Monday, February 05, 2007

Morning Coffee


An image of something I NEED to see every morning. My beloved espresso machine. Makes great strong coffee, even with a healthy splash of milk.

I wanted to try to photography some everyday objects in my life. As it's harder to get out to photograph at the moment, I thought I'd challenge myself to find interesting images in some of the objects and scenes I see everyday. I think looking for the new in the "old" helps one to develop a more critical eye - think of it as the equivalent of a work out for your Critical Eye...

In fact, how about we all try this? One image (or a series if you prefer) looking at an everyday object or scene in a new, fresh and interesting way? A new challenge, to add to the on-going self-portrait one?

Thoughts and comments welcome.

Ivan

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This image is very interesting to me because it reminds me of a good exercise we do in Miksang.

We see lots of objects in our typical day but barely do we look at them. A good exercise is what Ivan has done here. I wonder though how Ivan 'saw' this image.

On the Halifax waterfront there is a concrete wave. Its blue and looks very much like a wave about to break. One of our Miksang exercises was to spend 15mins looking at this wave and shooting. When you really begin to look at an object, like the coffee machine, you begin to see so much more and different and new images appear in your eye. It is a great exercise of the eye.

Once you do this on a regular basis your eye begins to see more detail in everyday life.

There is so much to see...

I keep mentioning Miksang but the outcome of studying this style of photography is that your eye sees images like this one of the coffee machine, all the time without one making an effort.

Damian

Anonymous said...

I saw this image in a couple of ways: firstly, trying to do something different, a novel approach. Then, I saw a possible graphic/symmetrical image, with the handle and cup (and holes of the splash plate) forming a very strong image, likely in mono. I then decided to focus on the end of the handle, as this is what one reaches for when the coffee pangs hit...and to mimic my dulled senses until the coffee is in my system..

Ivan

Anonymous said...

I think it is a great image. The symmetry really appeals to me and works very well in B&W. It would be very nice framed...simple black frame and white mat...

Damian

Anonymous said...

Thanks D. I liked it too. You can tell you sell images, looking at how it will look framed!
Ivan