Wind in the Grass

[Pete Askew]

These were taken at Wisley Gardens in Surrey, UK just over a week ago. It was sunny but windy and these large ornamental grasses were blowing into interesting patterns. They were shot using the M9 using a 35mm lens, not ideal but what I had with me and so these are crops of about 25% of the image. I used a slow shutter speed (1/30) to capture the motion at ISO 160 and f/9.5. They were processed in LR/Nik SilverFX Pro2 then PS CS5 / ColorFX Pro 3 to give the soft border.

 

[Hamish Gill]

So this was day time was it?
I quite like bits of them, especially in the second one with the longer thicker blades and the depth
im not so sure about them on a screen, but i think they framed they would like nicer... maybe if there was three of them in a set?

 

[Pete Askew]

Yes, bright daylight! But the tone of the grass was quite dark. I have about 10 shots of the grass in different patterns and these were the first two I decided to experiment with in terms of crop (I had already decided to render them as grainy monochrome). I think you are right that they will probably look better printed. If I get the chance I'll process the others later tonight.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

I think these would look wonderful as prints - very fluid, almost reminds me of flowing water

 

[Paul Lange]

I think these would work as prints better as well. The second looks like its on the verge of a shape of something appearing. For some reason I thought of Watership Down rabbits.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

I agree. These would make stunning prints. Pete your work is truly superb. Curious if you think you got the crop just right? ; )

 

[Pete Askew]

Been toying with circular crops but I'm having trouble with the corners!!

 

[Mike Milton]

This is a challenging image to capture as are most that involve visualizing, in a still image, subjects that are inherently temporal such as wind. I like how these images address that challenge. You might make a nice triptych from some of them.

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks Mike. The wind is a recurring theme of mine and I will certainly be printing a series from these. I will post the final set.

 

[Mike Milton]

You might also consider a cinemagraph From me to You

 

[Paul Lange]

Thanks Mike. The wind is a recurring theme of mine and I will certainly be printing a series from these. I will post the final set.

Wind is a recurring theme for me too. My wife doesn't feed me curry too often these days due to that.

 

[Pete Askew]

Just don't start a photo series based on it!!

 

[Hamish Gill]

You might also consider a cinemagraph From me to You

Some of those are really effective, and I really like the photography in them ... I've not seen that sort of thing work that well before!