Recently I joined a couple members of the local camera club in Siouxland, Sioux City Camera Club, as they attempted some slow shutter, long exposures of lighted steel wool done by another club member, Ron Nicolls, who attempts to get members to see a little differently and experiment with their photography.
It was interesting as Nicolls spun the lighted steel wool on a tether about his person in a snow covered field, a little fire prevention precaution. As one continued photographing the look of what one was seeing kept changing. This makes sense in that, like a camp fire, as the fire dies out, the intensity first seen when the steel wool is lit and and then flung about, it burns itself out and thus gives varying degrees of light for photographing.
Depending on where one was standing you also had to be mindful of flying sparks either hitting you or flying nearby. However the sparks added a bonus of sorts to the images captured. I was shooting with an Olympus OMD M1 body which touts 4-5 stops of in-body stabilization and so was handholding my camera shoot between 2.5 seconds and 6 seconds at f/2.5 and f/3.2. I did get movement from Nicolls as he lobbed the lighted steel wool about his body, but for the most part, the in-body stabilization worked well, allowing me to somewhat “move about the cabin” and yet capture images created by the spinning burning wool pad.
It was an interesting and creative endeavor Nicolls presented to other camera club members and an opportunity to attempt a different type of photography that most have not considered. It was also nice that the weather that day was in the mid-30’s so not so bone chilling to make such an effort less than ideal. One’s pursuit of creativity is only limited by one’s non attempt at trying something different and experimentation which could lead to yet another effort to try another photographic approach.
I live in the Siouxland area that encompasses a wide swatch of land in northwest Iowa, northeastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota. The people that inhabit this area are generous folk and your basic honest, Midwestern people you like to have as neighbors. I explore the area and share observations, mostly photographic, sometimes through video, and and short text. All images and video are copyrighted material of the author.
Jerry Mennenga, Sioux City, Iowa
jerrylmennenga@yahoo.com
lostinsiouxland 