Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Joys of Photography
I have discovered a new passion in life: photography. It's an incredible experience to imprint what you see onto film, and then to develop, choose, position, and finally make your own prints. To be able to see a moment again, and to be able to show others what you saw at that moment is thrilling. One picture I just made a print of was my little brother and his soccer coach looking at the field and both holding their hand up against the sun light.
More than once there has been a picture that I loved--but I didn't snap the shutter, either because I hadn't cocked the film (oh the frustration!) or because I thought in just a fraction of a second more the shot would become even better. But they don't. It's torture. I would spend a long time after trying to recapture the shot, but, with living people at least, it doesn't work. After my little brother's soccer team scored a goal they raced back down to their side of the field and I missed a beautiful shot of my brother grinning and waving his arm in celebration. I missed the shot because I just wasn't sure enough that his next movement wouldn't be even better. I have to learn to let go, otherwise I miss the next great shot.
Taking pictures is a lot like painting a picture, but usually it takes less time. Composing a picture takes a lot of time for the inexperienced--which I pretty much am--and there are also lots of things to keep in mind: background, lighting, the feeling you want the photo to produce, the rule of thirds, and snapping the picture at the opportune moment. One reason I love photography so much just now is that I am seeing the result of everything I've put into my pictures.
It's an amazing feeling to pull out your first picture from the fixer, even if you scratched it, like I did. On the picture of my brother and his coach I put about seven scratches on their clothes and on the background, thankfully not on their faces. I guess one reason why I was so awed is that I created something that wasn't there before in solid form. I highly recommend the experience.
More than once there has been a picture that I loved--but I didn't snap the shutter, either because I hadn't cocked the film (oh the frustration!) or because I thought in just a fraction of a second more the shot would become even better. But they don't. It's torture. I would spend a long time after trying to recapture the shot, but, with living people at least, it doesn't work. After my little brother's soccer team scored a goal they raced back down to their side of the field and I missed a beautiful shot of my brother grinning and waving his arm in celebration. I missed the shot because I just wasn't sure enough that his next movement wouldn't be even better. I have to learn to let go, otherwise I miss the next great shot.
Taking pictures is a lot like painting a picture, but usually it takes less time. Composing a picture takes a lot of time for the inexperienced--which I pretty much am--and there are also lots of things to keep in mind: background, lighting, the feeling you want the photo to produce, the rule of thirds, and snapping the picture at the opportune moment. One reason I love photography so much just now is that I am seeing the result of everything I've put into my pictures.
It's an amazing feeling to pull out your first picture from the fixer, even if you scratched it, like I did. On the picture of my brother and his coach I put about seven scratches on their clothes and on the background, thankfully not on their faces. I guess one reason why I was so awed is that I created something that wasn't there before in solid form. I highly recommend the experience.
# posted by dancer @ 4:21 PM 
