Through most of my photos I attempt to recreate exactly what I see with my eye. From the lighting to the focus to the framing, I typically strive to create a photo that is an exact replication of what I see. This photo proved to me that I don’t need to recreate the image in my mind to create a beautiful photograph. In this post I’ll talk about long exposure photos and how I approach the artistry of photography.

       First, the random technical stuff. I suppose the photography world would call this a “long exposure” photo; I think my shutter speed was set to something like 4 seconds, but I honestly just remember there being double quotes next to the number. What sparked the idea for the long exposure was the waves crashing over this little foot tall rock; it managed to look like an island standing in the sand. What really surprised me is how easy taking the shot was. I changed the exposure time first, setting it as long out as I felt comfortable relative to the f-stop and the iso, and how long I could set my camera on the beach without it getting soaked by a wave, then adjusted the other settings from there. In post, I didn’t do a whole lot, mostly adjusted for weird shadows and a bit of under exposure (which was weird, under exposing a long exposure, what?) The final product looks like something I’m proud to post, more artistic than most of my other shots, but still worthy of an honorable mention.

       Now onto the good stuff. Lots of times I wonder if what I’m doing is art and there is definitely a fine line to be walked between artistic capturing and documentation. However, I feel that the answer to the question of “is it art” lies not only in the intent of the photographer but also in that of the patron. It appears that there are three main components of artistic photography: the scene being captured, the one making the photo, and the one viewing the photo. Keep in mind that the scene is the most objective part of this entire process. What may be a factually rock on a beach can be interpreted many different ways. Up until this shot my attempts at artistic photography were based on mimicking what the natural world had to offer, attempting to present on a screen what my eyes saw. The reality is that while I may be able to get close to what I see, the same feeling, smells, and experience may not be present when the observer witnesses the photograph for the first time. So, what is a 20-something to do about this conundrum? The simple but complex answer is: recreate the feeling.

       The feeling I was looking to recreate with this photo was one of power and awe. This one foot tall rock seemed like a mountain to the beach, with waves crashing against it, and the sky looming overhead. I went with the long exposure option to invoke a sense of mystery from the water, and edged towards a soft focus in hopes of giving the rock a more powerful feeling. This is one of the few shots where what came out of the camera was actually what I had in my head. Mostly because I was willing to stray from realism for a moment and let the artistic side of photography take over.I learn a valuable lesson in what it means to create an image as opposed to capturing nature with this shot.

Thank you all for reading and I look forward to posting more soon. -Ben