A Year And A Day
Today I posted what I decided is the final entry to my "PAD Blog" ... anyone who joined mu-43 less than a year ago may not know that Brian Mosely started a project, followed by others, to host a Photo-a-Day project in the blogs section of the forum.
I started off with good intent to do - say - 30 days, but part way through my first go, I damaged my E-P2 ... Brian helped me get it repaired (Olympus originally said it was beyond repair) ... and when I got it back, I started again - on August 17th 2010 ... I found I reached 30 without too much of a problem, and carried on to 90 (there's my 90-day review somewhere on the forum) ... since when, I've kept it up, deciding recently that a year-and-a-day would be a good time to stop the "blog" ... I no longer post in the forums here at mu-43, and this'll be my last post perhaps ever, here ...
... so, anyhoo, what have I got from keeping to the discipline of looking for an image each day for a year?
First, I don't understand why anyone could ever say "I don't have time for photography" ... some of my photographs have taken as little as one-four-thousandth of a second to take ... :43: users (and nex and x100 etc etc) users have small easily carried cameras ... there's no excuse for not doing photography ...
I've learned to really look at what's around me, and I've learned to see what images are there. Photography isn't about reality (whatever that is), it's about what you see ... there are images all around, and what's more I've learned to see them even when I don't have a camera with me (rare) or when I don't have it easily to hand (less rare) or when I have it but with the "wrong" lens (occasionally) ... what's been great is to realise that even if I can't capture the image, I have seen the image and enjoyed it (not every image has to be captured)
I've learned to look at the sun and think about where it might be, to think about how shadows will fall later that day, that month, that year ... to go back to places because I can imagine what might be there for me ... that's been good ... it's made me more in contact wit the rhythm of the seasons and and the sun ... a strange outcome from carrying around a lump of electronics with a bit of glass attached to it ...
I've learned to look at the light and match the lens to it , and to see what I'm seeing and match the lens to that ...
... grey flat light no shadows? see things in monochrome, look for strong graphic images or soft wide ranges of tones, and use the Voigtlander Ultron 28/1.9 or the Lumix 20/1.7
... strong bright day, out for walk in the country or by the sea? look at the landscape like a watercolourist and use the 17mm pancake
... flowers, rain, mixed light? a 50mm Konica will render those perfectly
... am I seeing small things big? Then bolt on a close focusing lens (say the 90mm Tamron macro) and see what opens up for me ...
... have i got my 17, 28, 35, 40, 50, 57 or 105mm eyes in today?
... that 50 year old Auto-Takumar 105/2.8 will work well in the woods if your eyes are seeing at 105mm ... if you don't want fringing, stop it down and get to work in PP ...
Sharpness does indeed turn out to be a bourgeois concept, Henri.
Oh and it turns out that other people like my images. One person even asked me to take some for a series of paintings she's working on. Wow.
Do I recommend everyone does a 30-day or 60 or 360 or whatever project ? Not if it's a chore. This snapping business is supposed to be fun (even if you're trying to make a living at it). have fun. I've enjoyed what I've done, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't sometimes been an effort or a bore or that every image I've posted has been a masterpiece ... far from it ... but worth every moment looking
Do I recommend trying to look for images every day? Yep. It might just change the way you look at the world generally ...
I shan't stop taking photographs every day, but it won't be A Project any more ... it might give me space between the ears to undertake other photo-projects though ... and still enjoy it and the world around me ...
'bye now
Today I posted what I decided is the final entry to my "PAD Blog" ... anyone who joined mu-43 less than a year ago may not know that Brian Mosely started a project, followed by others, to host a Photo-a-Day project in the blogs section of the forum.
I started off with good intent to do - say - 30 days, but part way through my first go, I damaged my E-P2 ... Brian helped me get it repaired (Olympus originally said it was beyond repair) ... and when I got it back, I started again - on August 17th 2010 ... I found I reached 30 without too much of a problem, and carried on to 90 (there's my 90-day review somewhere on the forum) ... since when, I've kept it up, deciding recently that a year-and-a-day would be a good time to stop the "blog" ... I no longer post in the forums here at mu-43, and this'll be my last post perhaps ever, here ...
... so, anyhoo, what have I got from keeping to the discipline of looking for an image each day for a year?
First, I don't understand why anyone could ever say "I don't have time for photography" ... some of my photographs have taken as little as one-four-thousandth of a second to take ... :43: users (and nex and x100 etc etc) users have small easily carried cameras ... there's no excuse for not doing photography ...
I've learned to really look at what's around me, and I've learned to see what images are there. Photography isn't about reality (whatever that is), it's about what you see ... there are images all around, and what's more I've learned to see them even when I don't have a camera with me (rare) or when I don't have it easily to hand (less rare) or when I have it but with the "wrong" lens (occasionally) ... what's been great is to realise that even if I can't capture the image, I have seen the image and enjoyed it (not every image has to be captured)
I've learned to look at the sun and think about where it might be, to think about how shadows will fall later that day, that month, that year ... to go back to places because I can imagine what might be there for me ... that's been good ... it's made me more in contact wit the rhythm of the seasons and and the sun ... a strange outcome from carrying around a lump of electronics with a bit of glass attached to it ...
I've learned to look at the light and match the lens to it , and to see what I'm seeing and match the lens to that ...
... grey flat light no shadows? see things in monochrome, look for strong graphic images or soft wide ranges of tones, and use the Voigtlander Ultron 28/1.9 or the Lumix 20/1.7
... strong bright day, out for walk in the country or by the sea? look at the landscape like a watercolourist and use the 17mm pancake
... flowers, rain, mixed light? a 50mm Konica will render those perfectly
... am I seeing small things big? Then bolt on a close focusing lens (say the 90mm Tamron macro) and see what opens up for me ...
... have i got my 17, 28, 35, 40, 50, 57 or 105mm eyes in today?
... that 50 year old Auto-Takumar 105/2.8 will work well in the woods if your eyes are seeing at 105mm ... if you don't want fringing, stop it down and get to work in PP ...
Sharpness does indeed turn out to be a bourgeois concept, Henri.
Oh and it turns out that other people like my images. One person even asked me to take some for a series of paintings she's working on. Wow.
Do I recommend everyone does a 30-day or 60 or 360 or whatever project ? Not if it's a chore. This snapping business is supposed to be fun (even if you're trying to make a living at it). have fun. I've enjoyed what I've done, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't sometimes been an effort or a bore or that every image I've posted has been a masterpiece ... far from it ... but worth every moment looking
Do I recommend trying to look for images every day? Yep. It might just change the way you look at the world generally ...
I shan't stop taking photographs every day, but it won't be A Project any more ... it might give me space between the ears to undertake other photo-projects though ... and still enjoy it and the world around me ...
'bye now
