Week 21/26
Decay is everywhere around us and it should be so easy to get something that illustrates it, as this week's theme demands. I discovered that the trick lies not in finding something decaying, but in finding something that really shows that decay without the added dimension of colour. What makes this so challenging is that our eyes 'see' in colour and one of the most beautiful aspects of decay is the wonderful tones and shades in something in the last throes of life! So a dying bunch of blue hydrangeas, beautiful in pale blues, oranges and yellows all crinkled and crisp, looks wonderful. As soon as you convert the image to black and white you can barely even tell that the flowers are decaying at all. A wonderful old fungus on a tree is full of rich browns, yellows and creams and is fascinating to look at. But it is really dull in black and white.
At last, having photographed many different decaying things including the above mentioned, I end up posting the most obvious subject for the time of year and strangely enough, the first image I took in the project.
This leaf looks nothing at all as you see it normally. I wouldn't have given it a second glance had it not been for the delicate curve of the leaf end and the veins that stood out like the veins on the hands of an elderly man. In the end I discovered that what is drab and uninteresting in colour takes on a wonderful texture and beauty when stripped down to the grey values alone.
My posts are all on my blog: https://www.elliekennard.ca .
#BWProject26 | Curated by +Tisha Montgomery +Brandon Luk +Lauri Novak +Al Chris
#allthingsmonochrome +All Things Monochrome by +Charles Lupica, +Enrique Pelaez, +Brian Cox, +Dorian Stretton and +Bill Wood
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Sounds great +Theresa Simonson – I'm sure you will enjoy it.
+Ellie Kennard i think I will on my phone,,,its the only camera i can afford,,Ill be sure and ask first,,,
We have so much to clean before winter,some of the trees died last year and hanging over the house,,,
Is sad our only option is to burn them,,Everyone has cedar trees here,,,,it would be nice to recycle somehow,,,they alre
+Theresa Simonson thank you. I am so glad that seeing my photographs has inspired you to want to take photographs of people. Why not start? It is a wonderful and creative hobby.
+pradeep priyantha thanks!
Great!!!!
,,we have nice bonfires,,,eat,listen to music ,,,,,
God Bless You,, I'm new here but I love your pictures,,,Id like to start pictures of people., I liked to watch people and wanted a camera,, i remember looking in a box and those pictures are wonderful,,,
Peace and Love
💫💜🌻
+Jiya Khan thanks a lot. Isn't it a fact?
Hi Ellie it's always the first thing we capture Beautiful v nice work :-))
Ja Ti ďakujem za pekný komentár. Prajem Ti pekný deň.
+Jozef Kovac Ďakujem ti veľmi pekne priateľ môj.
Perfektné prevedenie do čierno-bielej fotografií.
+Beena R thank you for that lovely comment. It is funny how much we can see in such simple and apparently ordinary objects.
Beautiful in black and white, the light, reflection and the details including the dust particles on the leaf 🙂
+Deborah Aldridge – it does! (I can never understand those that bag them up to send away. Mulch them up with the lawnmower and presto! free organic matter.
Thank you so much +Dylan Johnson
Thank you very much +John Dusseault
Thanks so much as always, +Ursula Klepper
Thanks +Lauri Novak
+Gernot Glaeser – thank you. It was a technique that I saw used to photograph wedding rings and I wanted to try it out. It worked for this too. 😀
Thanks a lot +Linda Jess
Wonderful shot Ellie
So beautifully done, +Ellie Kennard – excellent photograph!
Nicely done
Wonderfully described and photographed!
amazing shot, especially with the reflection +Ellie Kennard
You pulled it off, beautiful!
I love all those falling leaves! It means free organic matter for my garden.
+Diana Boyd so true! Thanks very much.
+Sumit Sen thank you.
Thank you, that is so beautifully expressed and so true, +Roxanne Bouche' Overton
Funny how that goes, isn't it +Liz C? Thank you, Liz.
Thank you +Knut Arne Gjertsen
Nice work :-))
I so love both the simplicity of the shot…and the contrast of putting the curly, “old” leaf on the high tech reflecting surface. Wonderful.
Thanks a lot, Sandra. I thought having that shiny black as a low key mirror might be a good effect and was pleased with how it turned out.
It's always the first thing we capture 🙂
Beautiful.
Such a keen eye and observation, Ellie. Color always complicates. Sometimes it enriches and other times in confuses or camouflages – but always it complicates.
This is lovely in its shape and form and nuances of tone and the life it has lived 🙂
Any time, Ellie. Your images are always a pleasure to view
Lovely work!
seeing in BW is not as easy as it seems… nice shot
+Giselle Savoie thanks a lot, Giselle.
It is, it really is, +Al Chris . That's a great part of this experience, is learning what works and what doesn't. And thank you!
So often the case, isn't it Ellie? 🙂
This is a beautifully executed image.
Gorgeous, love the texture and tone!