SURREALISM

Surrealism is the juxtaposition, or the coming together, of the unexpected. We don't expect to see ice on a tulip or a 1950s rotary telephone hanging from a wooden fence. Surrealism.

I consider Salvador Dalí, from Spain, the Godfather of surrealism, although other artists also delved into the genre. 

I either look for surrealism in life, or I create it by staging elements, objects, in a way that makes you scratch your head. 

Let's look at a few examples from my collection.

I love coffee shops. I walked into one in Steamboat Springs, Colorado called Mocha Molly's. I had my camera because I had just finished doing some shooting. Before I ordered, I went to the restroom, with my camera and tripod. I couldn't believe what I saw! I did not expect to see a jungle mural on all four walls of the men's restroom! Before I "did my business," I quickly locked the door, set up and started shooting! The local artist was Chula Walker. I don't know if she did the same thing with the women's restroom.

           Unfortunately, the coffee shop and the mural are no more. I'm glad I got this shot!    

I saw this old abandoned icehouse. It had been abandoned for so long that nature, including trees, had taken root, inside the vacant building! It was like I was on the inside, looking out.

I love taking day trips along those small two-lane country roads. You just never know what's there waiting for me. More often than not, I will find something worth a photograph. Such was the case when I came across this farmhouse scene. There is so much you can read into this, whether true or not. 

During a long day trip, I stopped at a convenience store to gas up and get some munchies. To my surprise, I saw a cat napping amongst the munchies. I asked the owner what the cat's name was. "Mr. Tibbs," he quickly replied. When surrealism is in my face, I don't hesitate.

Sometimes, I create or stage my surreal images. For this next image, I used one Halloween hard plastic skull and did a multiple exposure. The first step was to place a large black piece of flannel material on my bed. I then activated my multiple-exposure feature in my camera and set it for four (4) exposures, or images. I marked the four spots where I wanted the skull. I placed the skull on the first spot and took my first shot. I then moved and placed the skull on the second marked spot and took my second shot. I continued the same process for the other two shots. In other words, I clicked my shutter button after each of the four skull set-ups.  

When I took my fourth shot, the camera combined all four shots into one single image-- a quadruple multiple exposure!   

Close your eyes and imagine hearing beautiful, soft, angelic classical music being played on a harp. It sounds like what you would hear in a church, at a recital, or on a grand stage. Who do you imagine playing that music? Is it male or female? How is that imaginary person dressed?

Did you imagine this? Surrealism. And, yes, this street performer was playing professional-level classical music.

There are two "painting with light" techniques I use for some of my creative work. One of them requires me to handhold one or two 6-volt flashlights and literally paint my subjects at night or at twilight. The other technique is to simply allow moving lights, late in the evening or at twilight, to do my painting. 

Such was the case for this image. It was getting very dark, but I knew that if I left my shutter open for several seconds, my film, at the time, would capture only the movement of the light, which came from cars and one bus. A 15-second exposure did the trick. The result was a surreal image. A friend saw this image and said it looked there was a dragon inside the tunnel breathing out fire. What do you see?

So, go out and look for surreal opportunities. Find them. Sometimes they don't hit you in the face, like the last image above. You have to imagine them and look beyond what your eyes see. Again, for the image above, my eyes just saw vehicles going in and coming out of the tunnel. My imagination saw what you see above.

Have fun, and don't hesitate to contact me for a field lesson, or simply to ask me a question.  

 

 

 THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, QUESTIONS

Photographs. We look at them. We analyze them for their technical qualities. But can we make the viewer wonder? Can we convey feelings and thoughts? Can we make them elicit questions?
The answer is, "Yes."

I wonder if, in today's photography world, we are so engrossed in getting the photo (technically) correct that we lose sight of the experience we're trying to record or convey. 

A friend once said about my photography, "It's like visual poetry." Another asked, "How do you make your images talk?" I don't know that my photography is visual poetry, but I do prefer to get the right exposure for my images, as opposed to the "correct" exposure. 

