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.

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.

Do I Like It?

When it really comes down to it, the only one that has to like your photo is you. Sure, others will have some idea of how you could improve it either creatively or technically but that's all after stuff.

I've even had people tell me that one of my favorite photos was just plain no good. I take all that with a very large grain of salt. If I like it, then I like it. It's not even other photographers that will tell you what's wrong with your photo. Even those who have no idea of what it takes to create a photograph or what the limitations are of the medium. That one gets me the most. But still.....do I like it? This is all that matters.

Here are some of my favorites that others don't exactly see what I see.



This is my Dad on his 71st birthday. When I look at this photo I see my Dad thinking deeply on the many things in his life that have brought him to the place he is at this point in time. Some good and happy, others not so good and really quite sad. This photo brings out a lot of emotion in me.



This photo was taken in Yuma, AZ this pas spring break when my family and I went on vacation to California and then into Yuma for a week. Lots of people have looked at this image but not a one has had anything to say about it either good or bad. To me it brings back all the feelings of time we spent there. The heat, the food, the company. But besides the emotional connection to this image, I also love how the clouds cut across the sky and give some separation to the trees in the foreground. I like it.



 

This photo of my son went over well with my photographer friends but not so much with my family. I get complaints that I take too close a photo all too often. I'm not sure what that means but It may have something to do with putting the photo in a frame. My solution to that is to print it with a border or use a larger frame with a mat. But that's just me. Again, I like it and that's all that really matters now isn't it.

 

Chris.

Taking The Time To Post Process.

I have two young children. If you have read anything on this blog, I'm sure you have seen your fill of them in my photo a day photos. This of course means I'm busy. Never enough time for Dad. LOL. Sure I find time to take the photos but I never seem to spend enough time processing them.

Have a look at this image.



It's cute. She was having a blast out in the snow with her brother. I like the photo even though it's a bit under exposed. Nice and sharp without any major distractions. But, It's straight out of the camera. I really should have taken more time to process it a bit.

Yesterday, I found some time at lunch to tweak it a bit. Here is the result of that.



 

I took the time to bring up the brightness a little and bring out her eyes a bit. I like this image much better and really wish I had done this before I shared it on my Flickr stream but well, I was tight on time. :)

Anyway, I have just one point here. Do you want people to see your best photo or just the one you showed just to show something? I think I want people to see my best stuff. I'll try harder to post process my stuff before I share them from now on.

That's it for my little rambling this time.