Photos That Lie
by Jim McGee
"It's easy to take pictures when you're on
vacation but I can never find anything to shoot when I'm at home."
That simple statement in a reader's email started me thinking about
the simple art of "seeing" and how with some creative framing
photographers can create their own reality out of the everyday world
around them.
It's kind of simple really, you just need to open yourself up to
seeing parts of a scene. Or to looking beyond what's in front of you,
and at
what's behind the everyday facades that we all drive by in our busy
world.
Here are some simple examples, all shot within a few minutes of my
house in the "unphotogenic" suburbs.
To see what the
scene "really" looks like move your mouse over the photo and
watch it change.
 The
bright reds and yellows caught my eye, but rather than being part of a
virgin field of wild flowers in a wooded glen, these were growing amidst
a pile of old palettes at the edge of a parking lot. The hardest part
of this shot was timing it between the stiff gusts of wind blowing
across the lot. I shot on Provia because it's what I had loaded
from shooting earlier in the day. I was pleasantly surprised by
how fine the grain was, even when blown up to a 13x19 print. (Nikon FM2,
Nikon 50mm f1.4 on Fuji Provia 400, shot at f2.8)
 There's a little stand of trees between a church and a nursing home
that I've driven by literally thousands of times and never thought twice
about. One morning a glint of light from the rising sun caught my
eye through the trees and something made me turn into the nursing home
and hike back into the woods where I found this picture. The light
only lasted a few minutes, and in contrast to the apparently tranquil
scene, traffic noise from the road drowned out the sounds of the chirping
birds. (Nikon N70, Nikon 20mm f2.8 on Ektachrome Extracolor 100
film. Shot at f22)
 A
carpet of wild flowers on the forest floor is a beautiful scene and a
photographic staple. Scenes like this have been shot all over the
world. It just so happens that this one was shot in the side yard
of a house in Northeast Philadelphia. (Nikon N70, 28-105 f3.5-4.5 on Fuji Astia
100 shot at f22)
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