Greetings from Denmark where I’m celebrating Christmas this year with family.
Before we get right down to business, let me just tell you, flying half way around the world with a 16 month old baby is a challenge! I cannot think of a much more stressful situation than having a 16 month old baby being wide awake and wanting to play just as all cabin lights are being switched off and all other passengers just want to go to sleep! It’s an exercise in patience. It’s a test of your ability to stay calm when you start getting annoyed looks from other passengers who don’t seem to understand that it’s not exactly easy to tell a 16 month old baby to sleep when it’s their normal awake time, let alone tell them to sit still for 12 hours!
Anyway… just needed to get that off my chest.
It’s been snowing here in Denmark and it’s a refreshing change of climate compared to the summer temperatures we left behind in Australia.
One of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is that there is always something that moves you when you take a picture. It can be the light, a feeling, an expression, a mood, a colour, a shape, a texture, a form and many other things.
So while I’ve been taking some pictures around my home town in Denmark I have tried to think about what it is that moves me when I take a particular picture.
Here are some photos from the last week or so where I made specific comments to what moved me in each picture.
What moved me? Light and line.
What moved me? Texture and colours.
What moved me? Gesture and shape
(largely inspired by André Kertesz ‘The Polaroids’)
What moved me? Texture.
What moved me? Colours and symmetry.
What moved me? Light and colours.
What moved me? Line.
What moved me? Texture.
What moved me? Light and colour.
What moved me? Texture and colour.
What moved me? Line and shape.
What moved me? Texture and colour.
What moved me? Colour and mood.
What moved me? Texture.
What move me? Light and line.
What moved me? Colour and line.
What moved me? Line and repetition.
Thinking about what moves you before you take the picture greatly increases the chance of success. It allows you to make conscious decisions about how you should design your picture.
So I encourage you to take a few seconds before making a picture to think about exactly why you photograph the scene in front of you. What is that moves you about what you see? When you can answer that question, you can emphasize on this in the design of your picture.
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23. December 2009 at 9:10 pm
We shall be doing a trip the other way with our 18-month old soon – thanks for telling me what we have to look forward to!
The snow is magical here, in Scotland, today. Although, I have to get through it to the airport to collect relatives for Christmas tonight.
Do you miss the cold weather now you are in Australia?
It looks as though the change of climate has inspired you, there are some evocative photographs there. I always find windows interesting, they are like the eyes of the building.
A merry Christmas to you and your family, and I am looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us in the New Year.
29. December 2009 at 8:57 pm
Hi Mike,
I’m back in Sydney again and I’m pleased to tell you the trip home to Sydney went much, much easier. It also helped that the flight was only half full on the second leg back to Sydney!
We had snow in Denmark too which was nice. I had brought along my Canon G9 which I used to create the above images.
I’d have to say I miss the cold weather and winter to some extent, but I had kind of forgotten how short and dark the days are in Denmark at this time of the year. That said the sun never gets very high in the sky (when it’s not hidden by a thick cloud cover
) and the light remains quite beautiful throughout the day.
I think shifting position from your home base from time to time is always very visually inspiring. I would have loved to spend a lot more time making photographs than I did, but after all it was a holiday with the family!
I hope you had a good Christmas with your family and wish you all the best for 2010. Thanks for your support, input, feedback and ideas for the site in 2009.
When are we seeing you in Australia?
All the best,
Thomas
28. December 2009 at 9:50 am
I hope you are enjoying the break with your family. I loved the icicles on the glass, and the reflections in the windows on that green building.
As for travelling with a young child, there’s no easy way to do it! We did the trip to Europe when our son was 11 months old and again at 23 months, which was a lot harder as he was bigger and we had to hold him on our lap all the way as he was too big for the basinette then! You could always try giving her a small dose of Phenergan, which has a mild sedative effect. But try it out at home first because on some children it has the opposite effect – and that’s the last thing you want! It gets easier when they get older: they have their own seat and they can sit and watch movies all night!
29. December 2009 at 9:01 pm
Hi Ingrid,
Thanks for your kind words on the photos.
Yes, Laura was too old for the basinette as well, so I definitely think we will wait to travel long distance again until she is two and get her own seat.
I’m pleased to hear it gets easier as they get older although I do worry that they seem to get even more active at the same time. However I think you’re right about the inflight entertainment and generally just being able to sit still and concentrate on something for longer periods of time.
I wish you and your family all the best for 2010.
Thomas