As the daughter and granddaughter of professional photographers, it seemed as it there was nothing in my genetic make-up that had been passed on from either of these two men. I did not have the talent or the eye. Ah the eye...in fact it was the eye that caused me most of my problems.
I am very farsighted and my right eye is the worst. That and the fact my glasses/contact lenses do not correct my vision to 20/20 make things difficult. So looking through the lens and trying to focus the camera was always a challenge...I never knew what I was going to get.
When the self focusing cameras came along I was thrilled...just point and shoot. This amazing technology definitely affected my photography. Oh Happy Days! No more out-of-focus pictures! I saved so much money on film and my trash bin became lighter. My images sang along with Johnny Nash...they were clear like the rain had washed away the haze that once surrounded them.
But wait! Then came digital cameras, Photo Shop and laptop computers. Point, shoot, load, preview, adjust, delete/save, print. Every photo was exactly as I wanted it or it no longer existed. I could print or not print. I could crop out those pesky little nuances I did not want in the shot or turn a color shot into black and white. And it just takes a touch of a finger to a key. There is no stopping me!
So the question again: What has affected your photography?...Technology. It has made up for those things my body lacks...the ability to focus my one bad eye. But alas...it has not given me everything. Those things that make a great photographer great....that natural talent, I do not have it.
I look to learn it at every venture...composition, action shots, I am especially bad at those. I have a hard time seeing a photo where someone else may. I struggle with my minds eye, so to speak...the artist part of photography, and yes it is an art. But it is also an adventure and I love adventures.
So I strike out, never leaving my camera behind and I take pictures of things and people and places and stuff that may seem weird and odd and wonderful and bizarre. And people ask me things like "why were you on the ground praying?"
Well I was...sort of. I was praying for a great shot! But don't we all!
3 comments:
What has changed my photography the most?
Purchasing my first DSLR three years ago and shooting in .raw and adjusting in photoshop.
The ability to not be tethered to rolls of film and the cost of processing has been Nirvana for me.
I can't even begin to list the ways that my images have improved in the last three years. All thanks to the fact that I'm finally free to play more and not worry about having to drop all that money on processing and film.
I'm rambling. Cold drugs :)
I used to do 35mm, and 220, and....
but the price beat me up. I couldn't really sell enough photos to cover the costs of my hobby.
Now... digital and photoshop... I can capture images to my hearts content.
That's sweet, as it is, but the real magic is this: Everything, every day, that I care to open my eyes to has become a subject. Each day I see something I would not have before.... because now it's an image to capture and keep.
I can leave the camera behind, and the beauty is still there, because now I've learned to see it.
Film! Her Space My Space photo prompts. Encouragement. Photoshop.
Plus, despite my lack of experience, there is no reason why my photographs can not be deemed as good, sometimes really good and maybe occassionally fantastic.
Self belief and that in the end it's the beauty I see that really matters. If you can see it too, wonderful, but if you can't then it doesn't mean it is not there :-)
Post a Comment