The Elements

“There are infinite shadings of light and shadows and colors…it’s an extraordinarily subtle language. Figuring out how to speak that language is a lifetime job.”
(Conrad Hall)

I’ve been working hard on my photography again, and one way to stretch my Self is to enter the challenges that Smugmug hosts in their forums.  It’s a friendly, safe place of like minds and I was fortunate to recently place 3rd in the “filters” challenge with a rendering of this old boy, titled “State of the Nation”:

Third place also got me into the upcoming “Mega Challenge”, a quarterly competition for the top 5 finishers in each bi-weekly challenge.  And with a digital camera up for grabs, you can well imagine everyone wants to win – including me!

The theme is “The Elements”.  And since an obvious shot, such as a tornado about to sweep over an exploding volcano, isn’t exactly within reach of most of us, I suspect we’ve all been scratching our heads over how to represent this deceptively simply idea in a single photograph.

Earth, wind, and fire.  Water.  In Chinese astrology, air, earth, water, wood, and metal.  The base definitions are similar no matter how you look at it.  I set them adrift inside my mind for days, then at last an idea bubbled up. 

I spent almost all day yesterday in an attempt to bring my vision to life.  In photography, it’s all about the light so I started in the early morning as the sun’s rays came over the horizon and eventually began to stream across our little backyard.  First I had to build the “set”.  This necessitated 2 trips over the side fence to borrow stones from my neighbor’s empty garden bed.  Next, find suitably-sized candles, grab some lighters, then drag the hose across the yard.

Stack the stones carefully.  Wet the whole setup down with the hose.  Light and position the candle, stack small pieces of stone around it.  Turn on the hose and adjust it until there was only the smallest of steady drips streaming out the end, and settle it on top the stack of stones.  Adjust the resulting water to run off the stones in a pleasing conformation without putting out the candle’s flame.

It only sounds easy.  Astrologically, water and fire have a hard time co-existing and such definition is, indeed, a mirror of real life.  But eventually I got it right and took an initial series of shots.  As the day moved into afternoon, I finally went inside to look at the results.

Close.  But no cigar.  I needed different light, more water, more flame.  And by then I also needed a nap. 

Later in the afternoon, with first lessons in my back pocket, I returned to the backyard and rearranged the set.  The next series of photographs proved much better all the way around.  The “Gotto of the Goddess” was becoming a reality:

While I am pleased and would have no problems posting any of the results as a daily photograph, I am not entirely satisfied.  Not when the stakes are so high.  The results have spiraled visions of alchemy, and I must introduce a far more compelling element of drama. 

And this means only one thing.  Night.  And smoke. 

But the after-dark session was derailed by weariness and spotting a tiny night visitor at the big squirrel feeder.  Showing us that, as Bob put it so eloquently, life is elementary: