Playing my Edge with Photography, Variations

***

Pictured, “Photography Plus, a Beginners View” –

Beginners photography with samples of photopoems, photography poetry, and essays on the use of photography to illustrate article ideas.  Please see Press Release for additional information.

***

“a beginner’s view: the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”

---

Site Areas

Fitness ** Arts ** eBooks

*

playing my edge with photography, variations

Tweet

Facebook

***

Intro

the idea for documenting this photo experiment, is a recent post of mine regarding playing your edge

this post is both an actual exercise, and an example, of playing my edge creating photographs for an article

result is, not an unusual edge-play on my part, but rather a breakdown of the process i often go through, sometimes more quickly, other times more extendedly 😉

*

First Images

below is the original photo, uncropped and as is from the digital shot

*

*

the first variation, a saturation adjustment, is directly below…

i adjusted the slider in photoshop the way i adjust my arms and legs and back in an asana, tinkering, tweaking, feeling the feedback –

*

*

not a whole lot of difference –

though i can see and feel the change

and i’m still pretty partial to the original –

but my goal with this image, was to play with the feeling in the image

my intent, my purpose, having preserved the original to return to, like a pose position i know is right for me, but isn’t strong enough to yet hold me from experimenting, was to see what i could create from it, my starting point

*

like a favored or well liked asana, i know i can trust to return to it as needed

meanwhile, if my “edge” is flowing like the tide toward the unknown – the pulling side of the edge being felt as worth an effort and a look, and the known retaining side of that edge willing to release –

then, as i mentioned in my post about the nice things about getting older, it’s time to “play ball”

*

so my first exploration, of a pose or a photo, is to simply add some color or movement to it –

and see if what i experience is worth keeping as is, pressing further, or discarding

*

in the photo above, i like the final saturation experiment i did on the original, but not enough to dump the original (in the sense of no longer using it)

the same holds true for the new version – i like the extended color range, it seems to open depth in the image, create some contrast i like…

at this point, i’ll usually remind myself there are no absolutes –

at least at this stage of playing my edge 😉

i am free to play with my options…

*

Relating Yoga & Imaging

it’s as if i was in a forward bend, standing or sitting, had reached my set range of motion, and was resting there, breathing…

my saturation adjustments in the image, would be similar to my bodily adjustments, much along the lines ray long recommends in his blog, the daily bandha –

working back and forth, with my breath, with reciprocal inhibition and golgi tendon working among other processes, in my legs and back and shoulders –

i add and subtract hue differentials, saturation points, light – dark values…

the edges play back and forth like the wave motions within any given tide

these actions are mostly done intuitively, searchingly, quickly –

after some hesitations 😉

*

the thing is, intuition, mine anyways, works best with practice, and sufficient practical knowledge –

another edge-play in itself!

the encouraging things about all this, for me, is the constant reminder that this is definitely a process…

the occasional instant perfect rendition or pose aside, the majority of all my creative work, in art or asanas, is an on-going process

i stop at points of an image or posture that say it is good for me

true stopping points, even if temporary, often elicit a breath-gasp that surprises me awake, back from the process, back to the everyday –

whatever it is that it is i’ve found, in creating a painting or poem or pose, fits

it rests and resides perfectly at peace in this world

it’s rare 😉

the breath-gasp reminds me most of how a small child will involuntarily gasp a sudden deep breath of air when comforted…

returning to calm…

*

in the case of this image, which i hadn’t planned on using for the purpose of this post, i was especially curious how various filters would take this field of color, and transform it

much as if, in my imagined forward pose, now definitely a sitting pose  😉 , having grasped my feet in one of several modifications of approach, i’d transferred my right hand to my left foot, and raised my left arm up to the sky, my gaze following my raised hand and fingers

then again further modifying my effort by bending my right elbow, laying my head down, and deepening the upward arm extension by also, consciously, opening my chest

all experimenting, feeling, sensing, seeing what’s what…

this first filter is a glass filter

*

Further Explorations

*

*

i love the effect, but wouldn’t want to abandon either my original or saturated versions, nor, as with my asana work, my self-directed pose modifications

no further tweaking done on the above image, i like it as is

the final image below is a mosaic filter

*

*

also a beauty, yet very different –

as if, in my imagined modified fwd bend, with up raised arm and opened chest, with my head resting on my supine legs, i now added breathing motions – raising and lowering not only my arm but adding a half side plank rise on the inhale up –

hard to recognize or remember the orignal forward bend, or field of spring flowers

but they’re there, waiting…as needed…

*

a word of detail on the last image –

i did tweak this image further, since the first rendition left more a spotlight effect of light surrounded by dark i didn’t care for –

by practicing swipes with a dodge tool brush of varying sizes, doing then undoing in photoshop, i found the sweep of light i wanted across the patterns of color

like spot of muscle needing tender awareness and breath –

it wasn’t a bad image or the “wrong” image, but not what i wanted to feel

didn’t elicit that gasp-breath 😉 but definitely a brain-heart calm

*

More Examples  

playing your edge(s) with yoga & art

my bird series photo-posts range from “as is” to slightly tweaked to significant cropping or adjustments, but always in trying to keep the feeling the actual sight first evoked in me

*

of the images in the post i mentioned at the beginning of this article, “the yoga loophole, playing your edge,” is one in particular i played the edges quite a bit

lights and darks, hard and soft, with corollary feelings attached –

the touches of light along the edges of the door and wall were added, plus other touches 😉 ; in this case i felt this helped the original gain some of what i sensed in the original

*

flying yogini, an online yoga post i read recently, from nancy, continues a series of self-explorations, which strike me as very much “playing your edge” 😉

more and more am seeing very nicely written connections between the nature and everyday life around her, and her internal world

*

if i have a final word about something i see mostly as a process, it’s i’ve found there are lots of scenic sights for pausing along the way –

internal-mental-emotional and bodily vistas in poses and pictures that work for you in a particular moment –

and you can stay and enjoy, for as long as you want –

returning whenever and as often as you like –

like a favorite image on your wall –

a go-to never-fails posture –

it’s your edge 😉

namaste – con dios – god be with you

*

Playing my Edge with Photography, Telling a Story in Pictures (adjustments)

---

***

INTEGRATING YOGA FITNESS AND THE ARTS

About Me

Classes

Home

Related articles

• Header # 8 – Spring Header 2012 (Photography) (yoga-adan.com)
• dVerse ~ Poets Pub : Patterns Pictures & Poems, PhotoPoem “Diving”
• Everyday Inspirations, PhotoPoems Vol 4
• Photo-Poem : “Magic at Art Hop 2011″ Burlington Vermont