Infinity Mirrors Yayoi Kusama at the Hirshhorn

A week ago I went to see the Kusama exhibit in Washington D.C. at the Hirshhorn Gallery.

I was lucky to have a friend gift me an un-timed ticket and I went on the second to last day.  I got in very shortly after they opened and the lines were still short inside.

One one the things that caught my eyes was this painting, which was displayed along with the Mirrors exhibit.  I tried something different and went for the slow shutter speed and lens zooming during the exposure.  Of a huge number of tries, a handful came out ok and I liked this one in particular.

The original painting is called "End of the Universe, Abode of Love".




The rooms that contain the Infinity Mirrors pieces are fairly small, and can hold a couple of visitors at a time.  With this being so popular, each set of visitors is timed and allowed between 20 and 30 seconds depending on the one (or maybe the docent's interpretation of the time limit, IDK).

Once I had seen the first exhibit/room, I knew that shooting just inside was going to leave me wanting more.  And I also wanted to somehow capture the visitors going in or going out.  I lurked outside a few of them, and with the one below captured something close to what I hoped for.  Again I used a slow shutter speed, and this time with the moving mirrored door, the reflections are stretched out horizontally.  And the door helps to bridge the inside with the outside.  I wish I had spent much more time with this approach.

#infinitymirrors #infinityescapes @hirshhorn #infinitekusama #nikonartists #nikographer #washingtondc #washdc #dcist

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on May 16, 2017 at 7:30am PDT

Finally here's one from inside.  This is shot with a D4 and 35mm perspective control (PC), manual focus lens.  I only shot a very brief amount of time with this lens inside the exhibits because getting good focus in the dark in 20 seconds while examining a scene I've never experienced before is all too much.  I realized this when I chimped my shots from one room and found almost all of them out of focus.  I just hadn't gotten it right.  The other setup I was using was a D810 w/ 24-120mm f/4.



I also posted the above to Instagram, and cut off my legs which were distracting in the flickr verison in my opinion.

#hirshhorn #hirshhornmuseum #infinitymirrors #yayoikusama #kusama #washdc #dc #nikographer #lights #art

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on May 18, 2017 at 6:41am PDT

There are still a lot more images I'd like to share.  Here's a small collage of 4 more images from the day.

Have you seen this or another one of Kusama's exhibits?  What did you think?

-Jon

Going Old School - Osprey Drawings

When I was a kid, I used to like to draw.  I would draw cars, trees, boats, whatever.

Fast forward and now I like to take photos.  A ton of photos.  I usually take more than 100,000 photos a year.  A typical day could be 500-2000 images depending on how many places and cool things and action I encounter.

A month or so ago I bought a couple of sketch books and some pencils, erasers, etc.

Thursday I sat down with a pad and pencil and stared at it for a while.  Then I drew a box with a vertical line through it.  And I scratched my head so to speak...  What is that and why did I draw it?  I didn't know.  I still don't know, but it was a starting point.  I figured out that was NOT what I wanted to draw.  Usually my doodles are boxes, three dimensional distractions that are a waste of time but accomplish the goal.

Then from somewhere the idea of drawing a bird came to me.  I decided to try to draw an osprey, and drew about 8 that first night, each roughly a quarter of the page I had to work with. Here are 3 from the first night.

I drew some #osprey today. This is the second one I did of about eight. #drawing #pencil #instabird #nikographer #first #draw #linedrawing #art #bird #birdstagram #nature #birds #ig_birdlovers #ig_nature #nikonpencil #sketch #face #expression #shock

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Mar 23, 2017 at 5:12pm PDT

I drew some #osprey today. This is the first one I did of about eight. #drawing #pencil #instabird #nikographer #first #draw #linedrawing #art #bird #birdstagram #nature #birds #ig_birdlovers #ig_nature #nikonpencil

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Mar 24, 2017 at 8:02am PDT

I drew some #osprey today. This is the third one I did of about eight. #drawing #pencil #instabird #nikographer #third #draw #linedrawing #art #bird #birdstagram #nature #birds #ig_birdlovers #ig_nature #nikonpencil

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Mar 24, 2017 at 11:15am PDT

Then on the second night I used most of a page and drew this single portrait.  It's got some light and shadow...

#tonight's #creation - #osprey #instabird #pencil #drawing #linedrawing #nikographer  #drawing #pencil #instabird #nikographer #first #draw #linedrawing #art #bird #birdstagram #nature #birds #ig_birdlovers #ig_nature #sketch #nikonpencil

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Mar 24, 2017 at 4:44pm PDT

Tonight (3/25/2017) I drew another osprey portrait but I didn't like the way it came out.  It was too dark and there some issues with the proportions being a little bit askew.

So I drew a second image and here's what I came up with, it is from an image I took today of an osprey eating a fish.  All these drawings are based on photographs I took at some point.  I put the image up on my iPad and then drew...

#osprey with a #fish #drawing #sketch #linedrawing #day3ofdrawing #nikographer #pencil #nikonpencil #art #birdsofinstagram #ig_birdlovers #ig_drawing

A post shared by Jon (@the_real_nikographer) on Mar 25, 2017 at 4:55pm PDT

Tonight's second drawing (above) is the first that has the tail and the repeating patterns in the feathers, and the first with talons.  I drew it quickly and probably because I had done another image and given up on it, I was fast to call it done.  Looking at it more I could work on the eye more and the left leg might need some adjusting.  But part of this exercise is to go quick and make drawings and learn and move on.

