ART AND BRAVERY – FLUID TIME II – UTOPIAN CONNECTIONS – AN (en)VISIONOGRAPHIC CHICAGO STORY
Art and bravery. Why do you need bravery in art? Answering this question by presenting the image Fluid Time II – Utopian Connections – an (en)Visionographic Chicago Story
One Prudence Plaza, Chicago – Architects Naess & Murphy
…the only purpose of art is to make you dream, to make you travel. Don’t let them tell you anything else. If they do, they just don’t understand…
The second chapter in my Chicago series and the story goes on. You can read the stories behind all my photos on this site if you subscribe to it. You can receive all my posts, tutorials, and exciting news the moment I post them. Next coming: something I was promising for a long time, my creative and processing method. I’m working on it at the moment and you’ll be the first to get it if you subscribe.
FLUID TIME SERIES VISION AND ARTISTIC CONCEPT
My goal with the Fluid Time series is to use architecture as a tool to help me go beyond what can be seen, to help me enter a parallel reality that may not be visible with the naked eye but that always exists there if you know how to look at things. In a way, I’m trying to write a story. If I was a writer I would have made this into a novel, but since I’m better at expressing myself visually, I’m telling my stories with images. That’s part of why I work in series, it’s my way of telling stories. That’s why you’ll always find in my images more than just a beautiful photo.
I’m not interested in photography as a mere image but in what you can say by using an image, what you can say about you as an artist. I’m interested in photography with a vision, in (en)Visionography™ , in putting your own self in each image you make, not only putting your subject there, as beautiful as it may be. Beauty is anyway relative. My subject will be beautiful because I had this specific vision of it.
What you will see in this series is how I see Chicago. You won’t see Chicago, but the way I see it, my vision of it, which is different and is unique, as vision is for each of us.
Vision is our own reality, our parallel reality and that’s what I’m trying to show and explore with this series.
Hence the use of the tilt-shift blur, which is the symbol of the subconscious, of that place where the vision is being born and that defines us as artists.
ART AND BRAVERY. WHY?
I’ve said somewhere in my Guide to Vision and in my artistic statement that one needs to be brave to make art. I totally stand by this and this is what I do in my work, either consciously or subconsciously: be brave enough to tell my stories.
Why does one need bravery to create?
Because making art means putting yourself in the objects you create, the whole you, your naked soul, covered just in a thin layer that will be the physical shell of the object you create, your soul out there in the open for the world to see it. It takes a lot of courage to do this and it’s not for the faint of heart.
You can see this clearly in the work of the great artists, you can see their naked soul and this is what infuses life to the objects they create: either they are paintings, sculpture, architectural objects or photographs. This is what brings emotion in the viewer and make him feel that tingle in the spine when he watches a real work of art…
This is what I aim to achieve with my photography.
TECHNICAL DATA
Technique:
T/S LE = Tilt + Shift + Long Exposure
Camera settings:
Exposure: 121.0 sec. @ f/9, ISO 100, 24mm
Equipment
Camera: Canon 5D MK3
Lens: Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II
Tilt-shift lens settings – 8.5 degrees oblique tilt at 45 degrees rotation, 12mm shift (rise)
Filters: 10+3 stops Formatt Hitech Filters ProStop IRND
Black and white processing – Photography Drawing (PhtD)
– LR5, PS CC , Topaz B&W Effects (B&W Effects extensive review) + Topaz DeNoise + Topaz Detail + DxO View Point
Topaz DeNoise as the best noise removal tool
One thing I have to say is that I’m more and more delighted by the Topaz plugins and by how much help they are. The range of things you can do with the Topaz plugin exceeds by far whatever you can do with any other plugin collection and the quality of the result is exceptional. My latest favorite is Topaz DeNoise which did a fantastic job in the image that I’m working on at the moment and I will publish soon. Check out all the plugins here on Topaz Labs website and if you like them, you can get a 15% discount with code “juliaannagospodarou”
THE “TILT-SHIFT BLUR LONG EXPOSURE PROCESSING”
What you can see in this image is the same more or less technique as in the first image of the series – The “tilt-shift blur long exposure processing” so to say – this time applied in a less conventional perspective and with some more experience in processing tilt-shift blurred images which is a bit like walking on moving sands. But it is extremely rewarding when you get it right. To read more about this technique have a look at the Working with Long Exposure and the Tilt-Shift Lens – The creation of Fluid Time I and Architecture as Parallel Reality – An Analysis of Fluid Time I . At the same time, you will get an idea of what I want to achieve with this series.
TOPAZ LABS 15% DISCOUNT FOR MY STUDENTS AND FOLLOWERS
Topaz Labs was so kind to not only feature my work so many times and participate in my workshops, but they also gave me a discount code for my students and followers who are reading this blog and want to use the best software available in their post-processing work. You can use my special code JULIAG to get 15% discount for any of the Topaz plugins, separately or the whole collection. You can use the code by ordering at this link. Enjoy!
FURTHER STUDY RESOURCES
FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY, LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY
You can find more resources about fine art black and white photography, (en)Visionography, long exposure photography and architecture photography in my extensive collection of photography tutorials. To receive my future tutorials directly via email you can subscribe to my website.
Learn more about how to create fine art photography, from vision to processing and the final image in my video course From Vision to Final Image – Mastering Black and White Photography Processing, in my video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Art Photography – Creating (en)Visionography, in my book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, or by attending one of my workshops.
To study with Julia Anna Gospodarou personally, find out about our
WORKSHOPS & MENTORING
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Julia Anna Gospodarou – Founder
Julia Anna Gospodarou is an internationally acclaimed award-winning photographer, an architect with a Master’s degree, a best-selling author, and a highly sought-after educator, teaching workshops and lecturing around the world. Founder of (en)Visionography™ and creator of Photography Drawing™, author of the best-selling book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, multiple times awarded in the most important photography competitions worldwide (Two-Time International Photography Awards IPA Photographer of the Year 2016 & 2021, World Photography Awards SWPA Top 10 Finalist, and Hasselblad Masters Top 10 Finalist, as well as 100+ more awards), widely published internationally in books and magazines, Julia is passionate about art and photography and striving to spread the ideas of fine art photography and (en)Visionography all over the world.
Great blog! I enjoyed it all the way to the end and I’m looking forward to read more chapters of your Chicago series
Thanks a lot, Sophie! Glad you enjoyed it! A new chapter in the Chicago story is coming up very soon!