I haven’t been writing for a while, haven’t really felt for it. It is this time of the year, when time slows down to almost standing still. For me, that said. Last week was actually quite okay, my creative juices really fluid and I produced quite a few illustrations for my current client. Speaking about my client, I also, most fortunately, signed a long-term agreement with them, which hopefully secures months of work. Happy happy! Especially in these times, when this company as everybody else rather is laying off people. Fortunate for me is that I don’t have to focus on selling when I feel like this, I can focus the little energy I have on producing. To make life easier, I have also started a course in graphic design that will last this semester. This is not as stupid as it sounds. My energy levels are hopefully back to normal when that course eventually kicks off (it’s a bit slow now, as we have recently started).
Now, when I have been writing myself midway through this post, I realise I’ve entitled it nearly as one of my favourite photographer’s web site is called, While Standing Still. Her images have inspired me to explore colours again, although the images in this post are in b&w. Let’s see what will come out of that, and back to this post and the images.
I took them last week, an early morning while it was very foggy. I knew about this windmill and thought it would be perfect to shoot it in this light, so off I went. The time has indefinitely stopped ticking for it. It costs of course a fortune to maintain such an old mill like this. This one has probably been out of function at least the late 75 years, perhaps more than a hundreds, so the economical rationales to keep it standing are about….none. While people probably would be willing to pay 10 millions (divide by 7 to get a figure in US Dollars) for a house with a picturesque mill on the property, right here in Lund, this one is located a few kilometres outside, far too long away to attract those who have that kind of money. So, the decay is inevitable. It will only stand a few more years, as it looked like now. Large parts of it had already fallen down to ground and started to become one with Mother Earth. As life in the large, I guess.
Ooh boy, I especially love that top one. Very sad to hear about its impending complete obsolescence. Why don’t you try a study of this site for SoFoBoMo – a fond farewell, of sorts?
Karen, that is a very good idea. I have started thinking in terms of sofobomo, and this is definitely narrow enough to be able to complete in a month. Thanks!
Let me chime in, the first one is wonderful! I guess it’s the bird who is adding a bit dynamic into the static, old frame of the mill.
Good to hear that things are developing on the business side of things!
Hello Ove,
I am so excited to hear you say this, and I feel the same for you. You have inspired me in so many ways.
Photography can have very good moments, then there are moments when we each question ourselves on our direction and focus. Sometimes it is good to back away and not focus on anything for a period of time. I think photography is much about phases in our personal passage or journey on this earth. For me, I wanted to capture things around me that were part of my life. Things that told a story, without words. I realized that I began to notice different ways of shooting my images. I began to venture out in the rain. I began to walk out into the cold and unknown. I am finding that I am growing more and more behind my lens. I am far from where I would like to be, but happy where I am. I no longer question a “style” that I battled with for so long.
I really do like these black and white images. I would give anything to have some of the beauty that you have around you to photograph! These images speak without words or explanation. I love how the fog surrounds the entire subject matter.
I wish you luck with your new course in graphics. This sounds exciting! Sunny weather is on the way, and the photographs will be endless.
Thank you again for such a kind mention. I will watch you add some color, and you can watch me fade off into some muted tones. I have some ideas bouncing around in my head. Now, if I can only get to the location when all the rain stops for me.
Once again, I really do like these images.
Thanks, Thomas. I was in fact glad that the bird flew into the frame because it added a great contrast to the otherwise still moment.
Tammy, it’s interesting this with finding your style, or voice for that matter. I have noticed that my own pendulum keep to swing back to a point where most of what I produce are moody like the images in this post. Sometimes, I get completely bored with this and try to create something completely different, but I always swing back to what I usually do within a few weeks. I have been doing this for some 25 years now, so there’s perhaps no point swinging that pendulum. But again, I would be completely bored not doing that.
I like the first photo as well. When it comes to B&W I would really like to see some B&W portraits from you. I am sure they would look really great (and hopefully I would’t look so pale in B&W!).
Karin, that sounds like a wonderful idea. The pale-ness might still be an issue I I do the b+w treatment, though. You see, I have a problem with the ash-tones you often get if you don’t tune it ether to the lighter or darker side. But I assume that’s a issue about lighting and make-up. Ray is good at those things, look at this portrait for instance. I’d like to learn light and shoot like he do.
And I like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galloreal/3299489011/
Ove I like the one Karin chose for a portrait to look at. Natural sun/shade light works fine for a lot of that style. I would suggest that Karin would make the perfect model for such. If the funds were available I would travel that far to do a portrait session with you both.:)
Great stuff here Ove and I also would love to see how your B&W worked out in portrait work.
Karin you are not pale in the photos I have seen of you at all, I envy Ove getting a chance to photo you.
Ray, if our funds were there we would come over, definitely. I’d love to meet you and see PT.
Ove, there are many times when I look at your work and am brought up short by the sheer beauty of your subtle images. This series is certainly one of those times, and I encourage you to do an in-depth exploration of the site as well.
That was very kind of you to write, Chris, I really appreciate it. I have been on a creative down-slope lately, in my photography, and need something to work on by now. This, or anything else that matters. Just making random shots doesn’t get me going at all, for the moment.
I am fascinated by your comment that you have been on “creative down-slope” when you bring us eloquent images such as the ones in this post. These manage to make feel as though I have been in that place either very long ago, or a dream perhaps.
The creative process in a never-ending journey of ups and downs, isn’t it? Filled with disappointments, but mostly confusion especially during some of its phases. Thank you for taking us along.
Anita, I’m so sorry for not responding in a timely manner, but you know how it can be. This journey. I appreciated your thoughts, I’ve read them when you wrote your comment, and have been thinking since. It’s a never ending journey, in a way, indeed. It’s surprising how we sometimes are able to create even when feeling completely empty. Hold habit, perhaps. In the blood, if you’re serious into this. I don’t know where I am, really.
If you ever figure out precisely where you are, I hope you won’t talk about it. It will make me feel hopeless. I have lost all hope of ever determining where I am. I try to simply make the most of the experiences. I especially like the observation that sometimes we are productive even while feeling empty. That’s a curious thing, isn’t it? More of the mystery. Sometimes, I think that is one of the major attractions for me. The mystery. Another reason I find the images in this post so relevant for me.
If I haven’t sorted it out by now, I doubt I will ever do. I can make out a pattern, though.
A pattern. That sounds promising and quite intriguing. I look forward to seeing the work that emerges from your insight.
Thanks for the encouragement, Anita! Let’s hope for some visual insights.
I was just reading some older comments on my blog and realized: Hey! Ove hasn’t been around in a long time, neither has he posted anything. I thought that I’d just check in to say hello and see how things are going. I hope that everything is well!
No worries, Paul, I’ll be online again as soon as I have managed to get past a course I’m participating in, and a coming family event that consumes a bit of my free time for the moment; free time which btw is about nothing due to workload. I can tell you I miss to visit your and all the other’s pages, and read about our common interest, photography, and of course, life.