Photography Is An Art.

Photography is an art. Plain and simple but such a powerful statement.

Art is subjective. It's open to interpretation by everyone who experiences it. Not one person will interpret it the same way as another. What you see as a fantastic photograph others may and will see as unattractive.

When it comes to my photography, my art, I'm my worst critic but what is making it worse is listening to what everyone else thinks I should be doing with my art. I've been giving this much thought lately as some of my worst critics are very close to me. The worst thing I think I can do is give too much merit to the opinions of people who don't even know the first thing about my vision and what I'm trying to express.

I like a certain look on the portraits I take. I like them in tight and personal with a bit of a brighter look. Some folks, members of my own family even, don't like that at all. Some prefer the Walmart or Sears look. This used to really bother me. I'd get very defensive and sometimes quite mad. After some though though, I realize it's alright. Everyone is more than entitled to their opinion. But that's all it is, an opinion. I will no longer allow the narrow views of others to steal my drive and make me feel bad about how I like things to look. From now on, I photograph for me first. If others like my style then I will gladly photograph for them. If they don't like my style, there are plenty of other photographers out there.

So now that I'm more worried about what I think of my photography, I'd like to share a few of my favorites in this post and tell a little about them. In future posts I will explain what it is about the image that I like and maybe a little about how I went about it capturing the image.

My Sweet Pea. I flat out love this image. I love her expression. I love the blur I added after the fact to focus your attention on her face. I even love the slightly magenta tone to the image. I feel love from this image. And here's the best part, I didn't spend half an hour with my lighting gear getting this shot just right and then hours in photoshop to make it just so....I took this with the instagram app on my iPhone 4. Yup, my iPhone.

My Parents - A Portrait. This one is very special to me I guess because it's my parents. I love them so I love photos of them.LOL. A bit one sided but there it is. I like the lighting I used here. One 48" umbrella and a large reflector for fill. I like the black background. I like that both of them wore dark pants even though I asked them not to. They didn't know why. I love the sharpness of this image even though I used a $700.00 lens instead of a $2100.00 lens. The gear heads will love that last statement!

Grandma Deep In Thought. This is one of my favorite photos of my Grandma. I happened to take it and it makes me smile. She was a sweet, sweet lady and I miss her greatly. I love her expression and how she is looking away from me at something that has captured her attention. I love the detail in her face and sweater. I love the blown out background in the window. What was out there didn't matter anyway.

So enough of portraits let's see some odd stuff. I love this fuel cap on a tidy tank at work one frosty morning this past winter. The light was early morning perfection. The texture of the frost just leaps off the image at you. The color is perfectly saturated.

Storm On Fork Lake. Ok, everyone who has seen this image loves it. So why did I include it in this ranting post? They love it until I tell them it's an HDR then half of them say "well, it didn't really look like that did it?". To that I say who cares? It is my favorite image from 2011 and I've sold it several times over already. Oh, and yes, this is exactly what it looked like to see it in person. I did not embellish it at all. Just brought out some detail that the camera could not see in one exposure that my eyes could.

So there you have it. I'm more interested in what I think of my photography now as it is my photography and my means of expressing myself. It's not that I don't want to hear what others think of my work, I just won't put all my self esteem on those opinions ever again.

Thank you for reading my rant. I feel much better now. I truly hope you enjoy my work.

Chris.

24.365.4 Eye Of The Storm.

Tuesday January 24 2012.

Life is like a hurricane rushing around you all the time. It's so easy to get caught up in the stress of the everyday.

Yesterday I learned how to step into the eye of that storm and let the rushing go on around me while I control what I can. I thought I'd try to visualize that feeling. I must mention, I spun around for about 10 seconds trying to get a nice sharp shot of me. Now 20 minutes later, I'm still feeling a bit sick. LOL.

Chris.

294.365 6:30AM

I decided to do a one day photo project today. Just with my iPhone nothing too serious. Just for fun. It started with the following image of my morning coffee cup and went on from there.

Friday October 21 2011.

First conscious memory of the day. :-)


The Last Look.
This is the last thing I see when I leave for work in the morning. I get him up every morning and make sure he gets dressed and eats. He looks as tired as I was. TGIF!!

On The Road
I'm on the road. As you see, it's fall in Edmonton, Alberta and it's dark when I leave for work at 7:00 AM. Still light when I come home but not for much longer. :( Nothing like sitting in traffic drinking coffee to wake you up.

Sunrise
I usually see this type of sunrise when It's dark enough out in the morning. Not the best photo but you get the idea.

Back Hoe Sunrise
You just have to love the sunrise on a shiny clean back hoe. LOL.

The First Of Several.....
Walks to the main building 1/2 a mile down the road. I will drive if the weather is bad or I have lots to carry but I really prefer to walk. It gives me time to get over the anger on my way back to my office from the main yard. :)

Work To Be Done.
We have been cleaning out our Quonset this week. It was a huge disaster thanks to the guys in the shipping department. Here we have to level this platform so I can erect some pallet racking on it next week. And you guys thought I just sat at the desk placing orders all day long. LOL.

