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"Your Assignment Is..." Photo Challenge
Now that the 365/52 Photo Challenge has ended, the Rockbridge Camera Club is starting a new challenge "Your Assignment is...", for 2022. Each month we will assign a photographic technique, and you may submit images taken using that technique.
Click here for description of the challenge and instructions on submitting your photos.
Click on the box below for the description of this month's assignment.
Click on any image to go to larger images and the photographers' full descriptions.
February 2023 submittals: Trilogies
Ted Burrowes - A Place
This month's assignment has resonated with me and I've had a hard time narrowing my candidate trilogies to 3 sets. And rather than attend to the technical elements of the images, I'd rather address the dynamics of my subject choice. I've liked the idea of starting with a concept such as “an experience”, “a verb”, “a friend”, “an object', “a place”, “an emotion” and then formulating a photo-plan to communicate that. But in fact I have also grabbed a particular photo op and then explored how I might embed it in a trilogy. And it seems to me that were these for a “show”, there'd be the added factor of how best to arrange the three images with respect to each other – but that'd be for another time.
As a result of all this, I have actually assembled ten trilogies from which to pick my 3 for RCC. The first is “a place” – the Rockbridge County Courthouse – and in particular a large window in the Randolph Street facade, the view of which, at night and from outside. caught my attention last year. I have now taken a fresh such shot and then augmented it as you can see here.
As a result of all this, I have actually assembled ten trilogies from which to pick my 3 for RCC. The first is “a place” – the Rockbridge County Courthouse – and in particular a large window in the Randolph Street facade, the view of which, at night and from outside. caught my attention last year. I have now taken a fresh such shot and then augmented it as you can see here.
Ted Burrowes - A "Family"
These 3 signs are among 6 or 7 along the Chessie trail, though at a little distance off from the trail itself.
Ted Burrowes - Three Moods
Here I've shifted gears from presenting 3 different subjects to using the exact same underlying image 3 times, and simply editing it in different ways to get 3 quite different emotional effects.
Lad Sessions - Trilogy
This triple consists of consecutive shots on my iPhone, while we were wandering the streets of Christchurch, NZ, on holiday until late March. The image quality isn’t high, but they tell a story. Christchurch had a devastating 6.1 earthquake in February 2011, which caused 185 deaths and reduced many buildings to rubble. Containers filled with rocks were brought in to prevent collapse into the street (among other purposes: some were used as stores downtown, to keep commercial activity going). Over the years most of these damaged/destroyed buildings were taken down and replaced with modern earthquake-resistant structures. These three buildings show the stages: a masonry building defended by containers, one without, and a new building—all adjacent on the same street.
Deborah Pugh - Time and Memory
No specific camera data. Multiple images used in collage.
This assignment was most difficult. I took photographs that I thought “told a story” and yet when I placed them in trilogy layout, the end result was not satisfactory. I really struggled with this until I attended the monthly meeting. During the discussion about composition, a visual thought of lines bending and leading between trilogy frames flashed in my mind and I began to conceptualize a way to create the trilogy story between images. The next day, I found a website that told you how to create the traditional triptych by finding the separation splits at areas of strong composition in the one photograph. Somehow, this answered my question of how to approach this challenge. And from here, I created this trilogy.
This triptych or trilogy is really a merging of my photographs—a collage— that is cut into a triptych style. It was the only way I could conceptualize how to combine different photographs, tell a story, and maintain a triptych style. Finally, all the “chapters” fit together. In this image, I make myself into Warhol-esque (selfie merged with image of Buddha from the Light Trails assignment) who looks into the image. Behind the subject is a UVA and Train sign that captures past. The present represented by two images: coloring my face in a deep red to stand out on the black and white images and the image of a stone wall from Moorman’s Reservoir Overlook taken at sunrise. I have tried to create a story that rejects the conception of time as a straight line. The “background” of our lives is delineated only by a composite of memory at which the past continuously intersects and interacts with the present. The imaging overlays and mood of the final result reflects this (I hope) and serves as the foundation for the story’s theme.
