Selects from my weekend assignment.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Baptism: A Reason To Click the Shutter
Last weekend I attended my brother's baptism at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Recently, I have been leaving my camera at home on my days off. When, I took photojournalism courses in Chicago, my teacher John H. White would always preach to us to always take our camera everywhere we went.
Recently, I really have not been in the mood to make pictures when I was not at work, which bothers me. When, I look around at many of the young photographers I admire, I see that these talented people seem to be working continuously. They are very prolific when it comes to photographing there lives, the people around them and the place they visit.
Not so long ago, I was like them. Making pictures of everything around me everyday. Now, I feel that I really have to have a reason to click the shutter. Whether it is for work, or is for something that is personally important to me. Even with this reasoning, there is still a little voice in my head that is telling me I have lost some of the drive I had when I began this career six years ago.
I know my approach to photography has change a lot. It is very difficult to make meaningful images that resonate with other people in our visually saturated culture. So now, when I make a photograph a complex set of worries flash across my brain. Will this picture have any effect on people who I photograph? Is this picture interesting enough to draw the readers' attention for a few extra seconds? Does the image meet my own standards of image quality and have I challenged myself by pushing my own photographic barriers a little?
There are so many questions that I ask while I'm shooting and editing my images. I know that I need to go full circle and bring back some of that rookie spirit back into my photographic life. But, I also need to balance it with directing this drive on things that are more important to me.
Recently, I really have not been in the mood to make pictures when I was not at work, which bothers me. When, I look around at many of the young photographers I admire, I see that these talented people seem to be working continuously. They are very prolific when it comes to photographing there lives, the people around them and the place they visit.
Not so long ago, I was like them. Making pictures of everything around me everyday. Now, I feel that I really have to have a reason to click the shutter. Whether it is for work, or is for something that is personally important to me. Even with this reasoning, there is still a little voice in my head that is telling me I have lost some of the drive I had when I began this career six years ago.
I know my approach to photography has change a lot. It is very difficult to make meaningful images that resonate with other people in our visually saturated culture. So now, when I make a photograph a complex set of worries flash across my brain. Will this picture have any effect on people who I photograph? Is this picture interesting enough to draw the readers' attention for a few extra seconds? Does the image meet my own standards of image quality and have I challenged myself by pushing my own photographic barriers a little?
There are so many questions that I ask while I'm shooting and editing my images. I know that I need to go full circle and bring back some of that rookie spirit back into my photographic life. But, I also need to balance it with directing this drive on things that are more important to me.
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