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Free Thinker
Free Thinker
Dennisheckman


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: The End or The Beginning (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-1D X
Lens: Carl Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon T for Canon EF mount
Date: Oct 9, 2013
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/125
Date Uploaded: Oct 10, 2013

My first idea for this challenge was to use my bucket van that I own and use some high strength monofilament to suspend a ladder out in midair so it would appear that the ladder was going up to nowhere. I was going to set this up in front of a tall office building with lots of windows and place myself at the base of the ladder wearing the only suit I own. The idea being a new young professional beginning his career and starting to climb the corporate ladder. Great idea I thought. When it came time to execute this idea, it turned out to be much more difficult than I had anticipated. I was able to make the set up work one time, and the other times, the ladder would start to swing laterally and then slam into the side of the van. The monofilament would be fine, but the balance factor was way out of control. So, I scrapped that idea before I really hurt myself or my van.

2nd idea: Suspend my friend from the end of the same bucket van with a climbing rope! This one I thought was much more of an idea that I could control. I arranged the shoot with my friend Brian who is an avid rock climber and he brought a rope and harness and I set everything else up in an empty parking lot. We did the set up right at dusk and then we proceeded to take some test shots. I had my studio lights as well as two speedlights. I don't have very much experience at these lights, so that was the biggest challenge of the shoot. I need to spend much more time with the lights. I asked Brian to give me the flying pose and he did but it turned out, doing that pose was very difficult so he could do it for maybe 10 seconds at time. I would take a few shots and then let him down to rest. We did this 3 times and afterwards I did not think I had captured anything worth anything. We packed up and headed home. I uploaded my images and found two possible images to work with. I did some quick adjustments and the flipped the image vertically and POW! That was it! I was sure I had done all this effort for nothing. So, hopefully I managed to send the message of the end of free thinking. It seems we are being told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it that we feel there is always a tether tied to us. No matter how much we dream, it always feels like something is weighting us down. Sometimes, it is our own tether that we do not even know is there.

Statistics
Place: 58 out of 82
Avg (all users): 5.3125
Avg (commenters): 5.0000
Avg (participants): 5.2286
Avg (non-participants): 5.4138
Views since voting: 312
Views during voting: 135
Votes: 64
Comments: 2
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
10/18/2013 11:39:32 AM
You probably lost points due to the unorthodox connection to the challenge. If he is up to it, I would try with Brian looking back. Good story.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
10/15/2013 01:35:57 AM
I gave this shot a 5. I like the coloration and clarity. The perspective is interesting. You have strong technical. I don't feel it really shows a clear beginning or end. I don't get it and couldn't figure out how it tied to the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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