Tag: Pictures]

Inspiration

Tobias M. Schiel6 Comments

“We want to see portraits of you doing something that inspires you to blog.” That’s what the Special Photo Challenge asked for. So here are some things that inspire me.

The left picture shows many objects – me photographing stuff, actually. It was inspired by Susan Sontag’s essays on photography: The mere act of making a photograph, Sontag says, re-evaluates the stuff we find because taking a picture equals claiming that the subject is deserves to be looked at – even ugly objects become ‘nice’ in photograph. Hence Sontag’s idea that photography aesteticizes the whole world.

Though I find a lot of inspiration in texts, pictures inspire me too: I ‘found’ the right one after visiting an Ellsworth Kelly exhibition entitled “Black and White”. This abstract picture with me in it may well be a reaction to (or inspired by) the pictures I saw. – While all this describes my motivation to photograph, this blog is really inspired by my love of photography, and the desire to share my pictures and see what you think.

A Hat, a Coat and …

Tobias M. Schiel10 Comments

Light filtering through the vapours from the hot springs and wells of this city, the old buildings being reflected in a spill of water, sudden sunbeams hitting walls and floor of a narrow courtyard: Sometimes the daily vistas assume a touch of foreignness. Seeing these moments is all we have to do as photographers.

This idea formed in a discussion with Judith Bruder (see here) who nudged me to participate in this week’s photo challenge: Thank you, Judith! The picture shows the shadow cast by a statue. And while the chap originally looks amiable enough, his shadow reminds me of Philip Marlowe, who had “a hat, a coat, and a gun” – which accounts for the title.

Alfriston Clergy House

Tobias M. Schiel6 Comments

Today’s post may show less abstraction; instead, I hope there is a story. Here is what feels like traditional gardening to me – a garden you may live in, a garden you can contemplate, a garden that feeds you (with artichokes).

Alfriston Clergy House was the first object to be acquired by The National Trust (England) in 1896. I also think this tradition of preserving a country’s heritage is a good one. And so this post might contribute to Ailsa’s Travel Theme – Tradition.

Square

Tobias M. Schiel6 Comments

“I’m not interested in the texture of the rock, or that it is a rock, but in the mass of it, and its shadow.” Ellsworth Kelly

A picture and a page today: Along with this picture and the noteworthy quote there are some thoughts on abstract photography on a new page today. See them as work in prgress – and feel free to disagree.