The Conversation - Episode 8

drcraig vs. memento

Hello memento, and thank you for taking time out to take part in this conversation. Now, if you're sitting comfortably, I'll begin...

You have chosen memento fiori as your blip name. My people have done some research and they tell me this has something to do with memory and flowers. Can you say something about why you chose this name and its significance to you?

You're welcome, and even though I feel uniquely unqualified, I am happy to stand in for your first and second choice of victims. :)

Your researchers are correct! Memento in Latin has a few different definitions: one being a reminder of the past, a keepsake and it is related to the word 'remember'. Fiori means flower in Italian. I am certainly not unique in my deep love for flowers and plants but that's the basic reason for the name. Plants go through many flowering cycles in their lifetime but I've discovered through the process of close-up photography that each one is an individual, even on the same plant. So from a growing season, I often remember the flower superstars as well as the more modest ones who try their best to also shine. My mom always had a beautiful garden when I was growing up and still does.
 
And I'm not Italian, so go figure.

How did you get started with photography - were you photographing much before joining blip, and how has being here changed you as a photographer and as a person?
 
As it may be for a lot of other picture takers, it started with a love for recording events... you know that person, the nagging shutterbug who rounds everyone up at every family event for a group shot because of sentimentality and knowing that ten years from now everyone will be glad we did it.
 
My dear father-in-law gave me his old Argus in 1979... I was thrilled and those pictures turned out crisp and beautiful, along with some interesting double exposures, the result of not advancing the frame after snapping the picture.  At that point, I knew nothing about manual settings and the rest of the photo-speak but felt like I had a real camera!
 
Since then the recording of trips and events has been the main reason for picking up a camera. Enough technical information and Photoshop skills have been accrued to warrant a handful of small, paid gigs which warranted the purchase of a wonderful camera.
 
Since joining blip, the amount of time spent on thinking about shots and carrying them through has increased. The thinking about photography as art and business has increased. Even with knowing the basics, there is some technical or artistic aspect learned every time I take pictures, and the same goes for studying other blips. As a person... honestly don't know if anything has changed except perhaps the act of finding or making a blip every day has fostered self-discipline and time management.
 
You are the undisputed queen of creating great blips from apparently simple ingredients - fruit, veg, kitchen knick-knacks, nothing is safe from your lens. Can you describe how you go from household object to arresting image? 

Thank you, the thought of being a virtual queen is fun and doing those shots are a load of fun because they always surprise me once downloaded.
 
If you mean basic A to Z: in most cases it starts with me encountering something that catches my eye during a routine act of cleaning or tidying, cooking or doing a project. It happens more since I've started blipping but always has. Routine things don't get completed on time, all the time, since I've started blipping either.
 
My set-up often consists of a tripod, a table and a 1000 watt shop light for the close-ups. If bright daylight with zero wind is available, even better. It's no photography secret that backlighting an object lends special drama and reveals unseen patterns and structures. Shooting the same object with a few different set-ups, angles, lighting and settings is a learning experience by itself and justification enough for spending a half hour extra on a blip. Other high tech tools include foam core reflectors, mirrors, camping flashlights and various large colored sheets of paper.

I use inexpensive extension tubes in a number of blips. Owning a macro lens is in the relatively distant future and these, even with their limitations, allow me, for now, to peek into a little world unseen by the naked eye. With a higher ISO setting, the object can be hand held and turned while looking through the viewfinder to create the composition.
 
Once I have the image I think will work, I have no guilt about aggressive cropping and any combination of Photoshop tricks that makes it look good to my eye. Image maker is a better description of what I do than photographer. There are many images in my journal that are straight from the camera but that happens mostly by decent settings and a bit of luck.

You are a prolific commenter on other's blips, and always seem to have something positive and supportive to say. How do you keep it up, and what do you get out of taking part in the blip community?
 
I don't have a life. Kidding!
 
As most blippers know, it is a continuing challenge to find time for commenting. It is important to me to state in some detail my impressions of an image or an entry or how it made me feel but I appreciate and enjoy all comments equally and immensely.
 
It is simply a ton of fun to browse the blips of my subscribers and those I subscribe to. Even if I don't have time every day to comment on every single image, I always take a peek. Some blippers are such talented, skillful photographers and great writers, fun to watch, read and learn from. All blippers are entertaining in some way or another and very generous about sharing their knowledge and therein lies the true precious value of the site.

There is so much to look at now and I want to set aside some time to browse the new journals and pass along that welcoming and support that I received from day one.

I've browsed through your whole journal, and it seems that you are one of the few blippers never to have had a blip slump. What's your secret?

Oh I've had blip slumps! I just don't tell. Actually, those household item blips ARE kind of slumpy blips, mostly taken in the dead of the hellish arctic winter when outside shots aren't an option.
 
My take on it is that there is no shortage of blips around you at any given time; it's just a matter of seeing them. It helps to have decent equipment but some of the best and most hilarious blips have been emergency blips, taken with cell phones or point/shoot cameras. It also helps to have a vivid imagination... some days more vivid than others. If I new exactly where inspiration came from, I would bottle it and sell it. It comes from looking at other blips and the work of all the talented photographers in the universe.
 
