The Love Of Photography

I've spent a couple of hours tonight, going through my photographs, to gather the *best of the best* and burn them to their own C.D. I have so many pictures, I've got C.D.'s of 'not nude' originals, and 'nude' originals, and C.D.'s of 'not nude'photoshopped pics, and 'nude' photoshopped pics. So many that my favourites tend to get lost (as in forgotten because they're in with so many others, not "lost" as in literally). So a while ago I decided to make 'best of the best' C.D.'s.

Tonight, as I was adding more to my b.o.t.b., I looked through the best from some of my earlier pictures taken with my canon. It's always inspiring to me, when I look back on my art that I might not have seen in a while. Even though, of course, I always find things that I wish I'd done differently ... and mistakes I made because I didn't know better at the time, still, it makes me feel excited all over again about art when I view pieces I've done, that move me, despite their flaws.

I'm so damn thrilled with photography! It is the most fascinating art medium, so incredibly rewarding to me. The entire process is wonderful - learning my camera, learning lighting, learning to use my filters, learning new tricks, learning photoshop, trying out all the things I'm learning and getting better and better, studing library books and online photosites, listening to other photographers and studying their pictures.... I like to go through other photographer's sites and, if their art appeals to me, sitting here at my desk and just staring at the photo, to really get to know what is going on there. Now that I'm familiar with photography and photoshop, and posing, I'm often able to make educated guesses as to what photoshopping was done in a picture to achieve a certain effect. And I'm often able to tell what camera settings were selected. And I'm able to take notice of ways in which a model was posed, to look a certain way, or to emphasize (or de emphasize) certain traits. I'm able to see where others' mistakes (imo)were made, that take away from the overall effect, and remember it in my own poses. It's gratifying for me that I can do this, and it goes a long way in helping me to learn my craft.

In my new apartment, I have a lot of room for indoor photography. In my one room suite I had to literally move the furniture to one end of the room so that I had a bare wall to pose against. And still, my pictures ended up with unsightly clutter along either edge, that needed to be photoshopped out. Here I don't have that problem. I've been studying the way shadows fall against my walls at different times of day. The way my furniture and plants' shadows and reflections are cast behind them when the sun streams through the window. I love shadows in photography. I have a picture in mind - a head and shoulders shot with the reflection of my bedroom window cast on the wall behind me. It's a simple shot, but I can think of several pictures I could make with just this basic composition. I'm going to open the blinds and experiment with hanging different types of cloth (one at a time) over the window, to vary the reflection.

It's been raining here a lot lately, but spring is definately on its way (though we could still see snow - it's not unheard of). I don't like to take my camera out in the wet, so I'm waiting impatiently for dry days so that I can go out and shoot some street scenes. I have very little experience in shooting street scenes, but I'm fascinated with those types of pictures. My great friend is an excellent street scene photographer. I've learned a lot just from looking at his shots. I plan to walk around my neighbourhood, where there are a lot of down and out people. These people, in my opinion, make wonderful subjects for photography. They have charactor in their expression and body language that is often not there in regular people out for a shop. My difficulty is in my shyness. I'm afraid to open up to strangers and ask if I can take their photograph. I prefer to take pictures on the sly, using my swivel lcd screen. Of course, that way I get unposed, more natural shots, which is great. Still, it would be cool if I could overcome my nerves and actually approach people. Maybe one day.