2020 Vision | A Rich Blessing

My day starts early; 06:00 am.

I get myself ready to support my Mother.

Her Carer arrives after 10:00 am to provide additional support which is wonderful and gives me a little respite.

My life is about my Mothers well being now.

My life as I knew it died once I accepted full responsibility that my Mother needed me, more now than ever.

Once The Pandemic started, my life altered forever. I will share more on this in a future post.

For now, finding joy and creating meaning resides in my Deck of Cards and my Camera during this Lockdown.

After Mum has been taken care of, I go for my morning walk to meditate, pray and create images.

The morning light was wonderful.

God was fully present🙏🏾

I decided to practice a very beautiful Technique using the Wide End of my XF 18-55mm F2.8-F4.

This Street Lens is MAGNIFICENT.

I am continually astounded by the quality of this Lens.

The Technique I was practicing was taught to me by my coach Bryan Peterson.

This can only be used effectively with a Wide Angle Lens.

My ISO was set to Auto: 200-1600

Aperture Priority: F22

My Shutter Speed came in at 1/160 second which was good because the light was lovely.

These settings when applied to a Wide Angle at 18mm on a Crop Sensor will provide maximum front to back sharpness due to the small Aperture.

My Lens has 18mm which in Full Frame terms gives me a field of view of 27mm. So this is a pretty decent Wide Field of view but not too aggressive.

Now, here’s the most important thing: I turned off my Auto Focus, set my Camera to Manual Focus.

Now, my Lens has no Distance Markings so I used the Distance Settings on my Xpro2’s Live View.

I now adjusted my Focus on the Lens until I could see on Live View that I have Focused to 2 metres.

This Pre-Focus to 2 meters is the magic touch when using a Lens at 18mm - FFEQ 27mm

I composed my shots and here are the results:

Keep all these settings in mind, I am shooting at 18mm.

Now the critical issue with a Wide Angle is Foreground Interest. Bryan emphasise this as the most important element in the composition when using a Wide Angle Lens.

One final element that brings this all to life; what’s the story?

Story Telling Images has many Layers.

I love this because it force my vision to really search for that compelling visual narrative.

Foreground Interest.

Middle Chapter.

The Final Exclamation.

This visual conversation draws the viewer into the scene and forces them to bring something to the narrative.

With a great subject matter like the Landscapes in Norway, Iceland or South Africa, it is possible to create a visual story that can win awards in Photographic Competitions.

The image of the Bridge was taken on the Island of Stavangar, Norway. I used the same Yechnique described.

This post is a Tribute and heartfelt thanks to Bryan Peterson.

His book Understanding Exposure supported me in knowing exactly how my Camera worked.

He explained a complex subject so simply, I made my very first Manual Exposure after 20 minutes of reading his instructions.

I was so amazed by this I signed up for his workshop in Washington D.C.

So, my walk served to give me space, feel empty in terms of my daily duty and just connect to the living force. This gives me balance to continue my day.

It’s a rich and challenging blessing being responsible for my Mother.

I honestly feel there is no greater honour in life than wilfully accepting responsibility for another human being.

This Lockdown has given me time to fully come to terms with the journey of my life.

It has all been a rich blessing.

I am so grateful to my Mother because she allowed me the space to fully explore my life, Travel, meet my heroes and come home safely.

“Enjoy your life”.

That’s what she said to me when I was 18.

Now, my life is about her.

There is no place, I would rather be.

Thanks for reading.🙏🏾