This image of yours is one of my all-time favourites on blip, and I also love the spectacular ice caves you blipped on the same trip. If you could take a blip trip right now, to anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?

That trip to Northern Wisconsin was my highlight of the long winter and I treasure the pictures that came out of it.
 
My blip trip would start in the Pacific North West of the US in the redwood forests, so I could ask a giant, 1500 year old Sequoia what it's going to do for its 2000th birthday.
 
Then I would fly to Fiji and spend a few weeks kayaking all the small islands, continuing on to Darwin, Australia, driving down to Humpty Doo because I am curious about what a town with a name like that looks like.
 
After that I would fly to Tibet to hug a yak and hike the arid mountains and set foot on the same ground as the Dalai Lama once did. Next stop Bergen, Norway, to sail around the fjords for a while.
 
When it gets too cold, I'd take off for Marrakech to go on a two week camel ride into the Sahara desert with Bedouins that sing around a campfire and talk about the millions of stars you can see.
 
When there is too much sand in my shoes, I'll depart for Caracas, Venezuela and organize a fly-over of Angel Falls because I still have trouble believing that a place like that really exists.
 
My last stop before heading home would be a two week stay on the Galapagos Islands because I want to see what Darwin saw and hug a marine iguana if it would let me.
 
Oh, did you mean a single place? Oops.

Being an American participating in a website run by a group of Scotspeople, you are bound to have had a few moments of linguistic confusion. What are your most memorable Euro-blipper expressions?
 
Worse than that, blip has robbed me of my innocence. Before I was a blipper, I never swore. Now... phew, every other word is four letters or less...  

Wish I had time to back through some blips and add links to the worst perpetrators but my memory will have to suffice. I knew I should've written them down!
 
Stooffed and shattered... perhaps full and drunk or full and tired, based on its usage in a post Christmas dinner blip.

Knackered... think it means tired.
 
Well chuffed... know it means very excited.
 
Can't be arsed... thought it was some odd Scottish spelling of 'asked'. Think it must mean 'bothered' but what does an arse have to do with being bothered?
 
Fookit... used a few times by a number of blippers and now a popular one in my house. 
 
When I have more time, I plan to write the North American Blippers Guide to Euro-Blipisms.
 
Can you choose your favourites from your own blips, and say something about why you like them so much?
 
I would rather choose many favorite blips from other blippers, it's easier... but here goes.
 
Heavy Metal Switch Grass - my first blip will always be special. I had no idea what to expect and remember the feeling of slight disbelief when I read my first comment.
 
Ginkgo leaves - the blip that took me the longest to make as I gathered a giant bag of fallen leaves and sorted them by color from yellow to green.
 
Even gray is made up of color... - the closest close-up I ever did and a big hit because of the subject matter.
Prickly - when I first realized that everything, even a lowly kitchen scrub brush can be beautiful.
 
Line drawing - this image didn't get a huge response the challenge of lighting and keeping the object as close to a photograph as possible was fun.
 
A quiet sunset - not the most spectacular, but the most special because of where I was and who I was with.
 
Surf's up! - on a whim, I decided to drive to Duluth for the day and keep Mr. F company on a biz trip. A blipper who shall remain anonymous suggested that I get out more, so I did. The feeling I remember when taking this was: wow, this my lucky blip day!
 
And what's your single most favourite blip by another blipper?
 
That isn't possible to pick one, so here are a few:
 
Vitruvian 'Breeze' by youngbreeze - coolest cool and made me think about dancing in the hallway with some lights.
 
Ice Caves by Wonderlust - I was there too and my pictures weren't nearly as gorgeous.

Morning Mist at Clark Farm by The Distracted Hausfrau - the image that made me realize I needed to work on my landscape shots.
 
Cerro San Cristobal by su - our only blipper from Peru who constantly reminds me that I live in the lap of luxury compared to millions of people.

Tree by stuff - I'd like to buy one to frame please.
 
"When you take a picture an accident Happens" by electric glass - because it's sick and by sick I mean good.
 
The Ostrich by chiaroscuro - it is a beautiful portrait of one of my favorite creatures and I was born near where it was taken.
 
I've run out of time to get this interview to Blip Central but there are dozens more!
 
Your about page talks of a Mr Fiori, but we never get to see him, where is he? And would he mind if I took you to dinner???
 
Oh, he's right here... just very private and shy. Dinner? Phew, that's going to take a chunk of change out of your pocket! Let me ask him if that would be alright........................
 
He says its fine, as long as I bring home a doggy bag with dessert and as long as you don't mind people staring at you thinking: what a nice young man, taking his mum out to dinner!
 
What!!
 
Doggy bag... that'll be the day!
 
And I shall expect the airplane ticket when?
 
That's all for now, I hope you've enjoyed answering these questions and I look forward to seeing who you choose as the next victim.
 
Thank you for not asking me questions I didn't know the answers to!

Now let's see... who shall it be...