In Album Graduation album – Blurs & Unsharp Photography Mentorship
Sharp Focus on Blur : Graduation Plus Post and Album Share
And so it comes to an end NO to a START of a whole new way of thinking and taking photographs. And I can see clearly how blur and unsharp techniques can do so much to focus attention on what I want my viewer to see and experience. I have learned that sometimes the blur itself is enough to express the emotion I feel (see the dancing tractor image, or the abstract wet lights in the night images in the album). Sometimes the blur leads our eye to the subject as in the delicate details in the petals of the frozen flowers or softly lit paeony. Sometimes it helps to set mood as the dark and mysterious one in the photograph of the rusting car wreck in the middle of a dense forest or the light and frivolous one in the candy coloured flowers.
So the power lies in knowing not so much how but when and why to use this wonderful new skill. I have written many things over the past few weeks to express my feelings about what we have been learning in this mentorship. We have gone through a period of such intense creativity and inspiration, more than I have ever experienced before, that, frankly, I have been loathe to write this post. I didn't want the experience to end.
And of course it won't. It is a beginning of a new creative period in my life. I have personally discovered my ability to use my eyes, my tools and my skills to share my vision in a new way, unique, I hope, to me. Thanks to what I have learned from the main mentor +Alex Lapidus and his helpers as well as my fellow mentees, I have grown as a photographer in a way I never dreamed possible. I can't properly express my gratitude to everyone, I just hope they feel it through what they (and you) see in the joy expressed in these images in my album.
(Click on the first image to browse through the album seeing each of the 12 images full size)
And Alex? I called him a bully (and other names 😉 ) but every name was really a term of affection. He has a wonderful ability to sense the potential in each of his students and make sure that no one stops short of achieving that to the full. I hope that eventually he makes up his sleep debt. I know he got no more than an hour or two most nights over the past 9 weeks.
Thank you to the +G+ Mentorship Program for Photographers and +Robin Griggs Wood who was the originator of this wonderful program for photographers on G+. Robin has been behind the scenes (or front and centre) in many of the mentorships I have taken or helped to give on here and without her I would not be writing this post, nor taking these photographs at this point.
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😉 +Ellie Kennard
+Eric Raeber – and who would have thought you could grow creatively so much from the learning about that? Thanks so much, Eric.
Who would have thought that one can use blur to augment the focus of an image! What a wonderful album +Ellie Kennard.
+G+ Mentorship Program for Photographers thank you so much for this reshare and your lovely comments. +Robin Griggs Wood – I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much +Gernot Glaeser
Wonderful album, +Ellie Kennard !
Hi, +Ellie Kennard (Robin here … ;o)) … I finally found your post and I'm off to share this on the page. Your work is fantastic, dear!
and you also
+Ellie Kennard
😊💕 You welcome!!
+Magy Duarte You know I feel the same way – so glad to have met up this way and I really enjoyed being in the playground together with you, it was such fun. Thank you for the lovely comment, Magy!
+Jim Robertson Thanks a lot +Jim Robertson
Amazing album and post, Congratulations Ellie, It has been a pleasure to get to know you and to be in this mentorship together! :))
nicely done +Ellie Kennard
Ping me if you post something blurry, +Simon Jeffery – I so seldom get into my stream. I'd love to see your work in blurs.
+Sharon Woodward as you know we all feel that way about each other. A solitary mentorship would have lacked the depth and creativity that we got from the inspiration we all gave each other. I am so glad to have been on this journey with you. Thank you!
+Ellie Kennard
Thanks for the information. I as you might know have fun with blurs.
+Banafshe KH thanks so much, my young friend. 😀
+Dylan Johnson I really hope that you can find the time to do something like this one of these days. You will not be disappointed. Thanks very much Dylan.
+Sandra Nesbit you are so welcome and thank you for that lovely thought. I appreciate it and really appreciated all your comments through the mentorship.
+Raj Maisuriya thank you.
+William McLean Thanks so much Bill. You are such a creatively adventurous person yourself that I know you will be trying out some of the techniques I described. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
+Christine Bichler thanks very much Christine. Didn't we all have a great time? I know I looked at your images for inspiration on more than one occasion and never was disappointed.
+Stephen Thackeray Stephen, my friend, I am so glad that we were able to go through this exciting experience together. You have been a real inspiration and help throughout as always. Thank you for that lovely comment.
+Childa Santrucek Thank you so much Childa! That's a lovely comment and I am pleased of the results from this wonderful mentorship. I see things differently now, certainly.
+Simon Jeffery Hi Simon, thank you and I apologise for taking so long to reply. Some of the images were in-camera multiples, some were blended from single images in Photoshop and some were a combination of in-camera multiples blended with separate images. The tractor is an example of the latter.
Some were not multiple exposures at all, but taken with different techniques to produce the blur. But I think you knew that.
+Sumit Sen thank you. 😀
+Diana Boyd thanks very much Diana!
+Linda Jess thanks a lot, Linda!
Absolutely amazing album and post +Ellie Kennard. You are an inspiration!
That's super wonderful!!! I really love it… as beautiful as always!
Glad you completed it and learned alot from it! These are some really stunning shots that prove your points in the write-up. I hope to be able to make time for one of these mentorships next year (this year I am swamped with stuff)
I can only say thank you . . . for putting the beauty that is you out there for us to see. It makes the world a better place. Merci, +Ellie Kennard
The blur makes for some very interesting images,nice
nice
Delighted that you have enjoyed your recent learning experience – and that we can look forward to even more in this vein.
