing and posting here ;-)
Occasionally I might learn something, how to use my camera better for example.
No? Remember the “Back To The Future” films?
Looks like a fun project. Next step with the model car is to do some forced perspective photography. I had thought that before reading down to see your excellent link to the work of Denis Cherim which makes ample use of Forced Perspective to great effect. As for you model... 1.21 GIGAWATTS!