Day 100 Both Sides Now

March 19, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Before making a decision to maybe buy a 14mm wide angle lens, I decided to rent one for a couple of days to see if I like it. Years ago when I used a Nikon FE film camera, I used to love the 24mm lens, the equivalent of the 14mm digital. Today the rental lens arrived and I started clicking away at everything, close and distant and varying settings. It felt good to see through the viewfinder what I saw with my naked eye. All my other lenses limit the view.

This afternoon, after taking a shot through the viewfinder of a brown leaf hanging on a tree, I happened to glance down at the front of the lens. There I noticed reflections in the lens itself, vibrant colors born from the coated lens. I had just taken a photo of a leaf and trees and now I was seeing a totally different version of the same thing. From the front of the lens, trees seemed to reach in toward my shadow hoodie reflection and the sky transformed from blue to magenta. It was otherworldly. At this point, I reached into my pocket and took out my iPhone to take a photo of the reflections in the lens.

Fellow photographer, Art Silverglate, is always advising people to turn around and look behind them. Good advice and I do. Today though, I looked at the front of the lens, yet another perspective. Every day in small ways, how I see things depends on what end or side I look at. What a difference it makes! From the viewfinder, I can clone what I see when I click the shutter. However, from the front of the lens, I enter a fantasy world.

My gift today is a fantasy view.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~­
> DAY 101

You can read my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html