Fresh Series: A Retrospective Look

I find myself looking through my old shots today, and I came across one of the series of photos that made the biggest impact amongst even strangers. This series is without a doubt what I’ve come to call the “Fresh Series“.

The shot above, I remember fondly, had the honor of once having the No. 1 Spot on Flickr Explore on the day I uploaded it. It was so exciting then, the whole sudden influx of comments, and favoriting by fellow Flickr members. And all of a sudden, just like Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point”, the number of hits on my Flickr page skyrocketed to numbers I’ve never before seen.

This went on for a while as I was actually posting one new Fresh Series shot a day back then.

What amazes me is the amount of dedication I had to each shot. I remember using a Tamron lens along with the first generation of the Gadget Infinity RF triggers for my 430EX flash, and I did all this from my motel room in New Zealand when I was posted there for work. I’d come home from work each day, trying to figure out a new way to shoot these seemingly unassuming fruits. Oh, the fond memories of the amount of water spilled on the table (and myself) and how I used white pillows and kitchenware to diffuse the light, along with the nearby white walls as well.

And the results, although post-processed via RAW, are until today some of the best ‘product’ work I’ve ever done. No ‘professional’ lighting setup, no macro lens, no PocketWizard… just an entry level DSLR, and a third party lens (albeit a very good one), and a second tier Canon flash. Oh, and LOTS and LOTS of DETERMINATION.

It’s a shame that since then, I’ve not been able to create a ’splash’ as big as those shots. Perhaps I’ve gotten distracted by a lot of things, but one thing’s for sure… I proved to myself back then, that I could take amazing imagery with not so amazing gear.

Frankly, I miss doing that. It was quite painstaking then, having to shoot and reshoot, and reuploading to review the shots on a proper screen than the 1.8″ LCD (tiny by today’s standards), till the natural light faded some days. On some days, I worked in near darkness, ‘coz I needed the light to be consistent, and not muddled from the tungsten lighting of the motel room.

A very good friend of mine honored me by asking to print these photos as a series. It moved me. And some days, when I’m out of inspiration, I look at these photos and remind myself, that no matter how many photographic lows I can hit, there are sometimes when there are indeed highs.

And as the name implies, the Fresh Series was one of those highs…

Cheers to more of these in the near future!