Week #2

The past week, I've been really trying to soak in different lighting situations. It has been especially stimulating and informing because this week, we have had a wide variety of weather climates. I was going to write about an experience I had a few weeks ago, (3am walking from my car to my house), when the sky was crystal clear. And despite the fact that it was late, it was "bright" out, and the stars were glimmering away. Unfortunately, I didn't know we needed pictures, so there goes that blog!

I noticed a few others pulled old photos for this blog, so I am going to do the same. Over summer break, I went to Hawaii. I know it has been a while, but I remember the particular experience from the photo VERY vivdly because it was my first time in a helicopter, and duh, it was Hawaii!!! The experience was almost out of body for me.

The sky was fairly cloudy. It had a mixture of chunk clouds and even fog style clouds. This caused the light to be a brighter white to me, neither on the warm or cold side. I LOVE how chunky clouds cause beams of light and shadowing on the ground. You can not really see the beams of light through the sky in this photo, but you can see its effect on the floor below. The textured, uneven ground below was so interesting. If the light was cast unobstructed by clouds, you would have seen the actual dimensions of the ground with its highlights and shadows caused by the afternoon, angled, sun. But because there were chunks of light, it created a different texture and landscape below. I was amazed at how some areas could be so dark, while others so bright and vivid. Everything was in "soft focus". I did not photoshop this picture at all, so all the shadows, bright areas, etc. are all natural! I cannot pinpoint how particularly the lighting made me feel because there were so many other elements that were so stimulating, but I know, if everything was gray it would have been less breath taking.

So I guess an area of question for this experience could be the effectiveness of drastic, yet soft contrasts to a given scene.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend,

Politeia