There's an interesting phenomenon I have started to notice in this world of "amateur photography". When you start showing off your work it is amazing the responses and comments you receive from others. Typically I deal with people that are "less than amateur". This is not a slam on them, they just do not have that drive or ambition to do what it takes to get better pictures. A point-and-shoot is enough for them.
What I am always surprised with though… are the pictures people seem to almost fall-in-love with.
I took the picture above only a few weeks after I bought my first DSLR camera. I had literally no idea what I was doing (still don't). I was dialing shutter speeds and apertures without a care in the world… and a memory card full of garbage.
--We'll call it practice.--
In my head I had this idea of this deep red door on the outside of one of the most impressive churches I have ever seen (Kirk in the Hills). The shot is very simple. Ambient light on a very overcast (and cold!) day. I had only my 18-55mm kit glass on the camera. I just sort of point-and-shot my way through it.
In Photoshop, I knew even less about what I was doing. I had no work flow. No plan. No final outcome intended… just click this. Saturate that… etc…
Everyone seems to love my "Door to Eternity" shot. My own loving mother has it hanging in my parents living room. My 90 year old grandfather has a copy. People just seem to love this shot…
I like it. I took it. But for the life of me - I don't get it… It's just a door and some steps…
An amateur photographer buddy of mine and I were out cruising the side roads of Michigan one day late in the fall a while back… we came across this barn on the side of the road. A small hike into a neighboring (read: wet!) field and a few weird looks from cars passing by… and then the shot! I had to remove a power line that was in the shot, but overall a little color saturation and the shot is as it was. This one is hanging in my parents living room in a larger format. Mind you, my mother doesn't just hang anything in her house! If she didn't like it, it would be hidden back in one of the bedrooms or even the dreaded basement! Nope… front room for the world to see!
It's just some old barn and a half dead tree…
I posted this one on Flickr a while back after my wife and I went on a wonderful trip to Bar Harbor, Maine (go there, it's amazing!). We had just hiked up some "nature trail" for what felt like an eternity. Something about the moment, the lighting, the view… it was just "magical". It may sound cheesy and lame, but truth be told… it was… well… magical (probably more a sign of the lack of oxygen to my brain after all that climbing… but…).
People loved the exposure and the way it felt… To me… the picture never captured that true beauty I remembered.
The point is - you never know what "other" people are going to take away from your pictures. What they are going to see and remember... A picture is worth a thousand words right? Or a million… or sometimes just one (garbage… haha).
This becomes true when you start shooting for people, events, etc… I've shot a few people now - guess what - my favorite picture from the session isn't always their favorite picture… and that's what makes photography a great thing!
- jermz
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing this with me Jeremy, it definitely inspired me, not only in my photographic ambitions, but to really LOOK at photo subjects and see what others see (even of I my self am the subject).
Thank you for sharing your work, I look forward to many more sessions of photographic banter. if you ever have any questions, want to go shoot things, etc etc and so on just let me know. It has truly been a joy.
Keep on shooting on.....Jill
Jill... you are welcome! You never know what someone else is going to fall in love with... It helps make us all different!
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