Love the work you have done so far and appreciate your write ups. Great and, as always…
Thanks for sharing
what a great post and description of your new skills +Ellie Kennard and really fantastic and creative work in your album, congratulations!
Staggering beauty +Ellie Kennard, every one a work of art! Congratulations!! I see we have an optional assignment from Alex – as if we could refuse 😊
Thank you so much for your help and instruction throughout these mentorships my friend.
What a superb album to look through, something you can be proud of achieving +Ellie Kennard!!
Very good album +Ellie Kennard .Are the multiple images done with the computer?
Great post!
congrats Ellie… great post and artwork!
Thanks +Ron Clifford! We're like blind people discovering more and more of the elephant 🙂
+Alex Lapidus Ahh the beginnings of the program. Just a note about the "handover. It was handed over initially to the three of us +Tamara Pruessner +Robin Griggs Wood and myself but Robin has done the lions share of Mentor development in creating the M4M program after her own style of mentoring.
I feel the same about #LightWIT; a very dear post.
Great … I'll be in Halifax for a conference. It would be very nice to visit. 🙂
+Byron Sheldrick let us know. We are near Wolfville.
+Roxanne Bouche' Overton me too! I'm so glad to have been a part of it with you. Your work inspired me frequently as you know. Thanks for that lovely comment, Roxanne.
What a delightful sampling of what we learned – what your unique eye saw and executed. Terrific post, terrific photographs. I'm so happy we went through this experience together 🙂
+Ellie Kennard Wow.. seeing every one's albums, I had a clue how much fun this would have been :))
Oh my goodness, +Beena R I had as much to learn as everyone. It is a wonderful learning environment and I grew in my wonder and excitement almost daily!!
+Ellie Kennard I am in total amazement of how humble a student you were in learning 🙂
It is the best part +Ellie Kennard; the mutual inspiration. Do let us know if you get out this way. I'm hoping to make a work trip to NS in the fall, camera in hand.
I love the flowers in ice. the colors and the depth in the photo are great
+k phelps thank you for that lovely comment. I know it will happen, as we will surely continue to inspire each other.
+Beena R thank you, my dear Beena. This time it was I who was the student. And I loved it. I'm glad you like the photographs.
+Ursula Klepper my dear friend. What can I say? Thank you so much. It would be such fun to be on another mentorship together and especially this one. I'm glad that I have infected you and I hope this might happen one day.
+José Luís Costa thank you so much for your kind comments here and on so many of the photographs.
+Byron Sheldrick I feel also that it has been a pleasure and a delight to work with everyone in this mentorship, as well as the wonderful CBBA ones. As I said somewhere else, it's a terrific symbiosis and we all feed off each other's creativity. It is the best part of these memberships, don't you think?
You never know, we might get to your neck of the woods. Steven is in the process of booking a tour there in the spring, though I don't know the clubs yet.
+Steven Kennard thank you.
Your wonderful imagination will continue to make splendid use of your new tools, Ellie. Congratulations. 🙂
Superb album Ellie!
This is a wonderful post and a wonderful album! Congratulations dear Ellie, I am really amazed on where you moved on to! And what is more fascinating is that you have infected me and I would love to learn also how to do these all! I hope there will some time be another possibility for me to learn it!
congratulations for your graduation +Ellie Kennard!
A wonderful post and such a fantastic album +Ellie Kennard. It was fantastic getting to know you during the CBBA3 mentorship where you were one of the instructors. The opportunity to continue to work with you during this mentorship was such a pleasure. I love your sense of artistic vision, and your commitment to photography and helping those around you. I'm sure we'll continue to interact here on G+, and hopefully sometime in person.
The whole album is beautiful Ellie!
Thanks so much for that lovely comment +Alex Lapidus
And also thanks for the history. I didn't know. So it goes back beyond Robin. Who'd a thunk it?
I love how you've connected the meaning and objectives to the techniques used in your images; the post and album are as filled with intention as with beauty. It's been a special time for me too, and amazing to see what you've discovered and accomplished within this short time. Now there's much more time available for you to explore, and hopefully I can help maintain a bit of momentum :-).
One more note, on ancient history: WAY back when, +Randy Jay Braun offered to mentor a small group, including Linda, and he also created the Mentorship Program as a framework for enabling others to more easily offer to mentor. Over time, he felt he was too busy to build it further, and handed the lead role to +Robin Griggs Wood, who has created much of what the Program is today (along with current program director +Ron Clifford, former director +Tamara Pruessner, and now I'm helping as a director). So many people have given so much to this community; it's a great pleasure and an honor for me to be able to contribute.
Thank you very much +Margaret Ziede
Wonderful album! Congratulations.
+Mari Luukkonen thanks a lot Mari. We will no doubt be watching each other to see. It's very exciting. I try not to be depressed that the lessons are officially over.
Thank you very much +Shelly Gunderson – Your comment really reflects the way I felt before this experience, too. Now you see how I have changed in my feelings about it too.
Such a great post and album! And you are so right, it is the beginning! Can't wait to see where these new tools take you in future 🙂
Congrats on the Mentor-ship completion. Interesting images and great use of blur. I have never been a big fan of it but I like the ways you have utilized it. I usually like something sharp in the image even if I use some blur but you have shown like with the chairs image that blur can work with the whole thing. Nicely done!