Just Shoot!

The scene: Amazing sunset

The problem: Crummy unclean hotel window in the way

The solution: Choose a largish aperture and shield lens with hand

Find The Essence

I love my large format camera. It makes me think. I went on a trip with a friend to the north of Qatar. He was shooting birds, I was along to share time with a friend and fellow photographer and see a new place. I shot about twenty frames of 35mm film that day and one sheet of 4x5.

It was this.

I found a loop of old barbed wire on a rock. It was entangled and entwined with an equally thorny plant. It immediately put me in mind of the crown of thorns that the Roman soldiers put on Jesus when they mocked him as "king of the jews".

But there was no shot that really got to the depth of the thorniness that included the whole shape that drew me in in the first place. What really summed it up was this.