More From The Unfocused Series

This image.....this series....well, it may not be for everyone.  In fact, it may not be for anyone (but me).  What I try to convey with these purposefully unfocused images is the feel of a place or object in its rawest form, The shapes, the color, the weather....even the smell.  The feeling you would get if you closed your eyes or squinted in the bright sun and took it all in without really looking. I attempt to do that by presenting color, shape, and lines without the detail to pull the mind away from the generalized experience.

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Pink Trees, Unfocused Series     © Howard Grill

It is actually harder to do than you might think. You can't just take one unfocused shot and be done.  I take many shots with different degrees of blur.  Various degrees of blur seem to transmit different feelings, at least to me. And you definitely don't want the image so minimally blurred that the blur looks like an accident.

My prior photographs in this series were all of single flowers, but when I saw this scene it just spoke to me this way.  Yes, I also  took some focused ones, but I like the feel of the 'unfocused' images better.  It reminds me more about what it was like to have been there.

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