Driving home yesterday, I had to take a different route to normal, and I spotted some really nice tree lights on the way. “That’s my day four picture”, I thought to myself, “and I’d like to experiment with them being out of focus”.
Though Christmas Day has passed, the decorations remain in many places, and it’s a kind of bitter sweet feeling for me. The main event has gone, so as pretty as the lights might be, are we just clinging on to some festive cheer while we still can?
I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the composition in this picture, focusing pretty much 100% on, well, making it out of focus! Another picture I took, below, I paid much more attention to the composition, however I liked the tree lights picture better. “Rules”, in art more than anything else, are simply guidelines I guess.
Learnings – I didn’t take long enough taking the picture I wanted, it was cold, I was ill prepared, and people were looking at me. From that I need to learn to forget about the onlookers, and concentrate on the task in hand; after all, the looks will instantly fade, but a good picture I’m happy with will last forever. So I need to slow down, take my time and plan a little more. Also as I drove past yesterday the tree looked amazing, up close it wasn’t quite as magical as the memory I’d made to accompany it; imagination is always spectacular, reality isn’t always as dazzling. Plus, rules can be broken successfully in the name of art, which makes me smile!
Onegav 