I'm still playing with a few modes of doing the drawings.  2 days ago I started with the eyes and then added around that slowly.  Today I tried starting with the tree branch and then added the eye and then more of an outline of the bird.  In the future I want to try to do more of an outline of the entire bird/subject and then as I go fill in the details.  That should help me get the scale and proportions better.  But I also know from some past drawings that starting with small details and adding slowly to that can have a surprisingly good result because it is details added to details and the scale is considered for each small area vs. trying to get the scale correct all up front...

Hope you like the drawings, I had fun making them and plan to make more.

-Jon

Maine Osprey 2011

My brother has been getting in to photography a lot lately and found an awesome spot for Osprey in Maine. There's a river and a run of fish going on now, and well, the river's pretty narrow and there's lots of fish and osprey. It's an awesome spot.

A half hour's walk through the woods and then there it is.



Continued...




In a few days I've gone a few times and spent quite a few hours there. There are all show with a 500mm handheld and cropped some...



The spot is setup pretty nicely, by late morning the light is working its way to the side of the river and behind the spot to shoot from.






While there my brother and I were both initially put off because of some hikers and people fishing there along the river. But after a while, I realized that by this not being an untraveled spot the osprey are actually more accustomed to people being around.

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Keep Exploring & More Vertical

GVP #40 to #48 - From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/keep-exploring-more-vertical.html

A couple weeks ago I went to the Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base. This was my 5th year going, and I'm starting to get my fill of it all. The highlights of past years have been the F-15 which is awesome and so fast when they kick on the afterburners. The F-22 Raptor is amazing too. It can basically defy normal laws of physics, and hover, flip, flop, slide, go backwards, sort of crazy.


-click for more-



The part that has gotten pretty old this time is the crowds. My basic routine for the past few years is to be on one of the very first buses from Fedex field so I can get a front row spot near the middle. Doing it this way makes it a very long day but there's not a better place to shoot from really. With no one in front of you, you can have an unblocked view of just about all of the show. They have restrictions on what you can bring to the base/show, but you're allowed to bring a chair, a tripod, and whatever camera gear you might want to carry (but bag sizes are limited to 1 cubic foot). The problem is that even if things go smooth it is a stressful day. Carrying around a couple cameras, a few lenses, a chair, a tripod, and being out in the hot sun on the tarmac takes a toll. Add to this the fact that the crowds are usually around 100,000 people, and being up front makes your space a target. Every one that was home sleeping at 7am now wants to stand in front of you. So it turns in to a defensive struggle to not get ousted from the front row, or just stepped on and bullied.

The other thing that I found some this year is that it is somewhat hard to get unique photos when you and 99,999 other folks are there too. I guess it is not impossible, but it is hard. My vertical project helped a little to keep me trying new stuff, but, more and more I want to keep advancing my photography and being where lots of other people are shooting isn't part of the plan.

Maybe next year I will take a different approach to it to keep it fresh - like sleeping in, or not bringing a big lens and tripod or chair, etc. Doing it completely the opposite way, and shooting the static display stuff more, or maybe the people of the air show.

(I realize that I am posting this to my nature&wildlife photography blog, but to me all photography is part of the same continuum - the learning, exploring, and processes involved.)


The sad news of the zoo's lions loosing their new born cub was a real downer. But the work involved in the zoo's effort to build a lion pride has been going on for around 5 years! The fact that they have a male, 2 females, they've settle in to the zoo well, and now are a pride of 3 - and there's been mating and a single birth (this recent one) is a success. And this setback is temporary, and I am still hopeful and proud of the hard work the zoo has done to come this far.


And now on to some WILDLIFE! Last year I went to Cape May New Jersey for the first few times ever. I stayed over night both times, and had a real blast. During Fall Cape May is a major hot spot for migratory birds. I saw hawks, and a variety of other birds but the Black Skimmers were my absolute favorites.



In October (2009) there had to have been 500 birds (black skimmers) along the beach - in just one or two groups. By November (2009) the group was down to roughly 50, and of those only a handful for adults. For reference as to how much I enjoyed watching and shooting them - I probably spent 50% of my time just with them on the beach, and maybe took 3000 shots. The hawks, raptors, etc which motivated me to go in the first place weren't my favorites or even a big highlight. Just this one image stands out - and the close encounter I had with a Cooper's that flew by me at around a distance of 5 feet and plunged in to a bush to try to catch a meal.

This weekend I went again but didn't find any Skimmers. There were some on the other side of the Delaware Bay in DE. The highlight of this trip was probably the Piping Plovers and Laughing Gulls. Much like the Skimmers, the Laughing Gulls are pretty common but they have some character and aren't too skittish.



I was keeping Cape May a "secret". Lol. The thing is that people do follow where I go, and I wanted to keep the spot to myself. But in actuality the spot is probably the most famous and known birding spots of all the east coast north of Florida. I realized this (obvious fact) and also that I should be able to get my unique images regardless of who knows I shoot there. I am still going to try to keep my smaller spots off of my publicly shared spots (just going to share the images themselves) - but a spot like CM, it's like Blackwater or Bombay Hook - the locations are very well known already.

Later in the weekend I checked in on one of the osprey nests I visit, and the female appeared to be sleeping when I got there. She woke up when some other birds chirped to alert the neighborhood to my approach. But she didn't fly off the nest, and just watched me for a few. There's gotta be chicks already or maybe by this weekend. I didn't see any feeding last weekend, and have high hopes for this nest this year.



I've been shooting video on and off, trying to keep at that. Here's a short clip of the osprey from above, sitting on the nest and yelling to the skies!