Beautiful Mistakes

I’ve always rooted for underdog. You know, the kid who doesn’t get picked for Red Rover (that was me!), the ugly fruit, or the puppy they said no one wanted because he had an overbite. So it’s no surprise to me that when I’m thumbing through photos editing and see an absolutely horrible photo, technically speaking, a fire lights in me, and I set on a mission to turn it into something beautiful.

Last night, while looking through images of dragon fruit that I tried to take on a tripod that was in absolutely no way equipped to hold my heavy DSLR camera steady, I ran across this image of me accidentally firing the shutter at a shutter of .8 seconds, resulting in total blur. There is no redeeming object here.

However, instead of discarding it, I was elated. What I saw was beautiful movement and softness that reminded me of marble, so I set off to see what I could make of it. I actually think it was beautiful as it was, but this is what I rendered, which I’m calling Digital Marble. I love the subtle changes in color.

Here is another example of a blurry mistake that I’ve entitled Lights Above Memphis, taken from the top of the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid overlooking the lights of the Hernando De Soto Bridge and the Mississippi River. I wish I had the original photo to show you to compare. It had much less color.

I could go on and on with different permutations of these images, playing with color and contrast to create endless possibilities. So much fun!

Here’s another less abstract example of a technically unsound image that I saw so much potential in, and what I rendered from it. This was taken in a dark school gym at a Father Daughter Dance, with bright spotlights shining on my subject. The end result was a luminescent monotone image. Love it!

Even though the image is still obviously blurry in parts, it adds to the softness and movement of this beautiful little cherubin girl and her dress as she’s twirling. The highlights almost sharpen the more in-focus parts of the image.

That’s it for today folks! Happy Valentines Day:-) I’m off to get some white chocolate to make some chocolate covered dragon fruit pops for the kids. Check out my Instagram feed @cecilefuscophotography for more on that later today. xo – Ciao!

A Different Look at Sway

I just had a memorable lunch with my girl-possy at Sway, a restaurant that’s been on my bucket list for a long time.

The food and company were second to none, but check out the outdoor ambiance that sets the mood before you ever set foot in the restaurant.

And then, of course, there is that fabulous food.

Austin, I love that your restaurants are not only food, but also cultural and artistic destinations! Thanks for the great lunch, Sway, and the food for my eyes.

The Echocentrics – Echo Hotel

A year ago, I had the privilege of photographing The Echocentrics, a cumbia/funk/soul band formed by Adrian Quesada, a friend, local Austin music producer, and Grammy winner with a resume beyond extraordinary that includes Grupo Fantasma, Ocote Soul Sounds, and Brownout.

Natalia Clavier (Thievery Corporation) flew in from New York and joined band members John Speice IV, Arturo Torres, Gerard Larios, and John Branch for this creative shoot in the groovy mirror room at East Austin’s swanky haunt, Justine’s Brasserie.

The zoom burst shot of them and the ceiling selfie (can you find me?) are still some of my favorite photographs to this day.

I loved the artistic collaboration that happened during this shoot. The zoom burst shot was a brainchild of the band, who wanted to play on the word “echo” with the mirrors, and my use of the zoom burst technique and post-processing in infrared.  Talk about a good looking band! I’m feeling groovy, velvety and mystical when I look back at these images, which is a good parallel to their music.

Check them out! Let Love In, C

Meet Nicholas

I took my son to Mt. Bonnell today with pause. It’s touristy, I know. BUT, it was a very purposeful trip. I wanted to 1) enjoy the beautiful weather with him and let him play with my digital mirrorless camera 2) see what it felt like to lug around my new Peak Design Everyday Backpack, packed to the brim with what felt like 30 lbs of my gear. He enjoyed the heck out of our day and didn’t care that it was touristy, and I came home with the realization that I need a better strap for my camera!

When we got to the top, he struck this pose. The nature of his pose and the striking blues and greens in the photo led me to give processing it in infrared a try. I always like to give this a go with my more colorful pictures that have interesting context. It’s fun to play around with the settings in Lightroom to achieve the color and contrast I want to achieve. Not all photographs transition into infrared well, but after a lot of trial and error, I can pretty much tell right of the bat if I’m going to achieve something interesting – in a good way. Or it could be that I’M the only one who finds it interesting, which is totally okay by me:-)

Do you play around with infrared? I’d love to hear about your tips and techniques and see your photos. Drop me a line and let’s connect! Let Love In, C