Cheryl Machat Dorskind

Hamptons Photographer | Photo Instruction

Summer vacation photo tips

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Vacations are essential for creativity

According to Daniel J. Levitin (Author and Director of the Laboratory for Music, Cognition, & Expertise at McGill University, NY Times 8/16/14),

“Make sure you have a real one (vacation). The summer vacation is more than a quaint tradition. Along with family time, mealtimes, and weekends, it is an important way that we can make the most of our beautiful brains….

If you want to be more productive and creative, and to have more energy, the science dictates that you should partition your day into project periods….

Daydreaming leads to creativity… the ability to change the world, to mold it to our liking, to have a positivity effect on our environments…”

I read this article and thought about a vacation I had earlier this year. It was March and like most New Yorkers, I was coping with frigid weather.

And so I went to South Beach, Florida. I traveled light and did not take my pro camera because with that in hand, I’m working. I wanted to chill (pun intended!) — partition my day (which according to Levitin is essential for creativity to flourish).

And so there I was, daydreaming, lying on a lounge chair facing the turquoise beach, underneath a huge blue umbrella. Comfy and cozy, I looked up and…..

I saw too many fabulous things at once; blue on blue motifs (monochromatic color scale), umbrella tassels creating patterns crying for order… and the negative space — blue sky.

I only had my iPhone, and begrudgingly I said to myself, “Just zone out and be on vacation.”

But I couldn’t. It was too beautiful.

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Looking up at striped blue skies and cotton ball clouds.

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Blue on blue, patterns, and negative space.

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I added the moon and blue’s cousin green (they sit adjacent to each other on the color wheel). I waited for a seagull and kept the person (on the bottom left) in the frame. The photographer chooses what’s in the picture. Everything counts.

Here are some end of the summer photo tips:

  1. Always have a camera (smartphones count) with you
  2. There’s still time for daydreaming
  3. Photographers never vacation – this is a good thing!
  4. Find the patterns and show them with thoughtful composing
  5. Let color drive your creativity
  6. Look up

Since the images are blue themed, I’ll add a few color notes. (This is a snapshot of lessons taught in my “All About Color” class at ppsop). Blue is the most popular of colors; it evokes calm, tranquility, intelligence, and trust. Blue is a cool tone and recedes. This means blue creates the illusion stretching visual space. (To read more about the color blue, read my blog post: Some Things Blue).

See you in class or on social media (FB, G+ Twitter) or at the beach!

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Have a great rest of the summer!

All best,

Cheryl

 

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