Lo-fi Technique No. 1 - Don't Throw Away Those Botched Images

Q:  How did you create this image?

A: The image was created using my own ghetto lo-fi technique out of necessity (the mutha of invention) and lack of fancy equipment…

(1) First, the image is a sculpture outside Johns Hopkins University Garden Museum. I think it’s made of bronze so it was darkly colored to begin with, and it was high noon so my “model” was shinning like it just got waxed.

(2) I used plastic lens mounted on an old Canon dslr. The plastic lens provides all kinds of aberrations and blur that normally would be avoided by any sane photographer. (My doctor tells me I'm mental...)

(3) I shot the image outdoor at f2 at high noon… two no-no’s for sane photographers (I was told that you don’t shoot at high noon and if you have to – use a filter and stop-down, all of which I did not follow). He-he.

(4) The combination of light flaring into the cam, the shining black sculpture, and the bad photographic practice produced a washed out blurry botched image.

(5) I have on file another “botched” image of an ocean tide, which I used to overlay on the first image. Heck, that picture looked more like a texture than an ocean. (btw... I never discard my images including botched ones, which make up most of my archives.)

(6) I googled a fancy quote from a famous existentialist and gave the image an esoteric title like "Being". I think Sartre would not mind if I stole the title to his thesis.

(7) ... and then I posted it here and called it art work ;-p

Anybody reading this, please buy my art so I can make money. The only problem is now that I shared my “secret” publicly, no one will buy my art work.

art by juznobsrvr

Slippin' (I was... is.. will)

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” (John Lennon)

Wow... I learned today that this art got featured in the group Anything Rock N Roll. Moreover, it was placed between a cat and a nice looking babe -- two of my fave things. Couldn't be in a better place.

I actually wasn't certain I should submit it to this group because some may wonder what it has to do with rock n' roll. I'm sure I'll forget the rational behind this vanity so that is why I decided to memorialize it here. Not that it is significant. But what the heck. Years later, I might stumble into this journal entry again, and I'll go, "whattheheck was I thinking?"
I actually wasn't certain I should submit it to this group because some may wonder what it has to do with rock n' roll. I'm sure I'll forget the rational behind this vanity so that is why I decided to memorialize it here. Not that it is significant. But what the heck. Years later, I might stumble into this journal entry again, and I'll go, "whattheheck was I thinking?"

I love rock n' roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n' roll
So come an' take your time an' dance with me (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)

Yea, teenage lust. I looked at this kid on the skateboard, and I thought "was he trying to impress somebody so he could have sex with her (or him)?" Buddy Holly's Slippin' and Slidin'... isn't that about sex? Hence the titl of the art. I do have a dirty mind. Or maybe he was just wasting time as John Lennon said somewhere.

What is it that separate rock n' roll from other genre? Is it because you have to play it loud? Is rock n' roll a way of life? Is it about sex? Arguably, all of the above. I think Joan Jett said it all.

Nota Bena: I think this might have been taken during my first day in Sydney... Was just hanging out one afternoon at Harbour St... in front of the BigMac... so this boy was skateboarding -- or was trying to-- as he kept falling off from the skateboard... shot this kid at f22 with my crappy 18-55mm kit lens mounted on the old rebel xt ... so the exposure was really long and panned to capture where he was going... I think the crappy lens really work well with this kind of environmental shots... really lo-fi ghetto style if you like... cheers

see also Flickr for more comments