Photography Project: Photographing through a child’s prism

If you’ve been following us for awhile, I have often lamented about the creative Sahara that I’m experiencing.  I’ve tried to jump start things a few times over the last year, but without much success.  I’ve decided to revisit the world of “play”, to try to stop taking my photographs (and myself) so seriously, and get back to the joy of discovery.  So here is the first in what I hope to be a long-running creative series, focused on play and discovery.Years ago I took a child’s prism with me to Vegas, and couldn’t stop photographing.  I was fortunate to have patient store clerks pose for me, wait people in restaurants work around me, and Peter…. well Peter just went with the flow.

On a recent work trip, I got stuck in the Dallas Fort-Worth Airport for 5 hours.  Four gate changes, and three terminals later I was running out of ways to keep myself entertained (there is only so much ice cream a lactose intolerant person can eat).  So I pulled out my prism (no questions about why it was in my work bag), and my point-and-shoot and tried to capture the feeling an extreme introvert experiences in a busy airport.  Word of caution, sometimes watching the baggage handlers is not for the faint of heart.

Equipment

• Educo Kaleidoscope
• Canon G7X Mark II (I find it easier to do this with a point and shoot, than a DSLR)

Technique

• Turn the prism around and shoot backwards through the front-end
• Zoom your telephoto about midway
• Look for bold graphic shapes, lines, and colors.  If you are shooting people, I find having just one dominate person helps create focus, and minimizes distraction.
• Twist the prism in different directions.

Processing

• Crop into a square.  I get a vignette around the edges unless I zoom all the way out, which I prefer not to do because it limits the number of repetitions of the subject.
• Play with changing color tones.

Note:  I have been in search of a larger prism.  One that has a similar pattern of shapes as in the Educo toy, but that I can use over a larger surface area.  If you find one, please drop me a line.