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A year in pictures ~ Week 4 of 52, Seasonal Fruit and Vegetables

My subject this week is such a colourful fruit, that I decided that it would have been unnecessary to subject it to any post processing warp, so instead I set out to capture its natural vibrance and energy. I had a concept based on the way we sometimes cut them open, and thought of the pieces flying apart in a kind of orange explosion. To simplify this and preserve the beauty of the cut surfaces, I opted for four large pieces and arranged them in a 3D scatter scultpure (I made that term up of course :D). I considered various backgrounds, but I kept coming back to blue, the complementary colour to orange. I also thought it would work to create a graduated backdrop, in my head at least it reminds me of the sky in the sunshine regions with which we associate these citrus fruits.

ISO100 f4 @1/50s. Flash on white background through blue gel & snoot, softbox camera left with reflector camera right to fill dark areas.

I've been aware in the last few weeks that the oranges that I've been getting have been absolutely at their best. They're one of those fruits that we get year-round these days, but the majority of times they are a little disappointing, either too dry or very tasteless. Those that are in the stores just now are juicy, sweet, tasty and best of all super-zangy (probably another made up word ;-). When you eat a good one, it's a blissful experience, and there's a relief associated with knowing that the memory of the last time you had one like it wasn't just a rose tinted nostalgia, but something to be repeated again and again at the right time of year. We all know the benefits of these wonderful fruits, so I'm not going to bore anyone with the list of vitamins, they're tasty enough in their own right to merit a place on everyone's fruit bowl, regardless of their healthy credentials.

The Assignment ~ Module 5 ~ Movement in the elements

I'm stretching the brief a little here, but I figure that this heron wouldn't be taking flight without disturbing the air, so there is an implicit movement of one of the elements (rather like a flag blowing, or the blades of a windmill turning, though in this case it's the birds wings that are causing the movement and not the other way round).

I know it's very noisy and abstract - but that's also working for me here - the ghostly nature of the heron is almost ethereal and reminiscent of a misty airyness.

ISO 800, f5.6 @1/10s (70mm zoom) - It was almost dark when I got the opportunity to shoot this, so had to pull all the stops out to capture it!

A year in pictures ~ Week 3 of 52, Seasonal Fruit and Vegetables

In keeping with my aims for the project, I've been trying to force myself out of my usual comfort zone, to explore different lighting and techniques. This week I selected my veg before I knew quite what I was going to do with it, which subtantially increased the challenge. Even though leeks are beautiful in their own way, they don't strike me as being the easiest shape to capture photographically, so I decided to opt for a cross section, with the stem leading away into the soft bokeh behind. I've started to use my notebook properly, and as well as scribbling down ideas for future weeks, I sketched out the image and the setup I would need to capture this week's victim. I found it amazingly rewarding to plan the shoot so carefully in advance, though some of the setup was easier to sketch on paper than achieve in reality!

For those interested, ISO 100, f2.0 @1/40s. I used my wonderful 58mm Helios 44M (the least expensive, but one of the most magical lenses in my arsenal - a heavy, old piece of glass from the former Soviet Union that is mounted with an adapter - well worth looking out for if you don't mind shooting in manual mode - it is renowned for the quality of bokeh that it produces). I slipped a 12mm extension tube in between the lens and the camera body to get nice and close with a full frame image. The leek was suspended with cotton thread, background is a black cloth, drapped with a necklace to create sparkles. Off camera flash aimed at backdrop on high power, flash on 1/32 from front camera right to light leek. Image cross processed following method in Martin Evening's bible on Photoshop CS3.

What can I say about leeks?! I always have at least one in my fridge - an essential ingredient in many soups and casseroles - they are the perfect winter vegetable, in season from September through to the end of March. I love that even when you buy them in a supermarket, they still show signs of the earth from whence they came. Though it's sometimes a chore, peeling back the outer layers of the stem reveals mud and soil that has been pushed deep between the layers as the plants emerged from the soil. There aren't too many vegetables these days that can survive the 'perfection' tests that are imposed by our big retailers while retaining signs of the earthy origins from which the sprung - and I admire leeks for that - a bastion of reality in a sea of gleaming polished fruit and veg.

A year in pictures ~ Week 2 of 52, Seasonal Fruit and Vegetables

After a lot of failed experiments, and a large amount of flaffing about, I stumbled rather by accident on this idea. Taken on my stove hob, lit from above by the hood lights which I thought created an interesting halo effect around the beetroots. I was originally working on an idea that it had been pouring with purple beetroot juice rain, but this is the slightly 'spotty' alternative.

Beetroot seems to divide opinion, some people love it, while others can't be doing with it. I fall firmly in the group that relishes it, though I'm less enthusiastic about it pickled than when it's been freshly cooked, or better still roasted. The young and tender leaves have become popular in recent years as colourful additions to mixed salads, often with some raw beetroot shredded in. Maybe I was destined to love it, I believe that Mum ate rather a lot of it when she was pregnant with me. I also know that I was apparently taken to a doctors at a young age, because my poor parents thought that I might have some gastro-intestinal bleeding. The culprit it turns out was harmless, the strong colours from the beet tend to dye anything they come into contact with ;-)

ISO100, f1.8, 1/20s on tripod. Lights from cooker hood and white balance adjusted. PP adjustments to curves, slight lightening vignette and unsharp mask on the beet portions that are in focus.

Explored #34

A year in pictures ~ Week 1 of 52

I've deciced to concentrate my efforts for the View 52 project on taking a photograph each week of a fruit or vegetable that is at the peak of its season. I'm aiming to create either a calendar or year book with the images, though that depends a bit on how they turn out! I'm also going to be consciously pushing myself to explore new styles, as I feel that some of my images have become quite similar. I'm interested in different lighting - anyone familiar with my pics will know that I tend towards the dark end of the tonal spectrum! So this week at least I thought I'd push myself to take a 'brighter' image verging on high key.

ISO 100, f2.2 @1/60s Flash fired from softbox through window from outside, with large white reflector inside to lighten shadows.

Pomegranates are at their very best at the moment, as I pass the local grocers there've been big trays of the plump red fruits stealing the attention away from some of the less seasonal offerings. How could I resist starting the New Year with these wonderful treats, each one packed full of individual little jewels. They've become popular in the last few years as a 'super-food' and there's been particular interest in their anti-oxidant properties. Either way, they are beautiful and delicious, the seeds eaten straight from the fruit, or pressed to give a juice. As a child in France my favourite drink was Grenadine, the juice of the pomegranate.