Why Bother?
I have to be honest, I photograph to please myself. I optimize my photographs to satisfy what I had visualized when I pressed the shutter button. Lastly, I post to the web to share with anyone interested what I've seen. The bottom line is simply I do this because I enjoy doing this.
I realize that each of us see's differently. Were we to be at the same place, at the same time with camera in hand, the photographs we'd make would not be the same. Personally, I think that is a wonderful thing. Let's face it, if we all saw things in the same way the world of photography would be very boring. All we could say is"hey look, we got the same picture"!
Of course that can't happen because there's one other element that keeps changing no matter how alike we are. That one thing is the element of time. If it is physically impossible for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time, then it is physically impossible for two people to have the same perspective at the same time.
Therefore, if two people are going to see exactly the same scene one must move to allow the other that position. If everything else is the same, which no two people are, the element of time makes things different. That single moment of releasing the shutter is a moment that will only occur one time in history. That moment never has been before, and will never be again. Therefore, no two seperate photographs can ever be the same!
Because of the impossibility of two photographers taking the same photograph, each is unique to the specific photographer. Even if it is only something so minute as the time difference, each photograph is unique.
Why bother? Because what I share is unique, and a memory of a single moment in my life.
The High Key Conundrum
It's been a while since I've posted to this site; in part because I'm lazy, and because I haven't felt like I've had anything to say.
I've been watching many of the things written in several of the groups that I belong to, and find the opinions and concepts expressed questionable in many cases.
Case in point: High Key. One oft expressed concept is that over-exposure is a form of high-key photography. I guess I'm a traditionalist, but over-exposed is over-exposed. I don't care how you dress it, overexposing means that you've made a mistake. You can't fix it, so why not do it right to begin with?
If you produce photographs with large areas of specular highlights intentionally, and call them "High Key" you are failing on two counts. First you are failing to correctly take advantage of the information that you could have recorded within the highlights and restricting the dynamic range of the picture. Second you are failing photography itself by accepting something that is less than your best, and calling it something that it isn't.
Truth is the key of a photo is never paper white! If it were, couldn't one simply photograph a piece of paper or create one in photoshop and call it a high-key image? We are working with something that is able to record details that aren't possible in any other art medium, and yet we're afraid to allow our cameras to do so.
No, we are actually willing to over-expose and call it art!
Possibily the problem is one of the flow of society. We are in such a hurry to be instantly gratified that we aren't able to take the time to look back at where we've come from.
Give a person a camera and they become a photographer. Give a person a brush, palette, paint and canvas; and you have a person with brush, palette, paint and canvas. Things seldom happen instantly, there is a learning curve. The problem is that most today are not willing to invest in actually mastering the craft. Instead they're more interested in having their ego's massaged by others who haven't learned the craft themselves. Plus, in order to protect their precious sense of self image any comments made on their play must be politically correct!
Give a person a camera and they become a photographer, what a laugh!
Two new albums
An opening shot
I've been shooting a lot of white on white lately.
We have a set of this porcelain, so I've been finding different setup's.
Both a challenge and fun at the same time.
I've only used natural light and some very long exposures.
This was taken on the morning of December 8, 2010.
