Ann-Christine gives us an interesting (and fun) challenge this week with “Three of a Kind.” A great theme for any photographer (at least in my case) because we all see more than one image when we take a photograph. Some may call it perspective and while that may be true, there’s more. It’s a different way of telling a story through your images using “triptych – the art of threes.”

What do I mean? Well, let’s take a look at the photo below. It’s an abandoned passenger car and caboose sitting out in a field in Hartwell, Georgia. A pretty cool image in and of itself. It tells a story of a train no longer in use and that’s pretty much it.

But as I walked up closer to the train other images came into play telling their own story. For instance, there’s the front of the passenger car below. How many cities had it been through? How many miles of railroad tracks had it covered? How old was it?

Then as I moved down along the side of train another image came to mind. As I peered through the window, I saw a tattered passenger seat and wondered who were the people that had traveled in seat? Where did they travel? Did they travel by themselves or with someone else? What did they see as they gazed out the window?

The last photo that came to mind was the “Watch Your Step” sign on the stairs leading into the passenger car. How many feet had carefully climbed the steps? What were the styles of the shoes the passengers were wearing? I tried to image the time period this train was in operation.

Other times when I photograph something, I don’t see the final image until I bring it into photoshop. I know there is more to the photo, and I have a general idea of what could be done with the image, but it isn’t until I sit down at the computer that the possibilities come into play.

Take for instance this image of the “Worth Avenue Clock Tower” located in Palm Beach, Florida. My sister-in-law had invited us to Florida for a weekend, winter getaway and asked me to take the photo for her (a small price to pay for free room and board for the weekend😉).

As you can see, I wasn’t the only one trying to get a photo of the clock tower that day. I knew I had my work cut-out for me! Not to mention it was cloudy, windy and I had to stand in the middle of two busy streets to get a full shot of the tower (the things we’ll do to get the shot, right?!?).

Thanks to the magic of photoshop I was able to make some adjustments and landed on the image below. Was it like the one she had seen in an art gallery? Nope, because I didn’t have the city permits to close off the road. Nor did I have the lighting crew or expensive lights to recreate their image. But I was able to give her something she could proudly display in her home.

In the shot below I focused on the arches inside the tower. It was a last-minute shot (yep, there were people to photoshop out, too). I’m so glad I took it because I love how it draws your eye out to the ocean.

My final “Three of a Kind” is this wild sunflower from a couple of summers ago. I love how the different shapes and textures lend themselves to becoming different images all related to the first.

Thank you, Ann-Christine, for this wonderful exploration into “triptych – the art of threes.” I love learning new techniques in art and how they can be applied to my photography.

Until next time.

-donna

P. S. Next week, Sofia will be our host. Be sure to visit her site.

P.S.S. If you would like to participate in our weekly Lens-Artists Challenge, just click this link and join us on Saturdays at noon EST: Lens-Artist Challenge

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