Photo Challenge

Free Spirit

This week’s photo challenge is guest hosted by Strauss Louw. Read on for more about this week’s theme and photography…

Photo courtesy of Strauss Louw

Photo courtesy of Strauss Louw

This week’s photo challenge is guest hosted by Strauss Louw. Read on for more about this week’s theme and photography tips!

Free Spirit. I chose this as the topic for this week’s photo challenge as it lends itself to so many possibilities for subject matter and composition. I work exclusively with film and believe this element is quite important concerning a theme such as the free spirit, as it allows for more experimentation and creative exploration due to how film reacts differently to light than a digital sensor would. To capture this idea of the free spirit, I would suggest breaking some rules. Sometimes it is necessary to overexpose a frame slightly and point the lens to the sun for a bit of glare to capture that sense of a different, free, moving reality. I shot this image at the Fish River Canyon in Namibia on a road trip with a dear friend of mine who likes writing and always keeps her typewriter close by. When she took it out and started writing at the edge of the canyon, it was just too perfect of an opportunity for some interesting shots to pass on.

Share a photo—film or digital—that means FREE SPIRIT to you!

Tip: When you start working with overexposing your images and shooting into the sun, it is necessary to be very aware of how much light you let into the camera and for how long. It is very easy to overexpose to such a degree that it ruins your image. I suggest to work with a low ISO, such as 100, and an aperture that allows quite a bit of light into the camera. Just be weary when it comes to the shutter speed.

I am Strauss Louw, a design student at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. If I’m not working in the studio, I’m mostly out and around with my cameras, doing a lot of experimental work to further my knowledge on film. Whenever I do find a little bit of time, I like to share my images and write about them on my blog.

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New to The Daily Post? Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, you’re invited to get involved in our Weekly Photo Challenge to help you meet your blogging goals and give you another way to take part in Post a Day / Post a Week. Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, we’ll provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.

3. Subscribe to The Daily Post so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.

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  23. Yea for the film! After attempting one more time to capture a good shot of the moon light which was just spectacular… all I could think was, yikes, I need my old fashioned camera back! I love the digital for a lot, but I’m finding new appreciation for the old! 🙂

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  26. A touch of old (film), a touch to type, a touch of sunlight glinting, all add up to a touch of mastery at portraying a thought. Also thanks for the tips of how you did it.

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