Figure 1 – Soap-dish on granite, Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 is not the kind of photograph that I usually do.  But last weekend I was at a local farm-stand and came upon a display of unique garden ornaments.  I was intrigued by this antique soap-dish and by the texture of the piece of granite that it was mounted upon.  The piece of soap is actually a granite pebble.  The grain size in igneous rocks are define by their rate of cooling.

There was never any question about whether it should be in color or black and white.  This was a monochrome abstraction from the get-go. I played briefly with toning but the image demanded pure blacks and whites. And I enjoyed having the option to switch from my usual ISO 1600 for bird photography to a more thoughtful, compose carefully ISO 100.  Indeed, I am always intrigued by the process of composition.  You take your first image and then you progressively see details.  I suppose that there are others who thoughtfully always get it right the first time, and I’ve always tipped my hat to large format photographers, who are ever thoughtful and skilled.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 78 mm, ISO 100, Aperture priority AE mode 1/1250 th sec at f/5.6 with -1 exposure compensation.