Day one

I have been adding to my stockpile of quotes on art and such, something I love to do on Saturday mornings and came across one that I used in an assignment for a project I worked on awhile back. I really think this is good for people that love photography. This is the one that really hit home with me after I whined for years about how my work was looking. I was constantly unhappy with the result, feeling as if it didn't convey what I could see. In other words I felt I could see it with my eyes, but could not capture it with my camera. Photography really is the art of seeing through the lenses and once I learned to look with that eye, I started seeing a change. I have heard so many people say that is the hardest part of it, really seeing and capturing, so anyway, although it took years, I think I am better. The epiphany of it all is realizing that sometimes we are working so hard to capture what we are seeing that we totally miss the truth that comes with it as well. Here is the quote:

'Where there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.'-Dorthea Lange
It is true that we work so hard to get that perfect shot, set it up, make sure that the composition is right that we miss the beauty of exploring the perfectly imperfect aspect. I can relate because that describes me so well...perfectly imperfect.

Black and white is my forte, something that I have always loved because it does more than a color photo, it actually is more limiting than a shot, that moment in time. It slows it even more and limits our brains ability to add a more colorful approach to it. Black and white I compare to a moment when a woman is giving birth. She truly wants to die, no matter how much she knows she will get to see the most beautiful thing that will ever grace her eyes. In those hours, she can only see through a tunnel of pain and nothing else matters. Black and white is truly just that, its dark and light, it cannot be equally balanced if there is grays in between. Although grays make up the other two it is still individual in itself. The pain the woman feels is black, the grays is the small glimmer of hope, and the white is death. In black and white photography there has to be something called tonal range for it to be a really successful piece. Although the rules are meant to be broke, you still have to know them to break 'em. Tonal range has to include the blackest blacks, the whitest whites and grays. So many photographers make this mistake because they don't even know what it is. Unfortunately digital cameras just cannot yet do this on its on without over or underexposing or manipulating manual settings to the brink of ruining the image. Only film cameras can do it and still yet the darkroom is used in further editing. I like to shoot in color, and desaturate on the pc later, further manipulating the level in PS to get the range. Playing around with this can be used to get better at adjusting the levels correctly which isn't easy because you keep saying, is the image too dark too light, just right??? But it all starts with composition, the most important thing about photography. You have to set up the shot either with yourself or by moving unappealing, irrelevant things from the shot. Say you were wanting to catch a photo of a child outside playing in the dirt, but you wanted it too look more like a vintage shot, older, with some grain and grit to give it a more tactile feel, you would move away from a computer in the background, say one was sitting on the ground because it would take away from that 'old' feel. Sometimes you have to plan the shot and work around what is in the background to prevent the balance of one's eye getting too confused trying to focus on the one thing you really want focus to be on. This is where the 'rule of thirds' comes in. I will talk about this later, but it is something I picked up right away and was using it for years before I even knew I was supposed to or needed to. Some people find it really hard, but once you learn it, it comes automatic, kind of like riding a bike.

This week I want us both to explore Paul Strand. A photographer that helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. His diverse body of work, spanning six decades, covers numerous genres and subjects throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa. The above photograph is 'Toadstool and Grasses-1928'. I think the tonal range is great as well as the simplicity of the subjects. Find a simple subject and shoot it, but find a way to bring forth a mood and emotion into the piece while keeping grain at a minimum with plenty of natural light.

Anyway, more later, just wanted to go on and on about something I love to someone that finds it interesting and means the complete and total world to me.

From one of my most favorite... 'Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees.' -Paul Strand

Go live...and know that my record of living will not be complete until both my eyes have taken you in with my lenses totally and fully, for until then I am blind to the beauty of this world. That was my quote hahahahahaha.

Just one tree...

If everyone planted one tree today it would help renew our air supply by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually. One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. One acre of trees removes up to 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide each year. Shade trees can make buildings up to 20 degrees cooler in the summer and can reduce out energy consumption. Trees can also lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves. The roots of trees stabilize soil and prevent erosion.
Our water quality is greatly improved by tree slowing and filtering rain water, as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds. Something interesting...The cottonwood tree seed is the seed that stays in flight the longest. The tiny seed is surrounded by ultra-light, white fluff hairs that can carry it on the air for several days.Plant a tree today to help the environment.