Alas, photography is a fully-formed and complex art form. People spend their lives trying to take better pictures. I'm not going to necessarily get where I want to be in a couple of weeks. And yet, there is an enormous difference between wholly self-taught swimmers and those who've spent just a single year on an organized team. I'm not looking to shoot at the Olympic level, but I would like to approach the comparative competence of a low-end high school letter-winner. That seems doable, though maybe this is one of those occasions where I don't know what I don't know.
Seems possible.
For better or worse, this is the approach I'm trying to take with photography, too. I'm trying to frame shots so that they are about something, and I've been trying to edit and enhance my pictures with a purpose rather than at random according to what looks or feels right.
Took this at Mt. Snow last year on my phone. I liked it because it looked like we were riding the lift up into a cloud, but I'm not sure how much this enhancement helps. |
I want you to know that I get that. I made these mistakes out of love and ignorance.
I should say, too, that I hate explaining my work. The work should speak for itself. That's how you have your say as an author--in your writing. Leave the arguments to the audience. We do the best we can, but people bring their own experiences to their readings. That's what makes art interactive.
With this project, though, I don't yet trust myself enough to let you necessarily just take what you will. At least for now, I'd rather tell you what I wanted you to see and let you tell me whether or not that worked. Hopefully we can move past this stage fairly quickly, but for now, this is where I am.
In writing, there are three levels of feedback:
- Is the spelling and grammar correct?
- Is the work structurally sound? Do the scene structures work?
- What does this mean? Was this a story worth telling?
There's got to be a way to translate those concepts for photography.
Most of these are recent. I've re-edited a few older ones for practice, but I've learned that nothing can save a picture if it's just not good. I've been trying to be a little more purposeful with my photography, and it's helped a lot having a new camera. For better or worse, though, some of the older stuff just isn't salvageable.
What can you do?
I took this in Rhode Island two weeks ago. Cropped it just a little, and auto-correct suggested sepia-toning it. Went with that. This crop made it the Header on my Twitter profile. |
Some experiments don't work. This one, for example. Took this shot in Manhattan on Wednesday using my phone. Was trying to make the orange sign pop, but somehow I made the whole image muddy. Gross. |
Third Beach in Newport, Rhode Island. Rare picture that came out better than expected. I don't know that this is necessarily about anything, but I like the way the colors popped. |
More from Water Island, USVI. |
From Miami (OH) at Army, 2018. This was my favorite football shot from last season. |
Took this with my phone on Wednesday & then edited to work on color and scale. |
My coworkers really liked this one. |
They say that shooting from weird camera angles helps you see the world in a different way. That turns out to be true. |
The kids had been playing in the moments right before this, but they suddenly split up and went their separate ways. I tried to capture the loneliness of that instant. |
Fun fact: Army QC Coach Matt Drinkall was following me on Twitter. Then I posted a bunch of these boat pics, and they scared him off. True story. |
Took this pic on Water Island, St. Thomas and then posted it yesterday as the new Header to my Facebook page. My friends liked it. I'm less sold, but the scene itself was certainly beautiful. |
If you made it this far, your reward is a new wallpaper for your phone. |
That's all folks. Let me know what you think.
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