(Second in a series on why I chose photography as my creative medium and the basis of a new career.)
#2. Photography allows me stretch artistically.
Each time I take my camera out in the field to photograph a subject, or work on a photo during post-processing, or practice getting a photograph to print exactly the way I see it in my mind, I expand my artistic abilities. There is something to be said for practice. When I look back at my first digital photographs taken in the summer of 2007, I appreciate the obvious effort that went into the production of the photos. I knew nothing about digital photography, I had only a vague idea what most of the settings and dials on my camera actually did, I could barely navigate a computer. But I was able to capture some of the appreciation I had for my subjects.
When I first began to shoot, one of my goals was to post a daily photograph on my blog for a year. Slowly I learned. The mere fact that I committed to posting daily made me pick up my camera on days when I didn’t really feel like it. But once I began looking for a subject to shoot, my enthusiasm generally increased. I always got a photograph, and I was always happy I had made the effort to keep that daily promise to myself.
My photographs have changed a lot over the last few years. At first, I worked on the basics of composition and focus and pleasing subjects. Now my photographs vary greatly. One photo may look painterly, the next may be a macro study on the color orange, a third will be a refection study of a garden pond. I love to experiment. I love to see how far I can stretch the photographic experience that my camera can produce.
I truly love to have a camera in my hands, ready to capture my vision!




