Wallace Koopmans Artlog

Mostly I post my images in bunches because quite frankly I take a lot of pictures.  Every once and a while though there is one image that stands out to me.  This picture of the three chairs falls into that category.  I like the composition but also the sense of place it has for me, it reminds me of many hotel laundry rooms with the sound of buttons hitting enamel.  I moved the chairs to match the perspective lines of the flooring but otherwise this is where you sit to wait for your clothes to dry.

While driving past this location in the afternoon I noticed a lot of people fishing so I decided to return later to see if I could get some sunset images with figures.  While showing so many similar images together makes them seem somewhat repetitive, as they were all shot in a similar manor, it does give an indication of the variety too.  Within a small area you can usually create many different images by looking for different angles and by moving around.  I tried to convey the relationships between the people in these images, either fisherman respectfully giving each other space, or the implied familial connection between the figures.  If you are taking pictures that work as silhouettes you need to be cognisant of the relationship of the shapes.  What I mean by this is that if there are overlaps you need move to eliminate them or at least ensure that they don’t create an unintelligible mess.  If not you may look at your images later only to find that they don’t work as well as you might have hoped.  This can occur because your brain is able to ignore these inconsistencies and fill in the missing information at the time but that tends not to translate into clear two dimensional images.  Amongst these images I think the ones that work the best have clear space between the figures.

Patterns don’t need to be limited to man made mechanical precision.

With “Satchel” I’ve created a framework for a narrative without leading to a specific one.  The viewer is needed to complete the work, bringing their own experiences and visual memory.

In order to see the entire image and get a sense of the scale you will need to go to the deep zoom version of the image here.  Satchel

While it doesn’t actual replace the need for a wide angle lens, stitching images together can help in a pinch.  I wanted to get a reference image of this old bulldozer but I was too close with the lens that I had (that’s a whole other story as to why I only had a 28mm prime lens with me).  My solution was to meter the scene for all aspects and then shoot a series of images in manual mode.  It’s necessary to control the exposure to ensure a good match, if you let the camera control the exposure then as you frame each image it will want to make changes to the shutter speed and aperture.  So once I have all my images back home I use a piece of software that is actually free, not spam spam spam and pay us a fee, Microsoft’s Image Composite Editor.  It does such a good job I would hate to be a commercial company trying to make a similar product.

And after the magic I have an image that would have required a much wider lens to create.

I thought it would be fun to take pictures of the concrete lions I came across.  The fun didn’t last too long as there really is a limited number of forms.  Sometimes an idea runs into a dead end but it’s in the effort that new discoveries can be made.

Dunach elementary in Abbotsford, a rural school with a long history, is scheduled to be closed down this year.  These two images represent small instants of the larger times and changes that occur to a building like this and by extension communities.

Here is a different take, where I have literally placed Dunach Elementary on the proverbial chopping block.  Trite, but if you don’t know what is then how can you produce art that isn’t.

The Konica I from the late 1940’s has an interesting feature or lack of one depending on your perspective.  Because the shutter is on the lens and has no linkage to the body there is no film advance lock out.  What this means is that the advancing of the film is entirely independent of the taking of the picture.  I’ve experimented on this roll of film by partially advancing the film and panning so that the two or more exposures overlap.  I’m pleased with the first effort but now I want to do it again with my new knowledge and see if I can’t get some more interesting results.