-
Seasonal Fruits and Refreshments
The July assignment in my still-life photo project for this year requested “Seasonal Fruits and Refreshments” and I knew exactly where to look for it – in our own garden. For gardening, this year was quite generous in terms of weather. The spring late frosts did not cause much damage and the early summer brought just enough rain. And there’s definitely something deeply satisfying about photographing fruit you’ve watched growing on your own trees and bushes – it transforms a creative assignment into something much more personal. The blueberries have become my favorite breakfast addition, brightening my morning oat flakes and yoghurt with their pleasing tartness. They’re not only beautiful,…
-
Everyday Geometry
The June assignment in my still-life photo project for this year featured “Everyday Geometry”. Geometry is all around us in everyday objects and sometimes it creates eye-catching patterns and shapes. The truth is that we usually walk past such mathematical elegance without thinking about it or even without realising it is there. I would even say that geometric shapes and patterns have a meditative quality. They welcome simplicity and create visual harmony that brings peace to our overloaded brains. There is something calming about clean lines and balanced proportions. They don’t demand attention in a loud way… I found out that black and white benefits the theme greatly in a…
-
Windows and Reflections
The May assignment in my still-life photo project for this year featured “Windows and Reflections”. Quite self-explanatory, isn’t it? So I gave it a try, and surprisingly, I found myself drawn to B&W images as the final result. They may feel melancholic without those bright colours but the lack of vividness offered space for one’s own imagination and reflection. We live in a world full of colours and even though that is undeniably wonderful, the colours can be distracting and even overwhelming. I must confess it is sometimes a relief to strip off the unnecessary baggage and get to the core. The assignment for June featured “Everyday Geometry,” which I’ll…
-
Spiky
You wouldn´t find many black & white photos in my archive but surprisingly enough, this year I created quite a lot of them. I didn´t shoot the photos with the intention to get the b&w result but when I was editing them, the limited colour range brought out the voice they spoke to me with. Like the image above. I took the photo at a maize field where the patterns and structures caught my attention. I still like the original colourful photo. I also like the b&w version I transformed it into. But I went even further to create this contrasting image and realized this was the voice I heard…
-
Mayrau Mining Museum in black and white
I wanted to have my project “Technical” completed till the end of 2021 so I am a bit late with this post. Nevertheless, the photos presented here were taken in 2021, during our visit of the Mayrau Mining Museum in Vinařice, only they were sitting in my files waiting for my being ready to tackle them. It is an interesting place to visit, a piece of history but it feels lonely and somewhat depressive… … and the photos captured it mercilessly. Eventually I decided to go with the somewhat artistic black & white depiction as it seems to add certain tranquillity to the original shabby look… Frankly, I am so…
-
Frosty walk in Rejvíz
The village Rejvíz in Jeseníky mountains is a place where I like to come back. I always enjoy strolling through the village and a walk to the adjacent Great Moss Lake is almost a must and definitely a welcome relaxation. During our last visit we could enjoy charming frosty views and as it was quite early in the morning, also not so many people in this usually quite intensively visited area. That was good, I find it important to get away from crowds here and there to listen to both sounds and silence of the nature around… When I was looking at my photos later at home and was editting…
-
Mirrored
I took the photo above based on several reasons: And funnily enough, look at the resulting image, where it all ended. Colours are gone, patterns and textures are partly sidelined, and the overall tone is quite dark. And yet this is a much more expressive scenery than the one captured in the original photo. The same and yet not the same, mirrored in my thoughts, feelings and expectations. Sometimes it’s not good to stop just after you started. Sometimes you need to make a few more steps to arrive where you wanted to be in the first place. Sometimes we perceive more than we realize and it takes time to…
-
Construction imaginary
It is relaxing to try and see images where there are no obvious ones and it is enriching to try and transform their raw shapes into something more. You have the tools, yet you need to add your own vision to tell an interesting story. A story that may not need words, only deep and quiet perception. I find the process healing… “The technology you use impresses no one. The experience you create with it is everything.” – Sean Gerety
-
Playful water lilies
Yesterday I was asked what definition I would assign to a “photograph” and after some pondering, I came up with this: A photograph is a rendering of reality that may be documentary but also emotional, abstract or even somewhat imaginary, yet still preserving the core of that reality. Well, but what is that core, you may ask, it sounds sort of vague. And I would say that it is the hard-to-grasp distinction between a photo and an image… and we would be at the beginning again. You know, some people say that photography excludes digital art. But digital art has many faces, right, and some of it may preserve the aspect of…
-
Structured
Sometimes I find my surroundings way too showy, chatty, loud and unstructured, almost to the point of hurt. It’s a relief then to create images like this. Images withstraight linesclear directionminimalist contentcolours limited to shades of black and whitejust some grain and wispy patches to let the scenery breeze Sometimes I struggle to add text to my posts but fortunately a picture is worth a thousand words…
