ICM is another tool for purposeful expression, a tool to use in developing your personal aesthetic.

ICM takes the motion blur created with a long exposure one step further in expressive quality.  It is another method of painting with light.

“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera,
they are made with the eye, heart & head.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Long exposures blur motion, while keeping the non-moving structure of the photograph, the  ground and any other environmental features, solid and focused. Images like those in Poetry of motion are an example of purposeful use of long exposures, during which the camera would need to be mounted on a tripod or on a solid surface to eliminate camera shake.

With intentional camera movement, we provide the movement, the expressive quality, by intentionally moving the camera.

In my own work, ICM helps me capture gesture and energy. ICM helps me create images about the essence of my subject.

Examples.

Note from these examples that they are not just blurry pictures.  A strong image should still have some strong lines or focal points even if they are not in focus.   The movement enhances the emotional quality of the subject.  You may enhance the emotion/mood with color and depth in post-processing.

HOW?

1. Choose a subject.  Look for contrasting colors and values, think about composition.

2. Set your camera.

Intentional shutter, usually 1/6”  to 2”; ISO @100 for best quality; f-stop to complete exposure.

Consider a neutral density filter if photographing in bright daylight.

A longer shutter speed will soften details. A shorter shutter speed will leave more details.

3. Set your own mindset! Creating ICM images involves play and practice and experimentation to discover what works for your subject, the available light, and your own vision.

4.  Play.  Play with your camera movement. Different panning movements will create different lines in your image.  Try moving your camera along the main lines of your subject.   Adjust exposure as necessary.  Play with moving your lens by zooming in or out during the exposure.  

* I compare this process to fishing. You do a lot of casting to catch a big one.

RESOURCES

The most simple guide to ICM.

Andrew S Gray website and gallery, YouTube channel of instructional videos

Gray has multiple films of his shooting process, his culling of images, and his editing. In fact he edits live on Tuesday nights.   *Andrews relies heavily on the post-production, shooting to ‘collect data’ for later editing.

5 Tips for ICM Photography

Doug Chinnery website

Doug Chinnery  blog post tutorials

Janet Powick interview and inspiration

Why use selective focus?

Artists use selective focus to separate their subject from its environment.

Common examples of images that traditionally use selective focus are portraits: a senior portrait, a close up of a flower, or of an animal.

In these examples you can see that the subject has been separated from the environment for emphasis.

   f2.8 @ 200 mm 

   f2.8 @ 70 mm

A by-product of selective focus is called bokeh, when anything that reflects light becomes a large light spot. In the photograph below, I purposefully backlit the loon and all that bokeh was created by the pollen floating on the water. 

This is a great source of information on how to create Bokeh. Bokeh for beginners

    f2.8 @200 mm

How do you achieve selective focus?

There are three ways to create selective focus. 

1. Aperture. Set the aperture on your camera to the largest aperture, the largest opening. On a lens with an aperture range of f2.8 – f32,you will achieve the maximum selective focus by setting your camera to 2.8.The larger the opening of your lens, the more selective focus.
2. Proximity. Get physically as close as possible to your subject.
3. Focal length. Zoom in as far as you can, maximizing your telephoto.

The last two, proximity and focal length, are especially important if you do not have a fast lens with a 2.8 or other wide aperture.

Here is a graphic that explains this.

Food for Thought:

Isolating a subject from its context changes meaning.  

Think about the difference between a formal portrait and an environmental portrait.

In a formal portrait, a person’s face is in focus, the middle ground and background are out of focus.

In an environmental portrait, a person AND  their context are in focus, so that we can learn about the person from all the symbols in their environment. 

The aperture is a tool that gives you power and control over how much information you communicate about your given subject. You get to choose, purposefully.

He was busy fishing. We paused in our kayaks, enjoying that magic moment of expectation, wondering where and when he would resurface. After several blissful minutes he claimed his territory with this display, and we moved on.

To see more loon photos from Lake Wicwas, click here.

I just had the pleasure of spending another week on Monhegan, making art.  It was a week of plein air painting and photographing, of hiking from dawn to dusk to my favorite places to find the most amazing light.

To see more of my images of Monhegan Island, click here.

Can you feel the energy?