Incoming Product.
Here's the most boring part of my job. Ordering supplies for the field jobs. They send me a list, I order it, I send it out to them. Woop-de-doo. I much prefer to order equipment but I'm done with that for this year I think.

Piles Of Paperwork.
This is today's pile. Not so bad. I still had time to get some work done outside.

Finally Home.
Usually this is the one who greets me first when I get home. Today I had to chase her down. :)

A Canadian Institution.
Tim Horton's is a Canadian coffee and dognut chain. All my Canadian friends will be quite familiar with this place I'm sure. Mmmmmm Coffee.

Thus It Ends.
And so my day ends as it began, with a large cup of coffee. Yes, I can drink coffee and fall asleep at the same time. :)

This concludes a typical day for me. Thanks for tuning in. LOL.

Hey, I just noticed I had the French side turned towards the camera....Oh, well I have enough French speaking friends that they will appreciate it. :) That just shows how tired I was by this point. What a long week it's been.

Chris.

256.365 New Digs

Tuesday September 13 2011.

Yup. I'm back in the office trailer again. Got kicked out of the office building and my cushy 3rd floor office with the roof access that got me so many great photos. Ah, well. At least I'll be more in touch with what's going on with my stuff. It's quiter too. I missed my old office. But after 2 days it's like I never left it 4 years ago.

Chris.

Should I Start A Photography Business?

I've been thinking about whether or not I should try to make a go of a photography business. I love photography, it consumes me. Everything I look at I wonder how could I light that. Or, what a great photograph that would make. My family will tell you I'm obsessed. I call it passionate. But, It is a bit of an obsession for me.

Starting up a business used to seem like the thing to do. I took the New York Institute Of Photography's professional photography course so I could learn. And, learn I did! I like to think I'm a pretty good photographer. Not an amazing photographer but I can hold my own. But once you make that decision to start a business it becomes just that, a business. I would end up being a business owner. Worried about income, taxes, expenses, etc. With all the worries of running a business, would I have time for my passion? How much more pressure would there be to create impressive images every time, every session? Would it take the fun out of my passion? How much more of my time would all the administrative portion take up?

Right now, I take photos of what I want, when I want. I get to just enjoy the art. Lately, I've become so consumed with the question that I think my images have suffered because I'm trying too hard to make every image a winner. I've even been getting down on myself and my skills. Sure, that is a typical trait of an artist, nothing is ever good enough for us and our own work is terrible, but it's been getting worse over the last 3 or 4 months. Why, at this point in my life, with my kids still young and my job filling my days, would I want to spend all my free time running a business and possibly taking the joy out of it?

I think, at least for the next 10 to 12 years, I should just focus on the art and the joy it brings me. I can document my kids lives, do personal projects and just love the art. Who knows, maybe one of those projects could lead to something. Maybe sales of the images or even a book. Maybe that's what I'll do. Just enjoy the art and the peace it brings me. No more getting down on myself for a less than perfect image. I'll focus more on how good the good ones are and be happy with any keeper ratio I have.

Thanks for reading my internal struggle. It's not over yet but I think I have more of a direction.

Chris.

163.365 Me On The Steps.

 

Sunday June 12 2011.

Went for a walk down the beach this morning. I have taken many photos of the kids here on these steps. I figured it was time for one of me.

Man, I need to tan my legs! LOL.

Chris.

161.365 Self - Simple Portrait

Friday June 10 2011.

I've decided to do some self portraits. There's just not enough photos of me out there. Haha.

Seriously though, I'm the model that I always have along with me.

I shot this in my office at work during lunch. Just relaxing after a big lunch watching a movie. That's right, I said it. I watch movies at lunch time at work. :)

Chris.

328.365 No Answer.

 

Wednesday November 24 2010.

I keep pushing this help button. Pushing it and pushing it. The light never comes on and no one ever comes to my rescue. What good is a help button if there is no help?

Chris.

245.365 Longing For The Outside.

Friday September 3 2010.

Sometimes I spend a considerable amount of time just staring out my office window wondering what it would be like to not have to be cooped up in the office all day.

Man, do I need a shave. Suddenly I recall why I'm behind that camera. Scruffy.

Chris.

My Favorite Photo From 2009.

This is my favorite photo that I took in 2009. I thought it would be easier to choose. I took almost 12,000 photos in 2009! I narrowed it down to 150 favorites then one from each month then thought long and hard and decided on this one.

What is your favorite from the 2009? Can you narrow yours down to just 1? It was hard.

Chris.

A Little About Myself

Hello my name is Chris Lemmen and I'm a photographer.

I label myself as a photographer because I take photos and I've been paid for them. I guess that makes me a semi-professional photographer because I don't do this as my main source of income.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I'm married and have 2 amazing kids. Usually my kids end up as the test subjects in my photography as I learn new techniques. Most of the time they don't mind.

I hope you like what I do here and will leave me some comments. I'll take some direction from any comments I get as to the content of my blog.

Thank you and enjoy.


View my page on Burnt Marshmallows




Chris.