Monday, June 15, 2009

Design ideas everywhere

I'm trying to learn how to see with my new camera's eye, so I'm taking lots of shots and then thinking through my favorites. These are more pictures from our Trebon trip. I think they're telling me I see patterns everywhere, I need to work on my cropping before I get to Picasa, and boy is it fun to take pictures that you can blow up to high resolution and not find noisy specs in them!

Besides their clarity, I liked these pictures because of the way they made me think about design, both in photos and in buildings and signs. Here are some of those thoughts...

[1.] Curlicue shop sign. It says Drogerie kosmetika Judita or "Judith's cosmetics and bath supplies." A good reminder that local brands don't need to be immediately readable, and hey, ironwork is in!
[2.] Are Southern Bohemian facades designed to look like fluffy clouds, or is that just me?
[3.] Flower shots are addictive. Plus they count as design - look at those natural color contrasts.
[4.] Again with the S. Bohemian facade, here's another example of a building with sky aspirations (see those curly cloud corners?) The details aren't clear here, but the painting shows God and Jesus discussing the earth, while a devil of some sort writhes in the lower clouds. Home Baroque.
[5.] Symmetry in flowers is fun too (not to mention that playing with the depth of field in a new dslr while shooting flowers is like eating chocolate cake for breakfast.)
[6.] I love how the rigid patterns of the leaves contrast with the doodley ironwork of the tipped up chairs. Deliciously summer.
[7.] Squares are prolific in Czech street and facade design, especially in Prague. Are squares an urban thing? These squares didn't seem to fit in Trebon the way the curlicues did.
[8.] Leaves against the sky take just the right balance of light to get right. I took this by accident, then shot thirty more hoping I'd figure out the trick. Naturally, my first shot was the only one that worked.
[9.] Center - a small door that picks up on Trebon's sky and sunburst themes and delivers its message with beautiful simplicity.

8 comments:

countrypeapie said...

Wow -- you're having so much fun with your new camera! And we get to enjoy all the great shots! Love the shop sign.

lizardek said...

Love ironwork! that shop sign is so pretty :)

kristina said...

Love the shop sign. And I do that all the time...take thirty pictures, only to have the best one be the first one! K x

Lynn said...

Love the whole collage -- what fun!

Anonymous said...

I love how you find all that beauty to post! That shop sign is my favorite too. I'd totally go into a store with a sign like that--no matter what they were selling!

Julia said...

Carrying my camera everywhere keeps me focused on seeing the beautiful in the every day, it's a nice byproduct of a hobby!

Ellen said...

Just looking at your collages makes Me look at the every day from a more targeted beauty perspective.

And you are beginning to see the draw of the low depth of field?

Julia said...

Ee, I love playing with the depth of field. So fun!