branching out. . .

“I know the best moments can never be captured on film, even as I spend nearly half my life trying to do just that.” ~ Rosie O'Donnell

I use to try to teach my writing students to find their voice and to write about things they knew about. If they wanted to write a story about a horse and knew nothing about horses then they better do some research. Like most creative paths, this came very naturally for some and much harder for others. I had students who wanted to write everything in poetry form while others moaned and groaned at the very though of being a poet. Some students insisted on writing about things they knew nothing about, while others only wrote about horses! It was always a challenge to teach them to find that balance of learning but also allow them to be creative. 

I am facing these very challenges myself right now; trying to find my eye, or style I guess you could call it, in photography, but also stretch myself to learn something new and different. My sister and I were talking the other day about how there are so many people taking photos today, on so many devices, that this diminishes a photographers chance of taking that one perfect photo, as the pool is now so flooded with so many photographers. And while I don't take photos to capture that one perfect photo, but rather to document my life, that does not mean I don't want most of my photos to be grand. So I am constantly looking for ways to improve, to find my eye, to get the best out of my camera and to stretch myself.

I spend time most nights, while watching TV with him,  pouring over other's photos. Comparing myself to them, sometimes trying to imitate what they are doing, only to find that the photo that I try to recreate does not feel natural. Plus it sometimes fogs my eye, or my style and this can often muddle with the vision I have in my mind, causing me to not like what comes out of the camera. So I have to work on being true to myself and let peer pressure go. There is this game you can play with your flickr contact pool called Name That Contact, and I play it once in awhile. I am surprised at how well I do at times. It seems that some of my contacts have a very unique style, which is their own, and I am able to pick their photo out of crowd. This is what I am hoping for. 

Not to say I should not have some post processing fun! I took all four of these photos yesterday. All of them of the same tree off my deck at the same time of day, with the same lens and the same camera settings. They are in order; the first one being my favorite. Much of it has to do with the post processing of the photo, the cropping, etc as they all looked about the same when I uploaded them. And when I went to assign them the key word "branch", it was there, because I take a lot of photos of branches it seems. Somehow it just feels right to me, and that makes me think that I am on my way of finding my eye. 

Hope your day is amazing, 
xxoo