Visualization Challenge

Dream…..daydream, visualize, envision! Take a break, take some time out for dreaming! Embark on a journey to the inner places of inspiration, listen to what becomes perceivable, if you stop looking around in the outside world for it. Allow inner pictures to arise, allow them to be fantastic and unreal. The more you can allow this to happen in the world of your imagination, the more you will be able to manifest your ideas later on in reality. Even if sometimes it might seem that nothing can be realized the way it looked like in your dreams, keep believing in your dreams! It just might not have been the right time for their realization - they will manifest when they are ready, if you stay open and ready for them!
The importance of active and passive dreaming is huge, it helps you to create your images before you go out and take photographs! It is the process of creation in the world of imagination where everything is possible. This is your chance to pick from the source of all potential. Be lavishly, dream abundantly. Let your imagination travel to wherever it wants to go, and let it surprise you!
This is such an exciting and joyful journey of discovery, which takes you to the veracity of your own self, yourself as a photographer and a true new way of expressing your very own unique perception. This is exactly where you ideally want to source your ideas from and carve your images out of imagination before you grab your camera and go out to shoot.
Thinking comes second, because in contrast to dreaming it is limited and sometimes can even turn desperate, but it is a perfect tool to help realize what the dreams have drafted. Bring out your unique way of creating images - you will know when it works, you will just love it!

What can you do, if it doesn't work? Stop looking outside to what's already there, stop looking sideways to what others have done or are doing, stop reasoning about problems which hold you back (equipment, skills, opportunities, or circumstances).
Start believing that everything is possible. Start looking inside to your inner source of stillness and nothingness, which holds all potential. It is no different to the ancient ways of creation in our world, we are all connected to that beautiful power, we just need to open up to it and start being receptive and participate. Stop trying to control this process, it doesn't work, you will just unnecessary limit yourself. Ask for inspiration, and it will come. Don't try to force it - it is a gift. Invite inspiration, make your inner space comfortable and inviting, and inspiration will visit bringing heaps of gifts for the host. If it keeps eluding you, stop doing things and just practice to become still, observe, listen - until this magic source opens it's doors for you. It is there, in that stillness, that you will find what you are looking for. As long as too much distraction is taking place, the precious source of inspiration might remain undiscoverable.


View my website
majamoritz.com


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Lighting Challenges in Portrait Photography

This image shows my favorite light situation: Natural sunlight from behind plus a flash bouncing off an umbrella to lighten the face beautifully.

Check out the lighting setup in all sorts of different lighting situations for the series of portraits of NZ authors last year, who were representing New Zealand being the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012 on lightingdiagram.com/user/majamoritz

This is the setup for the lighting situation for the image above:

Learn more about lighting diagrams here lightingdiagram.com and create your own diagrams. It's free for private users!

View my portrait photography, each with it's own lighting chart
lightingdiagram.com/user/majamoritz

View my portrait portfolio
majamoritz.com


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Judging Challenge and Criteria

Just had the opportunity to be the sole judge for the February competition of CPS, the Christchurch Photographic Society. I really enjoyed this challenge. This inspiring opportunity took me on a visual journey through a great variety of photography: Landscape, nature, portrait, sports, architecture, flower photography, stage, fine art, studio, funny and humorous photography, children, illustrative, cultural, feature, bird photography, car photography and of other vehicles, historic, creative, illustrative, macro and motion, photojournalism and personal photography - WOW! Quite a few examples of good postproduction and image manipulation as well.

I have tried to do my best with this judging, meaning to be fair and giving all images a chance, especially the ones I wasn't that fond of.

For this reason I have put together 21 criteria, which are separated into 4 main sections: the Wow factors with 5 criteria, the message factors with 5 criteria, the content factors with 6 criteria, and the technical factors with 5 criteria. Each one measured on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best mark.

If an image had no outstanding distinguishing aspect to it, it would get the neutral middle mark which is 5 and just under the qualifying mark of 6 to be accepted. So the cutting edge is mark 6, which means an average of 6 will get your image into acceptance.

Here are the criteria for your own testing. Please let me know, should you find some more. That would be very much appreciated. In case you publicly use this scheme or part of it somewhere, please credit the usage with © Maja Moritz Photography Workshops. Thank you!

After having finished judging using the criteria, I had another look and made a last "gut" run over all images, and that  brought up some changes. I looked at all images again just under 2 main overall criteria:

Is it an exceptional shot in any way which makes it relevant for a competition?

How much influence had the photographer into making a good picture, a better one opposed to an image which only lives of showing something, which is just mainly plainly depicted?

For all of us, different aspects matter in different ways, but those aspects which matter for all of us are the ones which deserve more attention and they ultimately define what is considered exceptional! Exceptionality always will be something which has to be agreed on by the majority of people involved.

