PHOTOGRAPHY CONUNDRUM

I’ve been taking pictures all of my life.  Haven’t we all?  At family gatherings or traveling on vacation, the camera always came along.  There was always an interest, but never a passion.

A few months ago I bought a new Canon 50D digital camera and something happened.  From the first shutter click I was hooked!  Like a famished animal pursues his prey, my appetite for photography was ravenous!  I gathered everything I could find to read.  I sought people who could educate me in every aspect of photography.  I started taking pictures and even though I didn’t know exactly what I was doing or how I was doing it, some of them turned out quite nicely.  So, I started a photography blog in an attempt to gather even more information while displaying some of my own work.

And after six months, I face a conundrum.  I absolutely love photography and I have a new-found passion to take “quality” photographs.  But, where does that passion really lie?

My initial thought was, “I’m not exactly certain where my photography passion will land, but I know I’m not interested in portrait photography.”  It seemed like there would be too much pressure to capture that perfect portrait expression.  So, I began to shoot landscapes and sunsets.  I imagined myself traveling to Paris to photograph the Parisian landscape.  That was what I would eventually do – photograph the world.

Then, I began to notice the beautiful flowers around my office building and simply couldn’t resist taking shots of them.  It was challenging to bring the bloom into focus while separating it from the background with a shallow depth of field.  So, I started thinking about macro photography.

One day I noticed a bee buzzing around one of the flowers I was shooting.  This offered the additional opportunity to capture the insect in perfect focus as well as the flower bloom.  I loved this additional challenge.

So just to summarize, after a few months I found myself shooting flowers, insects, sunsets, and landscapes every day.  And, I was loving every minute of it!

A few weeks later while visiting my grandchildren, I noticed Eliana (my youngest grandchild) watching a children’s program on TV.  Because she was distracted, she didn’t realize I had grabbed my camera and was snapping one shot after another.  When I saw them, I was quite pleased and decided to share them with everyone.  Click here to see them.

I liked them so well, I later spent some time with Emma (Eliana’s older sister and my second youngest granddaughter) staging some honest childlike expressions.  I liked these as well.  Click here to see these shots.

Now I’m thinking, “Maybe there’s something to this portrait photography.”

I have to admit, I really thought I would begin to take pictures and the subjects I loved to photograph would naturally create a passion within me that would be unmistakable.  But in reality, I love shooting landscapes.  I love shooting sunsets.  I love shooting night photography (even though I feel I have much room for improvement in this category).  I love shooting flowers.  I love shooting insects.  And now, I’m wondering if I love shooting portraits.  Hmmm.  I think it’s time for a test.

I actually have 4 grandchildren.  I have Eliana (who is almost 2), and Emma (who is 4).  But, I also have Marissa (who is 15), and Zachary (who is 12). 

Yesterday, I decided to spend a day with Marissa and Zachary with the intention of bringing this all to a conclusion.  This would be the test that would clarify my passion. 

Well, I had a blast!  We started at a small park.  Then stopped by a church, a beautiful Victorian home, the circle of “Old Towne” Orange, and finally ended the session at Corona Del Mar Beach.  We laughed a lot throughout the day!  The kids had fun.  I snapped 885 shots over the course of the day.  Lunch at 5 Guys!!  Ice cream at the “Old Towne” ice cream parlor.  And…well, I think some of the shots turned out pretty good – for my first time!

This shot is straight from the camera with no editing.  Now, I have to determine how to best edit the shots for presentation.  I guess I’m looking at the expression here and liking what I’ve captured.  When it comes to editing, I have so much to learn. 

I’m beginning to wonder if editing is just as important as the photography.  I believe I have a good eye for composition, but since most of my landscapes have little or no editing they sometimes seem dull to me next to someone who is presenting an extremely edited and enhanced landscape.  Where I will wait two months for a naturally blue sky with white puffy clouds, someone else will simply Photoshop them into his shot.

So, I continue to learn.

I know I’ve learned one thing.  I loved this photo shoot!  But, I still have a craving to go out tonight and shoot the sunset, like I did here.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you’ll visit tomorrow.  I’ll be posting some shots of Zach!  What a handsome young guy!

 

~ by photographyfree4all on August 25, 2010.