Seeing Well

My first camera was a Pentax K1000 35mm SLR -- the camera so many of us first used to explore f stops and asa's and shutter speeds. I had a small dark room. I had lots of desire to capture what I'd always been seeing. But I never really stuck with it long enough to get anywhere and by my 20's no longer owned a camera anymore. Over the years, I did some painting and drawing, took some design classes and discovered little ways to keep discovering and making art. But it wasn't until 2006 that I once again owned a camera, this time a small digital point and shoot, that I carried everywhere for a year.

That year, I learned that being a photographer is more about seeing well than it is having good equipment. After a year of using a point and shoot, I was convinced that quality equipment is essential to take the photos to another level. Yet the best equipment in the universe won't help if you can't see well in the first place.

By seeing well, I mean an ability to compose the photo elements and to identify the colors, textures, forms, light, focus, and depth of field that highlight the "message" of the photo. Even with a simple point and shoot I was able to use those variables to help create satisfying photos (the textile shot I posted in my last entry was taken with that point and shoot).

In 2007, I got my beloved Nikon D80 with an 18 - 55 mm lens. All of sudden, my world opened up as I was able to exert more control over the photographic elements. The biggest change was ease in changing the Depth of Field which allowed me to decide what I wanted the viewer to focus their eye on. The 18 - 55 mm lens is versatile and I could move from relatively wide angle landscape to tighter close-ups. Though not technically a "macro" lens, I was able to get fairly tight on a subject and would sometimes crop photos to bring it closer.

I still had a hunger though to really go deep inside things visually. So this year I got the Nikkor 105mm VR macro lens. I am finally able to take photos like I see them in my head! I will have to spend more time in another entry talking about what it feels like to photograph with this lens, but I can say it feels like going home.

The downside, the burden, of this equipment is the maintenance, the cost, the lugging, the technical expertise (which reminds me I'll talk about the joys and pains of Photoshop some other time!)There's a learning curve I feel like I'm just beginning to tackle (undoubtedly related to the dream I had about cleaning dirty sensors featured in my first entry).

I'm aware that there are newer, better, faster, pricier, better-featured cameras and equipment out there and someday I'll upgrade. But for now this set of camera and lens is serving me well. And we've all seen photos from folks that have that better, faster, fancier equipment yet they're just not good photos because it all starts with the eye.

Finding Inspiration

There are two things that are sure to inspire me as a photographer: travel and viewing the work of other photographers.

I am constantly amazed and delighted by photos from my contacts at flickr. The best part of the flickr experience is the cross-fertilization that happens, the visual connections that are made, the thrill when someone sees the world similarly or very differently! I have come to know so many great photographers there.

To give you a taste of these visual connections I'll share an example from one of my oldest contacts. I first came across Mark Willocks' photos my first month on flickr. One of the first images I saw of his: Outside Looking In was of stone canyon walls that reminded me very much compositionally of one of my soft flowing textile shot. It made a surprising visual connection (that overlapping view has been repeated with Mark many times since with water, reflections, architecture, plants and flowers).

Here's a link to the work of other Flickr artists that I find inspiring and wonderful: Sue (Light~Shape~Color)'s Favorites on Flickriver

__________________________________________


The other reliable source of inspiration for me is traveling. My eyes are opened up by the fresh views all around me. Even things I might see in my own backyard take on a new look as I'm more aware of everything around me.

The world as I saw it in July was full of light, shape & color as I spent almost two weeks traveling in Northern Spain and Southern France. When traveling I try to take a few "snapshots" to remember the experience, but most of what I return with are abstracts and landscapes inspired by the colors and feel of a new place.

A collection of photos from my July trip:

1. day 8: first look, 2. day 7: arriving in Bilbao, 3. day 7: love the walls here, 4. day 6: water ribbon, 5. day 3: color and lines, 6. day 4: Barcelona color, 7. day 7: we're watching you, 8. day 3: Gaudi curves, 9. day 6: strange expo building, 10. day 4: music at moonlight, 11. day 3: aged curves, 12. day 6: ready to move on, 13. day 4: still looking for color, 14. day 1: airport lines, 15. day 5: slice of light, 16. day 8: metal flow, 17. day 7: constructing lines, 18. day 3: color and curves, 19. day 7: leaving, 20. day 8: curving back home, 21. day 7: constructing water, 22. day 8: turning the corner on summer, 23. day 7: drinking in Bilbao, 24. day 4: climbing Gaudi, 25. day 9: looking for inspiration

I Dream in Color

I woke up this morning, shaken up. I had a dream that someone was trying to clean my dirty camera sensor with lemon juice. My first thought upon waking wasn't a thought... it was an image of fingers inside an open camera squeezing a bright yellow lemon inside. (I bet Freud would have a field day with that one).

Shaking the unsettling thought of my camera being doused in lemon juice, I enjoyed the lingering palette of yellow, gray, black. I wondered what I could photograph today in those colors. I've since moved on, caught up in tasks and to do's, but I'll be on the look out for that lemon yellow.

An old photo, taken before I owned my Nikon, that comes close to that palette.

Summer is almost over and I'm looking for something to carry me into the fall that will inspire and frame my creative time. I'm trying out this blog as a way to help shape my next projects. I anticipate it will be a way to share specific aspects of my photography and the process I go through to create an image (I'll still use flickr and/or my website to present the overall portfolio). My hope is that a blog will allow more depth and dialog and conversation about art and photography and life.