PhotoClass2017 :  It starts here.

This post forms part of my PhotoClass2017 series.

My favourite photo

This was taken several years ago.  It’s just down the road from our house, and for whatever reason has always appealed to me.  The leading lines, feeling of tranquillity and so many blue tones.  I’d be interested to hear your take on it, especially what, if anything your like about it, as I still find it hard to put my finger on what makes it a great shot to me.

Lost potential

I was out camping, and got up early one morning to find this boat sitting on the river in a sea of mist.  It was magical.  Sadly however I just wasn’t able to capture the essence of what was a magnificent scene.

That which I love

As an avid guitarist, I thought I’d take my three photos of my guitar and amp.   I wanted to make them something a little special, so chose to focus on a single element of the guitar and amp, and finally tried to catch something a little emotive for my final shot.

My Fender American Standard Stratocaster.  The fender head is pretty iconic in the guitar world, so chose it to represent the guitar.  I wanted to isolate the head by using a narrow depth of field with my pedal board in the background.  While non guitarists may enjoy the range of colours making up the background, an electric guitarist would probably recognise one or two pedals perhaps letting them feel a little special being aware of some “inside information”.

This is the grill cloth of my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amplifier.  Knowing the location of the centre of the speaker is pretty important when miking it for live gigs, so my kids marked it with some decorative pins for me.  Anyway, the grill cloth is a single texture over the whole amp, except for this one spot.  I used a narrow depth of field to emphasise the markers as an oasis in a sea of monotonous grill cloth.

 

I hadn’t planned this image, I actually had the guitar set up like this to take a different shot that just wasn’t working out.  As I walked past the head, I looked down the neck and noticed my pick, looking like it wanted to jump out and start playing.  Again, a narrow depth of field with just the pick in focus, but the whole out of focus guitar in the image for context.  I tried a couple of other photos with a tighter crop, but they just didn’t appeal to me as much.  While the background could be considered distracting, I think it adds some life to the image.

So there’s the start of my PhotoClass2017 journey.  All feedback would be greatly appreciated.