So, what's the difference?  The former aims for the creative aesthetics side of photography. The latter aims to get the photo technically correct. The former inspires and elicits feelings, thoughts, and questions. The latter awes the viewer with its sharpness, color vibrance, and no shadows or highlights. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that. I have several images in my collection that fit that description. There are a lot of markets for that, from a business perspective. 

However, from a fine arts perspective, I like my exposures to be right, not "correct." Some have shadows; some have highlights. Here are several examples of what I mean by preferring the right exposure.

I was waiting for my students to join me for my three-day field workshop around a local lake.            In the meantime, I walked around to see what I could find. It didn't take long before I saw this scene surrounded by light-floating fog. It was so serene and peaceful. I could imagine myself daydreaming on that soft hammock by the lake. 

This scene was just the opposite. You can't help but ask, "What am I looking at?" I found thousands of crosses on the property of a Catholic church. They went on forever. The church was protesting abortion. So surreal. I liked the image better in black and white because it made the crosses really "pop" against the dark grasses and wide-open spaces. 

This next interesting juxtaposition begs questions if you don't know the context. I was photographing  80-million-year-old Monument Rocks in far western Kansas, which were at the bottom of a large sea millions of years ago. Then, totally unexpected, I saw a white and turquoise 1970s VW bus park near the formations, but out of my view. I imagined a Salvador Dalí moment. I walked over to the van and talked to the young driver. He told me he was on his way from Brooklyn to the West Coast. I asked him if he would mind parking his van in front of the formations. He kindly obliged. Click. 

If this scene were photographed in broad daylight, on a bright sunny day, it would be a rather mundane image. However, when photographed in late evening, after the sun had gone down, it takes on a different personality. The darkness creates mystery. The lights on the dump truck cab and bed create interest, as do the lights inside the building. Then there are the grasses lit up by the truck headlights. Correct exposure? No. Right exposure? Yes.     

I wanted to create mood, mystery, and a sense of motion with this scene. It was early morning on this county road. There was a thick fog in the air. By moving slowly forward as I clicked, with a slow shutter speed, I created a sense of motion. The mood was created by the highlights and very dark areas in the image. Again, the right exposure for what I was trying to achieve. 

Where do you usually go when you want to read a book? On your deck in the backyard? At the library? On a shaded bench in your local city park? Maybe at your favorite coffee shop? Not this young lady. She is surrounded by red rock formations! She was reading right behind the stage at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, near Morrison, Colorado. 

   

This woman was not reading. She was waiting for the next train. This nighttime image at a train station begs so many questions. Why is she the only one at the station? Why is she alone?
Where is she coming from, and where is she going? Is she not afraid? And those stilettos?

I was fascinated by the contrast between harsh, hard concrete and steel against the tiny, dainty figure.     

His name is MIchael. I saw him downtown, through a window at Starbucks. The dark shadows around him, his appearance, and his intense focus on what he was reading or doing was an  irresistible story. I introduced myself and asked politely if he'd let me take his picture. He asked what I wanted him to do. Nothing, I said. Just keep doing what you're doing. Click.   

This last image is a perfect example where the "correct" exposure is way off the mark--too many bright areas and too many dark areas. Yeah, that's what I wanted. I wanted the lake fisherman, up to his chest in water, totally silhouetted. Can you imagine this image totally sharp, complete detail through and through, and no shadows?

I encourage you to give yourself an "outside-your-comfort-zone" assignment. Instead of trying to capture the "correct" exposure, translate your thoughts, feelings, or sensations into something we call a photograph. Does your present-moment experience pose questions for you?

Have fun. If you live in the Little Rock/Hot Springs, Arkansas area, contact me for a 1-on-1 or small group field lesson. 

www.elivega.net     vegaphotoart@gmail.com    

 

     

 

 SHUTTER SPEEDS

My students know my approach to shutter speeds, but I wanted to share it with you as well. When you're out shooting, don't ask yourself, "What shutter speed should I use?" 

