A mere shadow of my former self at a neighborhood skateboard park
There are many advantages to an unplanned retirement in addition to the wonderful memories of great times you had while not saving money. When you must stay close to home because of financial constraints, you can explore your neighborhood in depth. For example, how many 70 year old woman actually get to explore the ups and downs of a neighborhood skateboard park as I did recently one morning around 9:00 a.m.?
As Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) wrote about age in his book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:
” You were old, Father William, the young man said, ‘And your hair has become very white; And yet you incessantly stand on your head–Do you think, at your age it is right?’ ‘In my youth, ‘Father William replied to his son, “I feared it might injure the brain: But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none, Why, I do it again and again.”
I may have little brain left and not a lot to say, but as the great director Federico Fellini’s character Guido said in “81/2”, “I have nothing to say, but I want to say it anyway.”
Another advantage to an unplanned retirement is you have ample time to work on a long-term photography project since you won’t be out shopping or traveling. You can shoot thousands of pictures practically free. I currently work on a project about ranch land being lost to suburban sprawl. The project is slow going, but so am I. With any luck, I’ll be around to take the after photographs when the houses are finished. In October, look for more pictures of building progress on this site.
I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde
Someone Hung a Huge Piece of Gauze in front of the sun
Hidden under gloomy overcast skies are deeply saturated colors and soft diffused lighting. Overcast skies are defined as 90% or more cloud cover. Avoid large sections of gray sky in your shots because it will never be anything else and look for colorful subjects instead.
Cloudy Day in Chicago
Cloudy Day in Honduras
Low Contrast Subdued Lighting Video
Artist James Nares made a video of Manhattan Streets from a car in subdued light. His mesmerizing slow motion video of pedestrians can also be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/listings/2013/street
Photography is painting with light, so understand where the light is coming from. For example, even on an overcast day, if you are shooting people when the sun is high in the sky, it will create bags under their eyes and shadows over their eyes. Try to avoid shooting between the dreaded hours of 10 and 3 or 4, or use your fill flash for portraits to fill in shadows and even out the light. Try Side light to bring out interesting details and front light for more even lighting. Choose back light for dramatic silhouettes and for old people who want to disguise their age in dark shadows.
Old age comes at a bad time. Sue Banducci
Watch the Clouds Drift By
Even if you don’t think that life is a cloud drifting by, you can enjoy photographing them.
Clouds over Pasture
Cloudy day photography will benefit from some post processing in your computer because of low contrastflat light on cloudy days. An alternative way to add contrast is to carry around a sheet of red or orange acetate to hold in front of your camera lens while shooting. A better idea is to download a free photo editing program onto your computer like Google’s Picasa or use the Apple iPhoto program to enhance your photos. I processed this photo in Picasa after shooting it underexposed by -1/3. That way, the highlights in the clouds didn’t completely blow out to white. Then, I cropped the photo, changed it to black and white, applied the Holga filter to darken the edges, faded the filter, and added some contrast. Voila, it only took about 5 minutes. If you don’t want to spend that much time on your pictures after you shoot them, consider some alternatives: 1) Stay indoors and study your camera instruction manual (Exposure compensation)while waiting for a sunny day, 2)Take anap, (see note below), 3)Use a smartphone with quick and easy photo apps that take less than a minute to make your photo “pop”.
A Note on Alternative #2— Famous British Actress Tilda Swinton is currently taking a nap at the New York’s Museum of Modern Art in a performance piece entitled “The Art of Napping.” We old ones could shed some light on the subject, but prefer to stay in the background for now.
