Sum of the Parts
Ocean swells and falls as a twilight breeze ruffles my hair
salty fresh with spray
waves thumping deeply through bedrock
Watching the moon rise
and waiting
Alone now
Then it happens … the scene blurs and folds
into two … then three
Ocean Sky Moon
as balanced as they are suspended
Individually separate
As the sum of the parts
they are the world
(Inspired by Ness 2012)
I have been working on a series lately called 'Sum of the Parts' in which I deliberately blur my photograph in an attempt to break it into it's component parts. The pieces invite the viewer to to meditate on a scene without visual distraction of detail in a realm without time. That's the theory anyways! The first image in this series was blogged here as Sunset Wave and is shown below.
Tell me, do you work in or on a series? By that I mean do you think "today I'm going to take a picture for my *insert classy description here* series"? Or do you look back on your portfolio and think "Hey I've got a lot pictures of flowers/car number plates/left shoes … I should put them together in a series"?
Do tell! 🙂
Un très joli moment de fin de jour offrant des tonalités d’une grande douceur. J’aime beaucoup.
Thank you Marie … it was a beautiful end to a great day 🙂
beautiful shots here!
i do work on series, but to begin with not even being very aware of it.
just things that fascinate me when i look around me, and sooner or later i end up having a collection of them.
sometimes i also represent them in series on my blog.
Thank you … wonderful work (and series) over your way too 🙂
Thanks for saying hello.
Ich bin begeistert von dieser Aufnahme! Ein Blick der Ruhe und Gelassenheit. Danke, dass du diese Bild mit uns teilst.
Gedanken wie ich meine Serien zeigen und präsentieren soll, habe ich schon länger. Mit der jetzigen Lösung bin ich nicht zufrieden. Die letzten Wochen konnte ich viele Bilder von blühendem Gras fotografieren. Gerne möchte ich aus diesen Bildern eine Serie gestalten und zeigen. Wie genau konnte ich für mich noch nicht Umsetzen.
Gruss
Google translate version: I am thrilled with this recording! A look of calm and serenity. Thank you for sharing this picture with us.
Thought I should show my present series and I have some time. With the current solution, I’m not satisfied. The last few weeks I was able to photograph many pictures of flowering grass. I would like to make a show of these images and series. How exactly could I not reacting to me.
greeting
Claudia, I’m very happy that you feel something from this image … the feelings you describe are just the ones I am trying to communicate 🙂
I look forward to your series too 🙂
Geoff
Google translate version: Claudia, ich bin sehr glücklich, dass Sie etwas fühlen von diesem Bild … die Gefühle, die Sie beschreiben, sind nur die, die ich versuche zu kommunizieren bin 🙂
Ich freue mich auf Ihre Serie auch 🙂
Geoff
To be honest, I only really got into photography last year when I stumbled over a monthly project which required to do a series of three pictures for a given theme. This year I do a similar project and sort of ended with a series of 6 pictures. And even in between, as you’ll have noticed, I seldom show just one picture in a post as I always seem to take a whole series of pictures anyway. Of course, this could also mean that I just can’t decide for one and dump them all on you 🙂
If I’m thinking about some of my older, unpublished pictures there might be a view that were taken at different times and places but could probably be arranged to a series. We’ll see how that goes…
As for your picture and words: The softness of the colours and shapes is very nice. Three days ago I went outside in the evening trying to capture the nearly full moon. The light was pretty similar, light blue sky and a yellow/orange glowing moon. Opposed to you I tried to get an unblurred view with the craters on the surface being visible so the result is black/white, rather plain and cold, a totally different mood. I so envy you being close to the ocean, I really miss the sea and it will probably be a few more weeks until I can go there again.
The moon is a fine mistress. Always changing her moods and allowing interpretation. Sometimes she is soft and warm and other times sharp and sterile. I love that about her … that she gives back what is brought to her … often I know not what I am bringing and by spending time with her she helps me to see 🙂
As it happens, Canberra is about 2 hours drive from the coast and I don’t get there anywhere near as often as I’d like. The south coast of New South Wales is some of most beautiful and wild in Australia (and Australia has a lot of coast! (about 36,000km worth!) I seem to take a lot of pictures there and that most likely gives the impression that I am close by … perhaps it is my way of being close to the sea 😉
I guess I should have looked at Google Maps for Canberra earlier 🙂 A two hours drive is probably as long as it would take for me to get to the nearest coast, at the North Sea in the Netherlands, my hometown at the Baltic coast is about 6-7 hours away. So your pictures really seem to make an impression or maybe it’s just my longing for the sea that make those appeal more to me than others. Right now I’m also wondering if time has come for me to seriously plan a trip to Australia as I’ve been dreaming about it for years. 36,000 km of coast line – if that’s not a point 🙂
What I also found very interesing and a bit surprising was to hear you speaking about the moon as ‘her’. I can’t actually say why but for me the moon has always been ‘he’, a partner for the sun which always was ‘she’ for me, both together a heavenly couple dancing across the sky. The sun so bright that we cannot look at her directly for long, but the moon we can watch for as long as we want. I love those days when sun and moon can both been seen on the sky, in the morning or in the evening, apart and somehow longing for each other. Hm, maybe I should publish my moon picture 🙂
Lovely series, looking forward to more.
I enjoy having several series or groupings of ideas going at once. Love working out a question, problem or interest within a series.
Thanks Elena, You’re right on … sometimes a series is the artistic record of the chasing down of an idea or the solving of a problem 🙂
this is lovely it would be perfect as a large wall print.
I think it would too … someone somewhere must want one!
Yes, beautiful serie. I love the idea… Where can we se the serie ?
a perfect reproduction of an abstract concept, I really like your explosion of creativity shown in this shot!!!
Beautiful colors and great minimalism!
Have a nice day.