Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Egg Whites

I took a Photography class at the University of Utah in the fall of 1981, and one of the projects was to take a picture of a white egg on a white background.  Not as easy as it sounds, when you consider that I had to do it all by manipulating the f-stop, shutter speed and developing process.

If you’ve been following the chatter on Karen’s blog, you’ll know that taking a photo of her white car in the garage was what brought this project to mind.

Well, I mentioned it and Karen (Minnesota) had to try it.  (I’m headed over there to check it out in a second).  Now Bob’s (North Yorkshire, UK) gonna try it and Alexia (New Zealand) is thinking about it too.  Seems like I’ve started an international incident.

Well, here’s the picture that brought about the whole thing.

Remember, I got this picture by scanning the original print, which is is just about 30 years old; yes I am that much of a pack rat.  The key to the project was to get as much detail of the egg, especially the entire outline, without too much greyscale showing.  And showing as little salt at the bottom as possible.

Don’t even ask what grade I got on the project, that was way too long ago, but I did get an A in the class.

Now, head on over to Karen’s blog and check out her eggcellent fowl ovum photography.  And please, anyone else who does the egg project, post a comment here to let me, and other followers, know.  I’d love to see them all.

Oh, and the whole thing started because of Carmi’s “white” theme.  Click on the banner below to check it out.

11 comments:

Lisa Shafer said...

That is definitely white. :)

Max Sartin said...

Thanks. But can you see enough of the egg?

Alexia said...

wow. that's given us a standard to aspire to! Yes, I can see the egg really well.

:)

21 Wits said...

See I got quite a few of these shots the first night as my battery was dying, although most of them seemed to have a moon with it...but silly kind of stupid unskilled in photography thought this was an oops! I AM so THRILLED to actually see the photo you had for your class project...absolutely BRAVO, quite cool Max and not a pack rat just a foresighted individual! I hope to see more of these eggstra lovely photos! Thanks for the idea!

Max Sartin said...

No problem, glad you like it. I don't think I have any more of the actual prints, but I did find the negatives I scanned. I'll put those up this weekend.

Little Nell said...

The thing is, will you two actually be able to stop?

21 Wits said...

Little Nell, possibly not. Ha ha

I sit up and look at blogs, Inside my computer sight, to see if there is a new egg in sight! (Writer ? help us here!) lol I wish I may, I wish I might see more new eggs in sight! ha ha...just stopping by to see if any new eggstras have been hatched. Enjoy your weekend! If Bob S. reads this he'll know I am egging him on!

Barbara said...

Max, that is the masterpiece!

Gilly said...

That is a beautiful, and very clever shot. Even if it is 30 years old! (The shot, not the egg!)

Max Sartin said...

Ewww, 30 year old egg. Now that would not be a pleasant smell.

carmilevy said...

I love this shot. Total purity of light and form. What I love even more is how you've connected it to the work of so many others. It's one of my favorite things about our little online world: the way it shrinks distance and builds community.

Beyond coolness.

I have an older egg pic. Well, nowhere near as historically significant as yours. Barely 5 years-old, come to think of it. But since we're all sharing...

Oeuf means egg


:)