"It's a Bird. It's a Plane. No. Its..."

One of the best things I gained from my five years in an apprenticeship program was being exposed to all kinds of new ideas for photography, particularly ones that result in an abstract representation. It had never occurred to me, for example, that you could use a camera like a paint brush. But, oh my, it is so much fun. I have mentioned intentional camera movement (ICM) before. You literally move the camera up, down, sideways, in circles, etc while the shutter is open. Unlike most other photography where you carefully focus and set up a composition, in ICM you look for color and contrast and then just "do your thing." It is a bit of a crap shoot do see if you get anything that you think is interesting and worth sharing. And there is definitely an art to how quickly and in what directions you move the camera. But the sky is the limit for subject matter. The ICM I shared on Monday is a pretty standard approach where you move the camera either up or down while the shot is being taken. But I have discovered that some of my favorites using this technique are ones where I have literally swept the camera in a right or left arc. The first day I really played with this technique I walked all over my house and yard and many of the results are still among my favorites. This one is a left to right sweep down the side of my car. And the one below is my tail light. I have also created interesting ICMs of balled up filmy fabric and closeups of my pansy beds. And you don't need a "proper" camera to do this. You can use a smart phone camera, too.