The questions I start with are, "How do I want this to look?" "What do I want to convey?" "What feeling do I want to translate?" My answer to these questions will determine what shutter speed I choose. This is not science; it's art. So, yeah, I might take a few shots at 1/20, 1/15, and one at 1/6 and decide which one best gives me what I want. Then, if things are moving, and with my camera set for continuous shooting, I get several shots, go home later, and decide which one best fits my original intent, interpretation, or translation.

I rely on shutter speeds when things are moving or might move. For example, if I see a heron just waiting still in knee-deep water, hoping to catch a fish, I make sure I have a high shutter speed set, just in case it starts flying without warning. 

Below are a few examples. I will share what my thoughts were before I started shooting.

I was in downtown Boulder, Colorado. There was a Baile Folklórico dance event taking place.
I watched and photographed the colorful and fast-stepping dancing for a few minutes. But, then my thoughts went from capturing the dancers dancing to capturing the essence of the dance. That led me to change my shutter speed to 1/60th of a second, which is pretty slow for that fast dancing. The results gave me exactly what I envisioned--not the dancing, not people dancing, but simply the essence of the dance: a blur of beautiful color and culture. Below are two shots from that day.

            

Fall colors and a mountain road. I got my autumn shots, but I wanted something more creative; more surreal. I could imagine how the same autumn scene would look if I applied my "swirl" technique. I talk about this technique in my popular book, Right Brain Photography, and in my classes. 

Here is a step-by-step tutorial of how my swirl technique works.
1) Set my lens to manual focus.

2) Focus on the scene, set the appropriate f/stop (I want everything sharp)
3) Make sure I get a slow shutter speed--usually 1/6 to 1/15 will work
4) I place the base of my camera on my palm. 

5) The second I hit my shutter button, I swirl my palm and camera. I don't arch the camera;
    just gently swirl, with my palm as the swivel/swirl point. It takes practice, but the results are cool.

                                                          Shutter speed 1/3 

The water from this damn waterfall was furiously flowing. However, the pounding water wasn't conducive to what I felt, which was a soothing autumn scene. I had also just taken a nice, relaxing hike.

                                                                      1/4

I went to the shores of the Buffalo River in Arkansas. I knew from previous visits that it was hard not to get a good shot there. That day, I saw a couple in canoes coming my way. I picked the best composition for them to be in and just waited for them. I took a couple of shots to get my exposure just right, then waited for them to come into view. They were moving, not fast, but moving. I didn't want to blur them. When in doubt, I choose a high shutter speed, even though it might be more than needed. 

1/250

Horseracing. For these fast-running competitors, I need a very fast shutter speed, if my goal is to "freeze' the horses, especially when they're running perpendicular to me!

1/1600 (hand-held) 

Here is a different type of scenario. As I stood near a powerful waterfall in Rocky Mountain National Park, the ground beneath me vibrated. The sound was extremely loud. However, in the midst of all that, I felt serene, peaceful. After I got my shot of the waterfall, I looked for something else that would interpret; translate my feelings into a photograph. I walked down a slight slope and found my way around two huge boulders, putting me near the bottom of the waterfall. When I saw that scene, I could feel the peacefulness and tranquility. I just had to translate those feelings. I chose 1/6th of a second to achieve that. See below.

I chose this next image for the cover of Right Brain Photography. It was 10-15 minutes after sunset when I started "painting" these natural formations in Garden of The Gods, a city park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I set my camera on the BULB setting, with my camera on my tripod. The BULB setting allows me to leave the shutter open until I decide to shut it. I depressed the shutter on my cable release, then locked it open. I let my cable release cable dangle as I "painted" the formation with two flashlights. 

5-minute exposure

  

I hope I have given you enough examples for you to understand the importance of why the right questions lead to the right results. I don't simply think mechanically. I think aesthetically as well.

In these examples, I used shutter speeds that ranged from 5 minutes to 1/1600. 

So, please don't start your quest with, "What shutter speed should I use?" Do ask yourself, "How do I want this to look? "What's my message?" "How do I translate these feelings into something we call a photograph."

