Camera Club.. Impressionism Photography

This year I have joined our local camera club, my main  reason for joining was to meet like-minded people, and also to learn more about photography, not only about techniques but also about the creative side of photography. We hold meetings once a month, and  have categories that we can enter our images in, either set ( which is a certain subject) and an open section.

I have been to four meetings, and have only shown three photos, the first two months I went along I was just so overwhelmed by the whole process of having a judge comment on your images, and also on the standard of what people enter. I am slowly getting better at knowing what the judges are looking for, and to taking on board the suggestions that they have for making our images look better. I have picked up so much already and feel I can only get better.

Our set subject for July is "Impressionism" , my first move was to Google the subject to see what I could find. What I found was a website by  Auckland photographer Eva Polak
Her work is amazing, and she has this unusual technique of using Vaseline to get the "Impressionist" look. A few of the ladies at Camera Club have been experimenting with this technique, and I thought that I would have a go too.

What you need is of course, Vaseline, a small piece of glass to smear the Vaseline onto. Don't put the Vaseline onto your camera lens.  Get a very small amount of Vaseline, about half of your little finger, smear the Vaseline onto the glass, going one way. Find your subject, I have been taking a photo of the subject first, and then a photo with the glass lens. When you have your subject sorted, press the camera button down half -way, hold the glass up to the lens, and take your photo. When you hold the glass with the Vaseline vertical it gives a landscape effect, and vice versa. You will need to experiment with how far away you need to hold the glass.

Here are a couple that I took yesterday, still learning, but I think I am getting it:

I haven't done any editing on these, and I know that I have a long way to go, but I am enjoying the challenge.