Sunrise this morning in my front yard
One of the things I love about blogging is taking photos. I'm no longer interested in keeping albums or shoeboxes full of prints, and I don't publish newspapers anymore so I'm not shooting for print, but I still love photography. This blog seems to be the most appropriate place to put my humble efforts.So I had all sorts of hopes for the new camera club that started here in town... that I would make friends with other, more skilled photographers, that I'd learn new skills and master some of the more advanced bells and whistles on my Oympus. A lot of people in town had the same expectation, and the meeting room was so crowded I almost didn't find a chair.
Our hosts M and G, a couple of very advanced professional photographers, started off making it clear that successful shooting is more about expertise and artistry and not so much about gear. Ansel Adams, they pointed out, had nothing but a pinhole camera, with one f-stop.
We would be learning more about f-stops and apertures, color management and sweet spots, "tack sharp" clarity and using manual settings for more control. PhotoShop is the new darkroom, they said, and we'd learn how to use it more successfully. We would graduate from doing "point and shoot snapshots" to taking awesome photographs that could be successfully enlarged to poster size without losing detail.
Then G did a show-and-tell of his gear and I began to wonder if I'd wandered into the wrong meeting. Tripods, lenses, filters, gadgets that calibrated color, automatic shutter releases, etc. filled one whole corner of the room. How would somebody get all that into a bag and lug it on a shooting hike? Then the discussion turned to printers, and I discovered that my Lexmark inkjet and Brother laser printers were not even worth discussing. And as for cameras: if I didn't have a Canon or a Nikon, I could never hope to delve into the costly array of lenses that would allow me to capture the eye of a fly at a thousand feet, or shoot a panarama of the entire bay in one click of the shutter.
Several of us had brought our little Japanese digitals, some of them no bigger than a cellphone and we winced at M's disparaging remarks about "point and shoot" cameras and "snapshots." I felt humiliated over my limited knowledge about the mechanical aspects of my camera and was glad nobody asked me about my lens, my zoom or my pixel capacity.
But we all have to start somewhere. So I'll keep going to meetings, take notes and absorb as much knowledge as possible. One of the things that keeps a person from growing is the reluctance to show her ignorance.
13 comments:
Bliss,
By all means continue if you are having fun but if you are not then what's the point? Some people are just wrapped too tight. It is the image in your mind's eye that counts the most. Your photos are fine :)
Hi Bliss,
I think the pic at the top of your post is just lovely! For myself, it's not so much about the quality of the pics I take as it is about the memories that the pic will invoke when I look at it days, months or years later. Keep taking pics and keep posting them. Happy August and I hope you're surviving that Sonoran heat!
Cynthia & Mike from sunny, but not too hot, Seattle
Sounds like what you need is not a photographers summit and convention but a camera club.
Over the years I have had cameras and lens that were equal in value to a Volkswagen.
I sold all of them, and now only have two.
One point and shoot, and one with changeable lenses.
I use the point and shoot 95% of the time, and it will run circles around the photos that the expensive camera does, because I just don't want to spend the time to "create" the shots anymore. If I really want to, go into microminute details, I lug out the pro one, otherwise, point and click is fine. The best suggestion is just get to know the operation of your point and click, and a few of the presets to the point that you can choose the best for the moment.
That is unless you plan on making some bucks on the next National Geographic front cover.......
Keep the enjoyment in, hassle out.
I happen to like your pictures... don't sell yourself short.
Bob - I am indeed having fun. I think G was just having fun trotting out his toys. He probably seldom uses them anymore — they'd only come in handy for studio work anyway, all that weight and bulk. I would like to get truer colors, if it's possible with my camera, and sharper focus, but I'm not going to obsess about it. Maybe I'll start my own "Point and Shoot" splinter group! LOL
Cynthia - Gracias, amiga. It's true that I shoot more for myself, certainly I don't aspire to turn pro. Glad you're keeping cool.
Tancho - That's how it was billed, as a camera club. I'm hoping we'll downplay the competitive aspect and play up the fun: field trips, etc. It's a good antidote for midsummer cabin fever.
Jomamma - Well, I love taking them, especially since I no longer have to have film processed and printed, only to find one or two decent shots on a roll. I hate to think how much money I wasted doing that over the years mostly because I never had space for a darkroom.
Bliss, I love the photographs that you have posted on your blog. If taking pictures is what you love to do, then continue doing so. I have a friend who recently started a blog to "showcase" her photographs. She takes the most amazing pics and everyone is always asking her what kind of camera she uses. Most are shocked and surprised to learn that she uses a "point and shoot".
Leslie - M and G did admit at the meeting they know of a photographer who sells his work for the big bucks, and he uses a "Point and Shoot" too. Mine has a lot of settings I haven't even learned yet, and I know I can get more satisfactory results with more practice. But I also want to learn more about composition and other fine points. I think I can improve without buying all that gear.
Put me down as a photo fan. Two of the photo pages I always enjoyred were yours and Andee's. Tied to your commentary they are great.
Some photographers will admit that it is the "eye" and the skill involved in getting what you see into a picture that is most important. I enjoy all of your pictures and think you have an excellent eye. The devil is in the details but without a good eye the technology overwhelms the vision. I'd love to take that kind of class just to learn more about the techniques but, alas, I don't think my Spanish is up to taking a technical class yet. Please keep posting your pictures, I enjoy them very much.
Jonna - Well, I do know that carting a lot of gear with me and juggling it all, can get in the way of my creativity. I used to shoot in poorly-lit antique stores, bringing my own tripod, lights, reflectors, filters, etc. and the stress of keeping track of it all just made the process an ordeal.
This group was presented as a club, although it was conducted like a class. But it was in English; in the roomful of people there were only two Mexicans. And I did learn a few useful things before the show and tell started: did you know early morning and late afternoon are the best times to shoot? Never midday.
Steve - I used to love Andee's shots, some were amazing. I'd like to be braver about doing portrait shots, like those she did of the people of Chacala.
Nice photo, señora.
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