Have fun, and don't hesitate to contact me with questions.

www.elivega.net     vegaphotoart@gmail.com

     

 

  

  

 MY PHOTOGRAPHY PHILOSOPHY

As we approach the end of 2025, I thought I'd end it with my philosophy about photography.

My interest in photography began more than a decade before the advent of photo editing software and digital photography. I was already an aspiring but amateur photographer when I heard the announcement about a new exposure light metering system--matrix metering. Before then, we only had center-weighted metering to work with.

Until mid-2009, I was shooting with Kodachrome and Fujichrome Velvia and Provia slide film. ISO 25, 50, and 64 were my go-to choices before 2009. Some of you might remember that we chose the film type based on the type of light conditions we anticipated or had planned. 

A decade or so before I bought my first high-level DSLR camera, I spent three years in college studying art--composition, color theory, design, painting with oils, acrylics, watercolor, and so on. I studied what the world masters painted, how, and why. I was impressed with art movements like impressionism, surrealism, and pointillism. I learned about the application of brushstrokes. And, of course, I learned about lighting.

That backdrop has served as the foundation for my photography today. As an artist with a camera, I like shadows. I strive for the right exposure, not the "correct" exposure. This is why I ignore today's camera histogram, which is engineered to advise me as to what the "correct" exposure is or should be. The histogram is incompatible with my artistic vision. That said, I understand and apply left-brain knowledge, but I shoot with right-brain vision: What made me stop? How do I want this to look? What's my message? How do I translate my thoughts and feelings into something we call a photograph?  

HDR. I am not a fan of HDR, mostly because one of the major intents of HDR use is to eliminate   shadows. The result of that process usually produces a very "flat" image, which lacks dimension. I like shadows. They give the image contrast, interest, and give it a three-dimensional feel. The other reason I don't favor HDR is because of the common "HDR look." Many examples I've seen look cartoonish, like an illustration, or like an architectural rendering. The rare times that I do apply HDR, I try to make my image still look like a photograph.

When something makes me stop, I look at colors, shapes, forms, shadows, and even messages, feelings, or sensations. The actual subject(s) become secondary to all that.

Oh, and those apps, so readily available and heavily marketed today? So many appear to me as tools for the untrained, uneducated, the non-curious, and the non-creative. We have so many of those tools in our cameras. We just don't know they are there or how to creatively use them. To me, many are extra gadgets and photography toys. Don't get me wrong. If you are not trained on what DSLR and mirrorless cameras and lenses already have built-in, and not creative enough to use them in ways they were not designed for, they can be fun to play with. 

I look with my eyes; I see with my imagination. 

Now I will share a few of my favorite images from my huge collection. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or observations. If you are like-minded, I would like to hear from you.

I saw this sunrise as I was driving on a two-lane highway in the Arkansas Ozarks. I quickly stopped, walked briskly up the hill, and saw the fog-filled valley below. I felt peaceful; tranquil. However, when I clicked, the resulting image did not capture my feelings. I switched the WB to fluorescent, and viola!
If I had listened to my histogram, it would have screamed, "You're way off, dude!"

I also got this shot in the early morning hours, before actual sunrise. Put Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado on your to-do list. 

One creative technique I've created along the way is to swirl my camera during a shutter speed of 1/6-1/15 of a second. You have to be steady and quick and swirl, or swivel, the camera with the palm of your hand. Experiment with it. Don't arch the camera; just swirl from left-to-right or right-to-left, based on what feels more comfortable for you.

One of my favorite techniques is to create my renditions of impressionistic art. My goal is to capture the characteristics of Impressionism. One of my favorite ways to do that is to create an in-camera double exposure. You will need a camera that has a multiple exposure feature in the menu. 

I take the first shot slightly out of focus, then take the second shot in sharp focus. I underexpose the second shot by usually 2/3 of a stop, to make sure the final double-exposed image doesn't come out overexposed. Below is one of my many impressionistic images. By combining the two images in-camera, I create an image that looks more like a painting. 

