“I take photographs with love, so I try to make them art objects. But I make them for myself first and foremost – that is important.”

— Jacques-Henri Lartigue

This quote from one of my favorites togs of all time was certainly in my mind these past few days. Sometimes we loose sight of what we’re photographing and our choices sometimes seem ill chosen to the untrained “eye”. I believe my fellow togs are not in this category. I photograph with intention, a vision, a plan and a vivid idea of what that image will be. To paraphrase Dave duChemin in his amazing book “Within the Frame” there are 3 images the one before, the one after you press the shutter, and the one that’s post processed.

Contemplation — Lumix G1 + Hexanon 40mm f/1.8

This statement has resonated with my photographs these past few days, its been on my mind and to be honest, these days I’ve been outside my main canvas, out of my element — the streets of Miami. I ventured north about 3 hours and landed in a small town called Vero Beach, where to my surprise — there is no one on the streets. Its like if it was a zombie town, during my photo walks, I was often the only human being on the streets. To say it was really unearthing, is an understatement.

So now that you have the prelude, those who know my stream and blog, know all too well, contemplative photography is not what I’ve been doing, but to be perfectly honest, it felt so so so good. Why ? Well, once you leave your comfort zone, things start to happen, things appear that were not there before and a whole new world strikes the cornea of your eye — its that powerful of an emotion and one I strongly suggest you try as well.

During these days, I photographed, read about photography, experiment with close ups, macros, and closing that space within my lens and the subject and to my surprise — things happened.

Here’s a scene from the boardwalk, one I grew to like because it relaxed me so much. I took this one with the Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 which in the m4/3rds world translate into a glorious portrait lens and this scene is exactly what I was feeling and I was lucky to capture it “within my frame”.

Thanks to everyone who follows my stream habitually, I really appreciate all your insights. A special thanks to Wouter Brandsma for an enlightening email conversation — thank you.