Morning light, fall colors, rising fog. 

What an honor to make portraits of this beautiful young woman. 

Thank you.

Every morning this week there has been a different dramatic "reveal" of the landscape through the fog.

Luke and Anna chose to get married in the presence of their  family and dearest friends at the place where they originally met: St. Lawrence University's Camp Canaras on Upper Saranac Lake, NY. 

Russ and I were there all weekend to document this most important "moment" of their lives as well as share in their celebration. The weekend and ceremony were perfect for them: every detail was personal. While so many weddings look the same, this one was uniquely theirs.

We were blessed with two loon chicks this year.  

For images of loons from past years, visit here.

These images and more New Hampshire landscape are available here.

I have had the pleasure of photographing both these children since they were born . I must be their official family photographer!

We'd witnessed the "celebrity" snowy owl that was in residence in Rye Harbor for well over a month, it seemed to move only from rooftop to rooftop.

Yesterday morning my wish was granted. Russ saw it first, a white rock being mobbed by crows.   I barely had time to get out there with my camera before an ambivalent beachcomber walked too close.   The first images I made were of it flying.  Eventually, urged by the rising tide at its feet, it took to the air and thankfully flew back to 'our' shore.  What more could I ask for?   While I have the details of feather and wing in my photographs, I have the elegant and efficient flight of this magnificent visitor engraved in my memory.

To see more, click here.

Click here to see more pictures.

How curious it is walk over the swamps and water that we kayak and swim through in the summer, the blue water solid beneath our feet. It is good to know a place in all its seasons.

I found some warmth  in the seaside landscape of Rye, NH. I created all these images at Odiorne State Park.

Contact me  if you are interested in this style of portrait!

Because the monthly assignment for the group of NH photographers is "dramatic lighting", I set up the studio this morning and created portraits of two of my favorite BOYS.

At the bottom of this post be sure to click on the link to Princeton House Photography's new work.

Follow the circle to Stephanie's dramatic light images at Princeton House Photography.

I new this portrait theme was coming up at Easter, so I decided to make these self portraits purposeful!

(I am not in very many family photos as I am always behind the camera.) 

I decided that my self portraits would document me as part of my family, as well as one our family's

Easter traditions.

You have to admire my son's focus!

We are a family of goofballs.  Goobers.  We are silly. 

While we were clearly posing for the camera, these images are still "us".

And I am glad I am in a few pictures this year. :)

To continue with the NH Photographer's Blog Circle and see the photographic work of the wonderful Kelly Varnum, of Kelly Varnum Photography, click here.

I held this vision in my grateful heart all day.

Evening colors in Rye, NH.  I often favor the intimate landscape of shallow tidal pools and grasses, and the variety of birds that feed there, to the broad expanse of the Atlantic Ocean across the road.

I have been working on four bodies of personal work for the last several years, but have yet to show most of them. I have portfolios of athletic and dancing bodies, all in full gesture of "flight".  They are abstract and figurative, leaving the viewer space to connect and to interpret based on their own experience.

These images of basketball players are about the grace and power of athletes in motion.

Please head on over to Princeton House Photography to see Stephanie Lewis' beautiful imagery!

A few weeks ago I had the honor of photographing this sweet baby girl in the late afternoon, winter light.   She was wide awake the entire session, not a glimmer of a sleepy moment for a posed newborn picture.  However, her brothers were eager to be in the pictures, too, and what eager and loving big brothers they are! Congratulations to this beautiful family.

It was pure pleasure to photograph this sweet baby and his parents.

This is Love.

Welcome to the world, little one.

2.17.13

To see the rest of the images from this game click here.

The Peewee Predators earned a 7-1 victory over Oyster River at the Whittemore Center Sunday, 2.2.13.

To see the rest of the pictures from this game please click here!

Can't-hear-your-own-heartbeat.

Overtime.

Game.

(We won.)

Click here to see more images from this game.

It was sunny and warm today in Rye, NH.  I made all these pictures late this afternoon walking between

Odiorne State Park and Wallis Sands State Park.  

These images and other New Hampshire Landscapes can be found here.

For these images I used the  app CP Pro for IPhone.

I can't watch a game without my camera.  Every moment there is the possibility of an awesome shot (pun intended)!

