Being a photographer

Quotes of the day: 

“My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity – the suspended moment – intervenes during action, in the viewfinder.” – Abbas

“A photographer is an acrobat treading the high wire of chance, trying to capture shooting stars.” – Guy Le Querrec

“I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical.” – Trent Parke

I’ve been up to my eyeballs in getting my computer setup back to where it was before my hard drive failed about a month ago. In the process I’ve also been updating old Lightroom catalogs to the latest version of Lightroom, finishing the conversion of all of my raw files to DMG format and creating brand new backups of everything so that I can relax about having everything in good shape.

All of this “housekeeping” has kept me in front of my computer more days than not instead of looking through the camera viewfinder.

Being a photographer means more than making photographs.

It means making sure that I have a system to organize and edit photographs, keeping up with my business accounting, and marketing my work.  It involves constant learning and experimentation.

In my recent flurry of organizing and updating I also spent some time reviewing my work from when I started as a photographer. I noticed two things:

1. I’ve learned a lot about photography in a couple of short years.
2. Some of my early work is very good. I like it. I am surprised that even with its technical shortcomings, it still speaks to me.

If I’m lucky being a photographer also means getting up day after day and putting myself out in the world seeing light and beauty, and “trying to capture shooting stars.”

What makes a photo good?

I think there is a resonance between the photograph and the viewer. The subject and the composition of the photograph, whether it’s a landscape or an abstract image creates a sort of energy field that feels good to the viewer. The “goodness” is an interaction between what is being viewed the person viewing it.

I belong to 2 different photo clubs where we enter photographs in a friendly monthly competition. What I’ve seen when photographs are judged on their technical merits is that the soul of the photograph is often missed. Maybe the resonance wasn’t there between the judge and the photograph. Or maybe they let their single focus on technical perfection make them miss the resonance.

I believe you need both technical excellence and soul to make a good photograph.  And if push comes to shove, I’ll choose a less technically brilliant photo that speaks to my soul over a technically perfect photo that doesn’t speak to me.

In my recent review of my oldest photos, I see lots of technical flaws. But I am also surprised at how good some of them still feel to me, flaws and all. Here are a few of my favorites from my early days as a photographer.

Ghostly fisherman in twilight

Maidenhair fern

Baptism river waterfall

Fall scene in Wolsfeld Woods

Old Fishing Shack at Stoney Point

Lake Superior View