The shot below is a shot I made in southern Utah. With all the famous places in southern Utah, this one might not be as recognizable as others, but that’s one of the things I like to do. Millions of people have images of Monument Valley (so do I), but sometimes you find places that are just as beautiful as the iconic spots but not as “peopley”. Since photographers began sharing their work online, some places are now inundated with people, all lining up to shoot the same photo that thousands before them have already got. You know the old story…..when all the peole are busy looking in one direction, sometimes all you have to do is to look the other.
Photo of the Week # 219
Well, here we are on Labour Day Weekend and I’m looking forward to saying goodbye to the monotone green of summer and hello to a whole new palette for the upcoming season. I don’t get out shooting as much as I’d like but I hope that I can start doing so. As always, feel free to comment.
Photo of the Week # 218
This photo was made while shooting with Richard Martin and what Richard often likes to emphasize are things like colour or shape. This one fits the bill nicely and it also has that minimized look that I like so much these days.
Photo of the Week # 217
Who Do You Shoot For?
What is your driving force behind your photography? Do you shoot to impress judges in contests, do you shoot for likes and engagement on social medias, or do you shoot to satisfy yourself? To me, it would be soul crushing to spend my time shooting to satisfy someone else. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate awards in competitions, and engagement on social media is also great but my shooting is to make me happy first and foremost.
Several years ago, my wife and I shot weddings and although it had it’s rewards, it was a lot of work too. People don’t understand the work after the fact. The culling of images, the editing and curating that has to be done is time consuming and exhausting, especially when you have a full time job at the same time. It didn’t take long before we began to look at our photography as a job. There was no time for pleasure shooting, just preparing and delivering photos to clients. As for shooting our own stuff, it never happened any longer. Most wedding photographers I know shoot only weddings so maybe we weren’t the only ones feeling that way.
When we left weddings behind, I promised myself that I was going to shoot to only please me and that’s worked far better. When I’m out somewhere making images, I only look to make the best image I can at the time. My thoughts are about compositions and conditions to please me. If others also like my work, that of course makes me happy but the number one goal is that I have had a good time capturing something that pleases me.
Photo of the Week # 216
My wife and I recently returned home from a trip to Shetland. Our second since Covid and all has been fine. This trip was a trip of a lifetime as they say. It was more for my wife but I ended up loving it. The landscape was more than I expected and the people were great as well. We did learn a thing or two on the actual traveling. If we were to go again, we could do it smoother as well as considerably cheaper. Experience is valuab;e, right?
This photo is from Eshaness, an especially dramatic and beautiful place we visited twice. I was literally blown away by the beauty here. The high cliffs, the constantly crashing waves coming in and out on the rocks far below. I wanted to capture the movement of the water so I used a 6 stop ND filter since it was quite sunny at the time. At the beginning, there was a bank of sea fog there, I embraced it and started shooting just the same. In the process of my shooting, the fog relented and gave way to sun.
The figure you hopefully can see on the top of the cliff is my wife, it is her “birthday portrait” as she calls it. I finished my shooting and packed my gear up but I didn’t leave. Rather, I sat on a rock and just soaked in all that was happening around me. For personal reasons, it hit me how beautiful this place was and how privileged I was to be there and photographing it. Emotions can be a funny thing.
This photo resides on our entry hall wall as a 20x30 canvas now and is quite possibly the highlight from our trip for me. I hope you enjoy, leave a comment or a like to let me know.
