Something from Nothing – Photos from a Motel Bathroom
by Darwin Wiggett on March 4, 2013 · 11 CommentsHere at oopoomoo we think that making decent photos from an iconic beauty location in sweet light is the low hanging fruit. Just show up at the grand location in glory light and most photographers can come away with something that will get oohs and aahs on Facebook. Easy!
But the real test of ‘seeing’ is making something from nothing. Can you take an absolutely boring subject in everyday light and make a decent image? I tried this awhile back while staying in a low end motel. I gave myself the assignment to photograph in the bathroom using only the light coming in from the window. The images may not be award-winning but the exercise keeps my eye trained. Below are some of the images from the musty motel bathroom I came up with using a digital point-n-shoot camera. If you want to send us your own Something from Nothing assignment to be considered for the blog please email your story and photos to us at info@oopoomoo.com (images should be 585 pixels in the long dimension).
©Darwin Wiggett – The motel bathroom in all of its glory!
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
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11 Comments
Chuck Kling
04/03/2013 ·
I still prefer your landscape shots….by a long shot ( no pun intended ).
We’ve visited the rockies parks nine times, over the years…and between Canada and the USA….we have been in about 19 different parks.
ch.
Darwin Wiggett
05/03/2013 ·
You mean you won’t be ordering a 20 x 30 inch canvas of my bathroom photos
Janice
04/03/2013 ·
you have proven once again there is more to an room than the first impression. This same philosophy can be applied to landscapes! take the grand photo, then start looking for all the interesting details that also exist. great lesson. Darwin thanks
Darwin Wiggett
05/03/2013 ·
Janice, exactly most photographers take the big scene and move on skipping the wonderful details all around us!
Alan Lillich
04/03/2013 ·
Great post, thanks for the inspiration and challenge!
Darwin Wiggett
05/03/2013 ·
Alan, you will be assigned to tilt shift the bathroom in your room at Aurum Lodge!
Fran Gallogly
04/03/2013 ·
Hey Darwin,
Looks better than some of the motel bathrooms I’ve been in. You haven’t lived until you’ve stayed at The Courtyard (NOT by Marriott) in Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Fran
Darwin Wiggett
05/03/2013 ·
sounds like a threat!
Mark Wainer
04/03/2013 ·
A motel bathroom is a much geater photographic challenge than the Canadian Rockies in winter You are one of the few photographers who can succed at both.
Darwin Wiggett
05/03/2013 ·
Hi Mark, you could easily do both yourself. Love to see what you do in the bathroom (with a camera)!
Celso Bressan
05/03/2013 ·
Many centuries ago, when I was just a “pre-beginner”, I attended a Photography course where the teacher gave each one of us one of these discardable cameras with 12 shots and indicated that we would have 20 minutes to use them locked in a bathroom of the hotel.
Some results impressed me and I never forgot the lesson of seeing things from a different perspective.
Your pictures immediately reminded me that lesson.
Great shots and example!
Bressan
Domestica | Eremophila's Musings
05/03/2013 ·
[...] I received in my email, the new post from Oopoomoo photography setting out the challenge to create something from nothing. Acting on impulse, I shot a few images in my kitchen, and then processed them in a manner that [...]