While judging an overall observation was that message & meaning fall short to content & technique.
A very important question in this context, which I asked myself over and over again, can also help you to gain more clarity about this: "What is this image actually telling me?"


View the judging results
February Competition Results

View the CPS website
CPS Christchurch Photographic Society


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Photography Challenge "The Decisive Moment"

When I was waiting for Miss Dragonfly to sit down and stay for a bit and grant me a chance to photograph her, I was ready to be patient but felt impatient at the same time. People were walking the path where I was waiting for her, and as long as there was this sort of traffic there seemed to be too much noise and movement for a quiet and intimate encounter with this beautiful insect.

I didn't know whether this human traffic would stop long enough at some stage, also my friends were waiting at the car park, the sun was burning down in the middle of the day, I could feel the stinging on my forehead and the dragonfly hadn't sat anywhere longer than maybe about 5 seconds, so I was pondering whether I was actually wasting my time and energy here.

What I want to point out is that the famous "decisive moment" in this case happened long before the photo was taken! My abeyance was hovering between waiting or leaving……the decision to stay suddenly happened and that felt like the decisive moment! While watching the dragonfly doing her turns over the area she had chosen to cruise, sudden clarity was there. It felt that the watching not only was happening one way, she was watching me as well! Silently while waiting and watching I had asked her for permission to photograph her beauty. The clarity which suddenly came about told me that she had agreed to be photographed. I now knew I was no longer waiting for a chance which seemed elusive before, I was waiting for my granted chance to happen. And sure enough it didn't take much longer before she settled on a flax leave and stayed……stayed for minutes which seemed like eternity! She allowed me to come close, very close, it felt like she trusted me. Time stood still for me during these precious minutes. I was so captured and in awe about this magic situation and her beauty that I couldn't think straight.  Focus, aperture, speed and ISO became abstract functions, although it felt that I had all the time in the world to make up my mind how to photograph this beautiful being, the technical side of photography now felt elusive. The intimacy between us two beings in this moment was kind of overwhelming, the agreement between us to connect for the opportunity of a photograph, which enables others to see her beauty too and thus become intimate with the dragonfly as well……She allowed me to take over 40 images, and there were gaps when I did nothing and tried to think how to enhance the quality of what I was doing, but instead just marveled at her beauty and perfection in a mesmerized state of mind. She didn't move much during these divine moments, just cautiously and slowly bringing her left front leg towards her head. Magically during these precious minutes no one walked our path. It was as if everything had stopped. It felt as if the intelligence of creation had become tangible for a very short time. The "decisive moment" might be an integral part of this all pervasive force, when we are in tune it happens with perfection and ease as if there is nothing more natural in existence. When the dragonfly finally took off, I knew that this was it, that I wouldn't get another chance. I walked off too, feeling deeply grateful for this opportunity, also knowing that my technical blackout wouldn't matter, because this gift was perfect the way it was.


Read more about "The Decisive Moment"
Timeless Wisdom about Photography - Best Quotes

View my images
New Zealand Wilderness


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Macro Photography Challenge

 

Imagine what you would do if you had absolutely nothing standing in your way. (tarot.com)

Wouldn't that be great? Just pretending it, helps to free the mind :)

.....only to realise, of course, after this little holiday in your mind you "then, return your focus back to your current situation" (tarot.com)

While taking the recent water drop macro shots, it took me more than 3 hours for one shot getting close to what I had imagined, catching the drop just right after it leaves the leaf.....about 3 hours and more than 1000 shots later.....not much editing done yet which was another couple of hours to sort out the 50 best, then reduce these to the very few best of each scene (meaning going to 100 or even 200 % in photoshop with each single image in order to see the difference) Phew!!!! I do not really like this bit of the job, to say the least.

Apart from that this experiments took me perfectly to the limits of photography. Going high quality, choosing 100 ISO, then I could forget about capturing the action of the drop falling anywhere near sharpness. The moment the drop leaves the leaf, the leaf moves, because it is releaved of the weight of the drop. Plus the falling drop itself is incredibly fast. So I tried fast speed, which means about 1/2000 of a second, which also meant to increase the ISO in that light situation to 2000 ISO. Here the quality limits of digital photography become visible. The highlights start to burn out. So I just went with the effect, thinking of Man Ray's early darkroom experiences, and took the whole leaf into overexposure mode, which gives it this silhouette effect.

Am pretty happy with the result, although it is nowhere near what I tried to do when starting out with this experiment. If anyone knows about how to do this differently, I would be grateful for a comment?!


Read more about Detail and Macro Photography
Timeless Wisdom about Photography - Best Quotes

View my images
New Zealand Gardenworld


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