Ever since I was young I've always had a curious mind. And since photography is an art of seeing and interpreting the world around us photographically, I've always tried to see life through the lens in a unique and inventive way. Sometimes we don't have the luxury of having fancy equipment at our disposal in order to create the image we see in our minds eye, so we have to make the best of what we have on hand. Recently our family went to downtown San Diego to watch the Parade of Lights on the bay from an tall office building balcony. The view of the boats from the balcony was a bit far away, but with some binoculars you could make out the lights on the different boats. Not only was the bay full of Christmas lights, but so were the buildings all around me. I could see where people had hung lights from their apartments and condos. I could see cars and trolleys coming and going... the city and the night was alive with activity. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if the small pocket camera I had with me (Canon PowerShot G9) could capture some of the magic I was witnessing with my eyes. I started by taking the obvious shots by trying to capture the cityscape by keeping the camera as still as I could by bracing it on the railing of the balcony. Boring. I tried hand holding a long exposure. Too blurry. I then experimented by mixing up a 15 second exposure (the longest shutter speed setting for the G9) by exposing half of the image stationary and the other half I moved the camera spontaneously with my hand. That seemed to be the right balance. It was exciting for me to see these images appear in the viewfinder... waiting for the processor to finish developing the image. Waiting for a photo much like you would if you were using an old Polaroid camera. Each new exposure inspired me to try to make another. It is this type of playful experimentation I have come to love in my photography. And since the image is abstract, it allows the imagination room for all sorts of creative possibilities.

Black and white negative abstract photo of downtown San Diego at nighttime seen from the balcony of an office building. Created with Canon PowerShot G9

Long exposure of the city lights in downtown San Diego, created with Canon Powershot G9 camera. Black and white conversion done in Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop

Experimenting with long hand held exposures to create abstract nighttime cityscape of downtown San Diego, California with the Canon PowerShot G9 camera

After editing and working with all the images in Lightroom and Photoshop, I soon came to realize that the images were too busy with either too much color saturation or too many different colored light trails. I experimented by desaturating the image to the point that it was almost black and white... and that's when it dawned on my to try and invert the image to make it a negative. After doing so, the image appeared to look like a fantastical city photographed during the day. I think removing all the color out of the image simplified the detail in the photo and made it easier for the viewer to interpret what their looking at. And by not having color also made the image more classic and timeless. I like to take these kinds of experimental photos because it helps me to keep being playful with my photography. I think by letting ourselves go and being open to new possibilities helps us to keep re-inventing our creative style.

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