Zoom rings, on any lens, are not designed for this next technique, but I like to have fun with it. I zoom into a subject during a long exposure. Depending on what I am trying to create. It can be just a few seconds to 20 seconds. I zoomed in on this classic sign of an old Mobile Oil Company Pegasus and created this unique result. I waited a few seconds before zooming in so that Pegasus would register on the film first.   

It was a late autumn afternoon, just outside Steamboat Springs, Colorado, when I came across this  beautiful scene. If Monet had been with me, he would have painted it. And, yes, there are shadows.

I titled it, "Impressionistic Valley."

I leave you with this image. As I walked along a dry riverbed near Fort Worth, Texas, I turned around to make sure I wasn't missing out on something. I do that often during my walks or hikes. To my pleasant surprise, I saw this awesome scene. I got several quick shots, but was not satisfied with them. It occurred to me to put on my FLD filter. I had used it before and liked the results. As you can see, it was the right call. 

FLD stands for Fluorescent Lighting Daylight. Its purpose during film days was to correct for the  color temperature of fluorescent lighting when shooting indoors. It was akin to today's use of WB (White Balance) on cameras. I started experimenting with this filter years ago with outdoor photography. I found that it did a great job with early morning or late afternoon shooting. I still use it today with my digital camera. This image is on my website. I titled it, "Morning Has Broken."

Again, please contact me if you have any questions, comments, or observations regarding my philosophy on the art of photography. 

Eli

 

 

 

 WATER

How many ways can we photograph water? Oh, there are so many variations. Next time you see water, ask yourself, "What can I do with this, other than the obvious? 

When I detach myself from the label "water," it frees me up to see beyond water. So, what is there to photograph, beyond "water?" I look for lines, colors, shapes, and forms. If I feel something or get a sensation from simply being around water, I strive to translate it into something we call a photograph.

I don't aim to document what I see and make it the best documentation possible. The best photography is found where technical know-how and creative aesthetics meet. 

With that introduction, let me share a few images and share what ideas, thoughts, or feelings went into creating them. 

The thought of a duck, when compared to a peacock, leaves me with little excitement, unless that duck is surrounded by a canvas of colorful abstract shapes. 

Feelings are not easy to translate, but certainly not impossible. This is where the technical and creative sides of photography come in. 

Years ago, I stood in front of a powerful waterfall in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Ouzel Falls. The water was gushing down toward the creek it created. It was rumbling so loud I felt the ground vibrate beneath me! Here is how the waterfall looked.

 

As loud and powerful as the waterfall was, I felt a sense of peace and tranquility as the soft, wet mist landed on my face. I wanted to translate that feeling, that sensation. So, I slowly and calmly walked around the huge boulders in front of me, hoping to get up close to the bottom of Ouzel Falls. It was there that I saw my translation--peace and tranquility. A combination of composition (the aesthetic side) and a slow shutter speed of 1/6 of a second (the technical side) is what it took for me to translate my senses that day.

In the middle of a field workshop at a botanical garden, I asked my students to follow me to a series of pond water fountains with an orange wall as a backdrop. I taught them how to experiment with different shutter speeds and to take advantage of the continuous shooting setting to take several bursts (images) within seconds. I like this image I created during that workshop, taken at a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second. It gave me a great, colorful abstract. It also has the look of a transparent sculpture.

I was hiking on a mountain trail in Colorado during autumn. That's the season aspens show off their gold colors. As I looked for aspens, I looked down at the trail and noticed a sprinkling of gold on the ground. Wow! The gold nuggets I found were nothing other than reflections along the stream on the trail from the aspens above. What a pleasant surprise. When I take a hike, I make it a point to stop periodically and look behind me, as well as look at the ground to make sure I am not missing out on the not-so-obvious. I'm glad I looked down at that moment. My title for this image: "Trail of Gold."

On another trail in Colorado, in the fall, I came across this scene. It was surreal, like magic! I love reflections, but these were magical. A line of golden aspens cloned themselves, upside down, in the lake before me. I loved the mirror image. The lake was low, creating horizontal lines in between the reflections.