This assignment was most difficult. I took photographs that I thought “told a story” and yet when I placed them in trilogy layout, the end result was not satisfactory. I really struggled with this until I attended the monthly meeting. During the discussion about composition, a visual thought of lines bending and leading between trilogy frames flashed in my mind and I began to conceptualize a way to create the trilogy story between images. The next day, I found a website that told you how to create the traditional triptych by finding the separation splits at areas of strong composition in the one photograph. Somehow, this answered my question of how to approach this challenge. And from here, I created this trilogy.
This triptych or trilogy is really a merging of my photographs—a collage— that is cut into a triptych style. It was the only way I could conceptualize how to combine different photographs, tell a story, and maintain a triptych style. Finally, all the “chapters” fit together. In this image, I make myself into Warhol-esque (selfie merged with image of Buddha from the Light Trails assignment) who looks into the image. Behind the subject is a UVA and Train sign that captures past. The present represented by two images: coloring my face in a deep red to stand out on the black and white images and the image of a stone wall from Moorman’s Reservoir Overlook taken at sunrise. I have tried to create a story that rejects the conception of time as a straight line. The “background” of our lives is delineated only by a composite of memory at which the past continuously intersects and interacts with the present. The imaging overlays and mood of the final result reflects this (I hope) and serves as the foundation for the story’s theme.
Deborah Pugh - The City Once You Have Left It
No specific camera data. Multiple images used in collage.
I took the same collage approach to this second trilogy. I created a 24”x10”
background layer and started from there. In the left frame, there is an imposing building with strong leading lines and reflections in the windows. The middle frame contains dominating leading lines that create a feeling of chaos, resulting in a claustrophobic optical illusion. In the original photograph, the 370 building is the tall tower but the image also captures another set of windows in a building to the right of the tower. You don’t see the actual building from this angle but just isolated patterns of windows. On the top of the original image, there was a V-shape and in that shape, I put another image of a skylight taken in the National Gallery of Art. The last layer features trees against a very blue sky reflected in the 370 building windows. The color blue and sky images are continued through the middle and right frame to connect the story from beginning to end. I will leave its story, The City Once You Have Left It, to your experiences.
I took the same collage approach to this second trilogy. I created a 24”x10”
background layer and started from there. In the left frame, there is an imposing building with strong leading lines and reflections in the windows. The middle frame contains dominating leading lines that create a feeling of chaos, resulting in a claustrophobic optical illusion. In the original photograph, the 370 building is the tall tower but the image also captures another set of windows in a building to the right of the tower. You don’t see the actual building from this angle but just isolated patterns of windows. On the top of the original image, there was a V-shape and in that shape, I put another image of a skylight taken in the National Gallery of Art. The last layer features trees against a very blue sky reflected in the 370 building windows. The color blue and sky images are continued through the middle and right frame to connect the story from beginning to end. I will leave its story, The City Once You Have Left It, to your experiences.
Andrea Popick - Cardinal Trilogy
Michael Smith - Ravens Roost
Three views taken on a stormy day at the Ravens Roost pullover of the BRP.
Michael Smith - OBX
Photos taken in the Outer Banks, NC in November
OBS Trilogy 1 - Stairway in Currituck Light
OBS Trilogy 2 - Sunset on Ocracoke Island
OBS Trilogy 3 - View from observation Platform of Currituck Light
OBS Trilogy 1 - Stairway in Currituck Light
OBS Trilogy 2 - Sunset on Ocracoke Island
OBS Trilogy 3 - View from observation Platform of Currituck Light
Michael Smith - McCormick Mill
Three shots from McCormick Mill
Chuck Almarez - Trilogy-1
Forest reflections. . .
Chuck Almarez - Trilogy-2
Reflections from the pond at Lost River Farm . . .
Chuck Almarez - Trilogy-3
Falling Springs Falls . . .
Bob Kovach - Hahn Garden Pond
Three images of the pond in the Hahn Garden at Virginia Tech.
Bob Kovach - Hahn Garden Pavilion
Three shots of the Hahn Garden Pavilion at Virginia Tech.
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