Perspective...

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

~ Wayne Dyer ~

Sunrise - Rockland Lake State Park, NY

Perspective is everything, and the lens in which we view the world, colors our mind’s eye on life, relationships, empathy, sports, self worth, politics, economics and, yes, even photography.

Taking things a step further; you can make an argument that perspective has a correlation with optimism and/or pessimism. I choose to walk on the sunny side of the street, so I’ll stick with a positive energy theme.

Before we dive into the deep end of artistic expression(s), a few thoughts on sports and my home town team as they offer a good example.

The New York Yankees recently broke a 7 game losing streak in which they scored zero… nada… zilch… runs over the course of 30 innings! Hard to fathom this is even possible. This equates to 3+ games of nobody touching home plate. Give me the baseball bat and I’ll take a couple of hacks at the ball. Albeit small… there is some probability (%) of me getting a hit & scoring a run!

Okay, enough fantasy, more reality: Thank you Jazz Chisholm, Jr. for hitting a solo home run and ending the drought. It was painful to watch my favorite team struggle to score a run. I thought a $289 million dollar payroll would come with some guarantee of run production(?).

If we step back for a minute, a wide lens perspective of the situation reveals the Yankees are still in 1st place with a record of 44-32 and lead the AL East by 1.5 games.

Yankee Stadium - Bronx, NY

What’s this have to do with perspective you might be asking? Once again… everything. If you only watched the last couple weeks of baseball on the YES Network, you’d think the Yankees were the worst team on the planet. Even worse than the Colorado Rockies (sorry CO friends). However, a top-down angle, would alter your view and lead you to conclude, they’re a good team going through a rough patch. No more, no less.

Tarrytown Metro North Train Station, NY

Moving to the artistic theme… Photography has plenty of similarities. Shooting photos from the same spot as everyone else is going to produce, yup… the same photos as everyone else. Simply look at the geotagging on an image and you can find the exact location a picture was taken. If that’s the end objective, congratulations, you’ve succeeded. Most photographers I know are looking to capture unique imagery. Something that stands out from the crowd and presents a fresh look at a familiar (or unfamiliar) subject.

My friend Rick Sammon often says, “I want you to use your camera like a helicopter. You are constantly circling, you’re looking for that unique perspective.” Amen my brother… well said! Looking for a different angle, or presentation is critical in capturing your subject in a new light.

Here are a few thoughts and details on my three images in this blog…

Image #1: I miss more photos than I capture, but I believe this crew photo I got right. I found a nice balance of light, composition & camera angle. The early morning light coupled with my ‘rule of odds’ presentation of the oars combined to make the image different. I was fully aware the high school kids go out early in the morning (surprise, surprise… but true!) to row on the motionless water at Rockland Lake State Park in Congers, NY. I was also praying for morning ‘smoke’ as the cool air collides with warm water. This seems to be a common occurrence in September & October. On this particular day, many variables came to fruition and luck & preparation became my best friends. I should note: I moved the oars to give a better presentation. The “Rule of Odds” states that odd numbers are more visually appealing than even ones. Thus, three and one is visually more stimulating than a group of four. Using a 45 degree camera angle added depth (DOF) to the frame as well.

Image #2: Many famous athletes have graced the hallowed grounds of center field at Yankee stadium… Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantle, Bobby Murcer and Bernie Williams to name a few. Jacoby Ellsbury doesn’t come to mind, but you take what you can get! He was the starting center fielder the day I took this picture. Honestly, anyone could have been standing there on this day as I was captivated by the freshly-cut, wide patterns of the grass. The b&w conversion was easy to visualize at the time and a small amount of post processing would allow for more contrast via the Silver Efex Pro plug in in Lightroom. Play ball.

Image #3: Watch the Gap or Mind the Gap is the verbiage on train platforms in the US and Europe, respectively. The gritty, textured rubber mat allows for safer entry to the train(s). This particular image was taken in Tarrytown, NY, on a weekday morning. Commuters hustle to & from NYC on the Metro North Hudson Line and I thought an iPhone silhouette of myself provided an element of nostalgic mystery. Millions of people have taken this train to and from Grand Central over the last 100+ years and remain nameless. Many more will follow suit. Now I can tell myself, I’m one in a million.

Until next time…

Cheers.