Brian Swinyard, PPSA  


Choristers Ely Cathedral by Brian Swinyard, PPSA

June 2022 - Choristers Ely Cathedral

About the Image(s)

This month's submission is a collage of eight separate images of the choristers singing in Ely Cathedral. They are an exercise in Intentional Camera Movement and arranged as shown with increasing amounts of distortion viewing left-to-right, top row then bottom row. In order not to draw attention away from the images, a mid-tone grey colour was chosen for the background.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
11 comments posted




Joan Field   Joan Field
(Groups 3 & 18)
Interesting concept. I would like to see the first image still sharper than you have it so we can really see what you started with. It's fun to make your creative in-camera. The choice of gray as the connecting color is good, doesn't rob the attention of the viewer. I'm thinking to have made either a few fewer images or made the differences between them more dramatic. The last image was using a circular motion. Maybe a few more of those. All in all, it's very creative thinking on your part and something that the rest of us could try out to see how it works on other situations.   Posted: 06/09/2022 18:20:25
Brian Swinyard   Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Joan, Thank you for your kind words which are much appreciated. I quite like the idea of using ICM to produce abstract, creative images. In this case, I am drawn to the final image bottom right with the circular motion. At the time I took the pictures, it was very much a case of experimenting with different actions while the shutter was open. If I did this again, I would probably do it differently.   Posted: 06/21/2022 05:51:13



 
Hi Brian. ICM is a fun exercise, but good results can be tough to come by. I communicated with Stephanie Johnson earlier this year. I subscribed to her magazine, ICM Photography Magazine. She emphacized that I should chimp each image and make adjustments according to what I see on the fly. I was surprized when she told me that she's usually only happy with less than 1% of her images. She also said that ICM is as much therapy as it is a serious photographic project. I do see in the magazine that there are some serious practioners. If you're serious about ICM and haven't checked out the magazine, it's worth a look.   Posted: 06/13/2022 23:12:20
Comment Image
Brian Swinyard   Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Skip, Thank you for your kind words which are much appreciated. I agree that ICM can be a fun thing to do and what I particularly like about it is the fact that it cannot be replicated and it is different each time. My interest was sparked by the fact that I have benign essential hand tremor, which is not an endearing quality for a photographer. I have had a look at ICM Photography Magazine's website which is very impressive (see screenshot image). It looks very good value ($39 for 4 quarterly magazines each of which is over 300 pages) and I will probably join. I like Stephanie's philosophy on life in general and ICM in particular; chimp images, 1% success rate, therapeutic value. Thanks for the link.
  Posted: 06/21/2022 06:21:13
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Brian Swinyard   Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Skip, I meant to add to my last comment that I liked the image you attached, partly because of the ICM effect and partly because there was a hint of reality running through it.   Posted: 06/21/2022 06:23:38
 
Hi Brian. One of the takeaways from the several conversations I had with Stephanie was that it helps to have an interesting landscape with architecture or people when you are creating ICM. She developed her techniques based on many trips to Ireland and Scotland. She said it was a downer at first when she returned to Iowa, where the land is flat and featureless.
Now she has settled in and uses ICM exclusively in her local environment. Her images are very abstract, mainly swooshes of color. But she emphasizes that everyone style will be different. I recommend going through the previous issues of ICM Photo Magazine and looking up the featured artist on the Internet to see the different styles that have developed. Some artists have been successful in developing a following and interesting persona.   Posted: 06/21/2022 11:41:34
Brian Swinyard   Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Skip, I can well imagine Stephanie's reaction to returning to the flat, featureless landscape of Iowa having sampled the delights of Ireland and Scotland. I like your reference to 'Swooshes of colour' which sums up ICM perfectly. The important underpinning of any photographic genre is that we have to find our own individual style. I have decided that Stephanie will be added to my Christmas Card List.   Posted: 06/22/2022 13:28:32



Hazel Price   Hazel Price
(Group 41)
Hi Brian, An interesting idea. I like the first image but find the difference between the others not sufficient to hold my attention. A novel idea putting them in a collage. Very creative.   Posted: 06/14/2022 03:54:02
Brian Swinyard   Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Hazel, Many thanks for your kind words which are much appreciated. You make a good point about losing interest between the first and last images. I agree with you that there is a great deal of similarity and perhaps less would have been more.   Posted: 06/21/2022 07:33:41



Mike Fernandez
I agree with Hazel....For me, the 1st image is the one with the most story to it.
Any suggestions at this point, would be our creation, not Brian.
Perhaps a center image of the 1st and blend the the others around. A crazy thought!
  Posted: 06/21/2022 18:42:28
Brian Swinyard   Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Mike, We all find different visual hooks in our pictures and the delight of course is that they are many and varied. As a stand-alone image, the first one is probably the best of the bunch. I like the idea of the first image being central in a collage and the others circulating radially from it at increasing degrees of soft-focus and perhaps also increasing degrees of transition from colour to monochrome.   Posted: 06/22/2022 13:34:02