Flash Fill Photography

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My Back Yard, Photography
©2011 Mary Rush Gravelle

Recently I learned about flash fill photography in my Photography II class at the university. This is an easy technique to grasp and promises to delight most photographers of any level who try it. The results can look magical. The flash crystalizes focus on the object of the flash. The rest of the composition goes out of focus and gets treated to some unusual effects.

Blue Railing at Fort Bayard.
Photography
©2011 Mary Rush Gravelle

Our class took a field trip to try this technique out. We headed out to Fort Bayard in Bayard, New Mexico, 20 minutes from campus just before dusk. We ran around the grounds of Fort Bayard flashing anything and everything in total excitement of seeing the outcome. Most of us were thrilled with what the process delivered. I certainly was.

Tapestry, Photography at Fort Bayard.
 ©2011 Mary Rush Gravelle

I became enthralled with one particular place on the grounds and took many photos from that location. See "Tapestry" and "Blue Railing".

Sir Kitty and the Cement Block.
Photography in my neighborhood.
©2011 Mary Rush Gravelle

I recently did some flash fill shooting while walking my cat, Sir Kitty, in the neighborhood. Soon, I had a squad of young boys flashing the neighborhood with their point and shoot cameras. It was quite fun.

Let me know if you try this technique and how you like it. Find out more by googling “flash fill photography”. There is a ton of information on it.

Please accept my humblest apologies for not posting last week. I was down with the flu.

Have a great week. Flash away!

Coffee Pot Theory of the Creative Process: Part 3

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@2004-2011 Mary Rush Gravelle
This process may not be shared for professional gain.
Please obtain written consent. All rights reserved.
You may share it for consideration in the way I have set forth in the article.
Please share only by giving full credit as follows:
"A creative process developed by Mary Rush Gravelle."

Last week I explained Stages One and Two of my creative process: Coffee Pot Theory of the Creative Process. Today we will finish up with the remaining three stages. I have used the word “idea” throughout but you might also consider interchanging it with “project” because I think that the process is the same for any creative endeavor. No matter if you are an artist, writer, musician, businessperson, layperson, or another kind of person (;-0), this process applies.

Original article was published in 2004 in the ARTistic FX magazine in Hartford, Connecticut.

3^rd Stage: Revival

If the idea has managed to survive to this point that means that you have a newfound hope for the probability of your idea. You revive it and ask, “How can I make it happen?” You might research other ideas that are similar or ask others for advice. You might also enlist the help of an expert in the field of your idea. You begin to grapple with how to bring it forth. Possibilities exist.

4^th Stage: Shaping

Now that you have given your idea a reason for living, you move into action by organizing your thoughts. “Okay, I think it’ll work” is what you say now. You plan your strategy and feel confident that it can be done.

Featured artwork.
Snow Window, Photograph. ©2011 Mary Rush Gravelle
Purchase a print here:
http://mary-gravelle.artistwebsites.com/featured/snow-window-mary-gravelle.html

5^th Stage: Yippee!

You have given shape and form to your idea, and it is now a livable and breathable thing. “What a great idea!” you declare. You have moved through all the stages of moaning, groaning, crying, and laughing. Now it is time to celebrate because the idea has been made manifest into the real world.

Summary:

Although a coffee lover, I realize that I feel the same buzz from creating something new as I feel from drinking my coffee. 

Run my Theory through your own creative process, and see if it fits the way you create. I would love to hear your comments.

Coffee Pot Theory of the Creative Process: Part 2

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Coffee Pot Theory of the Creative Process.
©2004-2011 Mary Rush Gravelle

Last week I introduced you to my Coffee Pot Theory of the Creative Process. This is a process that came to me in 2004. I called it a theory because it was something that I was thinking about as a possibility in outlining the creative process. Creativity is a rascal that does not want to be tied down. It is a free spirit. But, what if we can get a handle on the process of creativity? Wouldn’t that make life a little easier? Wouldn’t it help us create if we knew the process?

This theory was published in 2004 in the ARTistic FX magazine in Hartford, Connecticut. The magazine is no longer online, otherwise I would give you the link. I will reproduce it here on this blog for you over several weeks so you can take it in, or drink it in!

Beginning of article:

Published 2004 in the ARTistic FX magazine

“DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR NEXT CUP OF COFFEE HOLDS THE SECRET TO THE CREATIVE PROCESS?

We are the Coffee Generation, judging by the many different coffee establishments. Why do we love our coffee so much? Does the idea of drinking a cup of coffee conjure up the scene in your mind of being jolted from your sleepy-headed state and revving your feet into action? It certainly does for me.

Let’s think about the act of drinking that cup of coffee as metaphor for the creative process. Think of the head as the beginning of the process and the feet as a completion of our process. Coffee wakes our head so our feet can get moving.

Now, let’s compare Coffee with Ideas. Ideas come into our minds so our feet can bring them out into the world in some form. We begin with an idea and find ourselves immersed in a process of making it happen.” [This is much like placing the coffee grounds and water into the pot and then letting the process take over to make that cup of coffee].

“Let’s begin with the old-fashioned method: the percolator coffee pot. How does it make coffee? The percolator takes its time heating the water and then takes more time sending the water upward only to come back down over the coffee grounds. Then, the water seeps over the grounds, and the fresh aroma of coffee fills the kitchen as the coffee makes its way into the pot with a final brew. [Let’s compare this process with the creative process].

1^st Stage: Yahoo!

This is the moment in time when an idea arrives in your wondering mind, ‘Hmm… I have an idea,' you might say to yourself. This is the very exciting stage when you salivate at the very prospect of pursuing this idea. It’s like the first kiss, so savory delicious you can hardly contain your jazzed-up emotion over it.

2^nd Stage: Ouch!

Featured artwork: Landscape of the Mind
Abstract photograph. © Mary Rush Gravelle.
Purchase a print.

Your idea takes a nosedive after running it through your Reality Checking System. ‘It’ll never work. What was I thinking anyway?” is what you might be saying at this stage. You ramble on, “There are no new ideas, anyway.” You doubt everything about yourself and this idea: its feasibility, your skill level, your thinking abilities, blah, blah, blah, etc. Your acrimonious remarks continue. Pragmatism rules. The Critic takes over.”

End of partial article

So, think about these two beginning stages of this theory. Run them through your own creative process and see if it fits. I’ll continue this next week unfolding the final stages to the creative process.