Stretching Your Comfort Zone
When I go out for a walk I need to have my camera with me, or it is just exercise. Don't get me wrong, exercise is vital and increasingly the studies show that walking is one of the best ways to get moving. But walking with my camera transforms my experience into an exploration, a way to exercise and practice my photography skills.
This weekend I tried something different. Instead of taking my walk first thing in the morning, I went out later and hit two destinations: our wonderful Pike Place Market and Seattle's iconic Central Library. I took one of my creative lens - my Lensbaby Composor Pro Sweet 50 - to see what kind of images I could capture with it. Generally I like to take my zoom lens, so using the Lensbaby forced me to get out of my comfort zone and see things in a new way.
I walked to the Seattle Monorail for a two-minute ride to downtown Seattle. The Monorail was built for the 1962 World's Fair and continues to provide people a quick way to go between the Seattle Center and downtown. My first stop was the Pike Place Market. This is one of the most photographed fish stalls, as they are famous for their "flying fish." I was too early to capture that, but I loved this image.
The tulips were brilliant and on sale for a dollar a piece in most stalls. I wonder if they came from Skagit Valley, the subject of my last post.
I was then off to the Seattle Central Library, a building well-known around the world. It was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and former Seattleite Joshua Ramus. It is contemporary, colorful, and a great place to take photos.
I loved the bright colors of the escalator that cuts through the building.
There is one floor that is completely painted in red - the floors, walls, and ceiling! It was a bit disorienting when I got off the elevator, but exciting to experience.
The building is made of glass, so the views are interesting.
But I enjoyed taking images of the inside of the library as much as looking out to the skyline.
The screens added an interesting texture element to the image below. It feels a little other worldly to me, which I like.
At the end of the my trip, I walked over five miles and had fun stretching my creative muscle using the Lensbaby Sweet 50. This excursion clearly expanded my comfort zone. Mix up your walk by going to a new destination and trying out a different lens. We love to hear from you, so comment below, post on our Facebook page, or send us an email.