Including hockey, I photograph almost 100 sports events a year.

These images are a few from last weekend's three "Peewee 1" games.

We make as many of our gifts as possible. Since my children have been old enough to manage the hot wax, they have had fun dipping and sculpting candles in a variety of shapes and colors, and then playing with the leftover warm wax. Over they years they have been proud to give these unique candles to their aunts & uncles, teachers and grandparents.

Follow this link to Kristen Reimold's photography blog.

Happy Holidays!

Glory. While similar, these images all speak to me differently.  Time will help me decide which one is my favorite.

I appreciate any comments!

For information on how to join us in preserving this wild gem, click here for the Lake Wicwas Association. The association works to preserve and protect the lake, islands and the surrounding lands and to sustain a strong community of neighbors.

To continue on the NH Photographer Blog Circle route, click here to view Michelle Heath's work. 

Golden, late afternoon light + a spontaneous family of three = lovely images!

Water. I choose to live by the water. In the summers I appreciate the light change over the water throughout the day: from soft, morning yellow, to evening blue, to midnight moonlight.  Water reflects the colors of the sky, and distorts reality in really interesting ways. Kayaking with my camera is my favorite way to nurture myself physically, spiritually, and creatively.

A highlight of being out on the water is the prospect of a loon surfacing near me. Being in the presence of a loon always feels like a gift.  Because I do not have a long lens, if I am able to create an image of a loon it is because it has chosen to reveal itself to me "wicked" close!

One night early this month I was out on the lake and I was able to spend some quality time with our resident pair with chick, as well as with a rogue loon. The  latter was much more more concerned with its bath than with me, and I am pleased with the quirkiness of these images!



Too much water. While getting out of my boat, psyched about my encounter and my images, I didn't notice the motor boat that was surprisingly close to shore. I got "waked". My camera got "waked", too.

I did not take a deep breath the entire time my camera was in the oven for more than three days.
I did not want to go out on the lake, or actually see, anything. I felt cut-off, anxious.  The world was still there, but I didn't have my way to connect to it.  Creating images is more than clicking a shutter. It is a process of perceiving and then expressing vision.  For me, creating is the process of connecting.

My story has a happy ending, at least to date.  Here is how I de-humidified my camera.

When your camera gets drenched |How to dry out a Canon DSLR

Remove lens, both batteries, and memory card
Open all orifices
Place camera in brown paper bag, fold over the top
Place in warm oven on "low" (not over 120 degrees)
Have faith
Fend off real cooks
Leave in oven for several days... all the hours you are at home and awake... until camera is fully functional.

I've been back out on the water as usual, camera in my lap, ready at an impulse.

Check out Carey's  "water" images at Carey Hough Photography

Emily and I spotted the loons nesting while out in our kayaks one June evening. This was the loon pair's second nest site; the first nest they built during a flood and they abandoned their nest when the waters receded.  After 28 days of anticipation, invasive bass fisherman and raucous tourists, we are so excited to welcome this one baby loon to the world! Happy birthday, Fuzz Nugget!

Represented below are the boys and girls junior 2x.

Mommy and I had to scheme a few minutes without Daddy to make these Fathers' Day portraits. 

I hope he was happy!

Edges: soft and hard

These images fit right in a series of images in my Wicwas Winter album. 

In Hamlin Park, along the south shore of Lake Wicwas. 

On the north shore of the lake, blue sky waving goodbye to retreating ice.

This image is in my "New Hampshire Landscape" and "Images from Art Nouveau Exhibit" Zenfolio galleries.  I created this image on the Falling Waters trail a few years ago. That year there were several feet of fresh powder, no tracks on the trail, and a deep blue sky. I love this moment of falling powder  framed by the dark green and blue... another form of "falling water"!

Falling Waters is one of my favorite spring hikes.  Some years we use snowshoes to hike through feet of fresh powder, but this year our micro-spikes sufficed for traction on ice.  We didn't get very far up the trail this time due to the water surging over the path as it crosses over the stream in several places. In fact,  had we gone a day later we wouldn't have made it as far as these beautiful falls.  Hiking in the early spring means no bugs, no people, and enjoyable layers of contrasting icy and balmy air!