One of my favorite lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park is Sprague Lake. I was there when the lake was partly frozen. It gave me a really cool abstract design of shapes and color. The red/orange colors you see are nothing other than late-autumn dead leaves floating along the ice sheet edges.   

It had rained the day before this next hike. There were several hikers on the trail that day. I noticed them as they hopped in between and around the small puddles created by the rainfall the day before. 

It was on my way back from the hike that I noticed nature's art in one of those small puddles. It was like someone had painted an abstract inside an irregular canvas. As I set up my tripod to begin my art project, a few hikers stopped, curious as to what I was photographing. I pointed to what I saw in this particular puddle. One of them said, "I would not have seen that if you hadn't pointed it out."

I asked several hikers what they thought had created those awesome colors. At first glance, it looked like a parking lot oil spill. One hiker theorized that it was maybe the natural oils from the trees that made their way to the ground after yesterday's rainfall. Lesson? You can find a great shot, right at your feet.  

I started doing this years ago, out of curiosity. I have photographed a reflection in the water, knowing that I am going to show or display it upside down. The look simulates Impressionism or Surrealism, depending on the subject and what I do with my shutter speeds.

Here is one example. It is a reflection of trees in the spring. I photographed their reflection, knowing that I was going to display them "upside down." It looks very surreal. It looks like trees, but why are they distorted? The Godfather of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí, loved to distort objects and animals.

Give yourself an assignment. Search for water, in any form, and see what you can do with it. Take the labels off and look for color, form, shapes, and design. You will be surprised with your results. 

The best photography is found where technical know-how and creative aesthetics meet.

Look for me on Facebook: Eli Vega Photography

 

 

  

 

       

 CLASSIC CARS

I find art in just about any subject in life. That includes classic cars.

I photograph the entire vehicle sometimes. However, I also look for interesting backgrounds and settings to add interest. Sometimes, I zoom into parts of the car that give me artistic designs.

 And, yes, sometimes I need to do some behind-the-scenes fine-tuning with photo editing software.

With that, here are a few images from my broad collection of classic cars. 

I zoomed in tight and turned my camera to emphasize the design of this '57 Buick gave me. 

For this great 1953 Chevy, I loved the guy taking a picture of it, wearing his Route 66 shirt. It was the perfect "classic cars" combination! I made sure to get that "spinner" hubcab in the image.

I love those old hood ornaments of days gone by! Talking about classic, oh my. They were pieces of art, worth capturing from an artistic vantage point. 

It helps to find out what route a certain car show will take. I knew in advance that I wanted to be right at this spot, with the cars coming down this hillside, with that beautiful old yellow house adding to the composition.  

I blurred the background with my photo editing software, to bring out the fins on this cool old Desoto.
I also got close to the left fin with a wide-angle lens to further exaggerate its design.   

I also chose this background to add interest to the classic cars I knew would be driving down this hill. For all shots like this I take advantage of continuous-shooting mode, to get several images within seconds, then choose the best one after I see them on my monitor. I also keep my eye on my shutter speed, to make sure I don't get blurred cars! I photograph scenes like this one without a tripod because I need to move fast, squat down, or do whatever I quickly need to do to get the best composition.  

I did some fancy foot tap dancing for this one. I loved the backdrop behind the beautiful Corvette.
The background for this one was the beautiful historic town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I loved all the signs. I converted everything except the car to sepia, to mimic those old sepia-colored pictures of the past. The car was already there, just waiting for me to go "click."    

Sometimes, things just click, no pun intended. I saw this beautiful, incredibly long Cadillac in this perfect setting--like a Hollywood movie set. I loved the dark background, the "OPEN" sign, and, especially, those old slanting parking meters. Perfect combination, perfect setting, perfect everything!  

So, find out if there is a classic car show coming to town, or nearby, and grab those classics! Don't settle for just taking a "picture" of the vehicles. Look for unique and different circumstances, backgrounds, and angles. Also, vary your focal lengths--zoom in, zoom out. Have fun.

Contact me if you have any questions or interested in a field lesson.

www.elivega.net     vegaphotoart@gmail.com     Eli Vega Photography on Facebook