Worthy

It seems I looked long and hard for a worthy single image today. Stained glass, religion, peace be unto you.

It’s not hard to shoot stained glass. Aim and fire away. It would help if I framed without diagonal lines. Or, maybe that was intentional to give the image tension. Ha ha. I doubt I pondered the issue – at all. Vertical. If you would notice, I shoot way fewer vertical compositions in my posts. I shoot few verticals. It is because my laptop has a horizontal screen and vertical pictures leave too much border. Yeah, simple. Um, no. Verticals are proper shots for portrait work and so forth.

Today I was just looking for something worthy to post and comment. A single. It’s hard. There are so many stories in my head. I find blue to be soothing. I need some peace and serenity right about now. After this I am going to hug my cat and then find Colleen. Nary a day goes by that we don’t hug many times over.

Striking

What catches your eye? Wildlife, bugs, birds – all difficult subjects. They are wild and act accordingly. It’s not easy to get close enough for a decent picture. Pose? Ha! I feel lucky to get an image. Sometimes we reach détente. I sidle up. The bug sits. I get a picture. Everyone goes away happy.

Better? Sure. But then you have to be happy you got anything. I would not be hanging out if something big and potentially threatening got up close to me. I was limited by the focus of my camera and the zoom. There is only so close you can get while still getting the camera to focus. Often the subject is too small. Enlargement loses detail. Imperfect or nothing? I’ll take the shot.

Me or the camera?

Oh boy! Terrible. What I know now…. And digital lets you shoot and shoot… Do over, please! Gee, but I was terrible. Good camera does not a photographer make. Not much else one can say about a bad pic. Mistakes everywhere you look. Potential. And at least there is something. My childhood had precious few shots – almost none. I could do much better now. Really!?

Lighting, composition, focus, pose… you name it. Focus? I had 20/20 vision. Lens? Camera? Photographer? A poor workman blames his tools. If I do it all over again…

None too cute

Whoa! I did a double take. That’s my kid?! None too handsome! I am embarrassed and ashamed – at myself. What a bad picture! Is it the kid or the photographer? It better be me! Gee! Fat faced and funny looking, could I have done better? I did. And he (no names please) got much better looking. Wow! That was startling to come across. I am still shaken.

Slide film. Poor lighting. Poor composition. I prided myself on knowing how to take a picture. Obviously, I thought too much of my skill. Go home. Try another day. Sorry, this was a bad day.

Line ’em up

Flower pictures, I got a million of ‘em. Well, thousands, at least. Different? Standout?

I’m lazy. It’s way easier to take an image right outta the box (camera) vs manipulation (post processing). I am no fan of work. This is all about fun, eh?

So there are thousands of pictures you will never see. An archivist perhaps might take interest. No doubt no one will likely ever look. I don’t consider myself that interesting. No one else should.

But. It’s been a fun journey. I have enjoyed the challenge of photography. An image. The image. A good image. It’s just fun to get something that makes me smile.

I look for pattern. A line. I look at color. I look at the graphical lines. The light of day changes from bright sun to the glow of sunset. It all factors in. No. I will not sit around and wait. We accept midday sun and do not wait for the sunset. There is that “lazy” factor. No work! This is a hobby. Don’t overthink it!

Odds

What are the odds? We attended a St Pat’s parade and across the street was an Irish bar. Ha ha. Who’d have thunk? We wandered into town into this parade. It was small short and lame as parades go. There was no lack of enthusiasm and spirit. Everyone is Irish on this day. Yes, we even saw a red headed Irish child!

Parades. It’s all about position. A zoom lens is pretty much a necessity. And bring along a big smile.

Snow

Colleen asked me for snow picture. Easy. Right? Not! It’s a big catalog with a lot of pictures and most are not snow. There is the database. Snow should be easy? I just flipped randomly till I found an image with snow.

Snow is hard to shoot. It is bright white and tends to be underexposed by the camera’s automatic metering. Otherwise in bright sunlight the snow tends to be washed out – ie no detail. Anyway, snow! No other context – location or time.

Reality

It’s enough to make you vegetarian. Humane? Humanity? Where does the chicken we buy all wrapped in cellophane come from? We live amongst chicken processing plants. Birds gotta come from somewhere. They transport ‘em in trucks. Headed to their death without ever living free. Yeah, free range chicken?! Ha! Colleen has been vegetarian for a long time. If I had to kill my own cow….

Flag

I shoot flags where I see them. Here’s another roadside graphic. There was no stopping to compose and work the scene. Point and shoot. The lamp is distracting. Photoshop it out? Nah. Birds on a wire are nice. And the one bird doing a flyby is better. Not too good. Not too bad. It is surely a graphic shot.

Deer

A family of deer stopped by my front yard for breakfast. Ever ready my camera was on my desk and I took the shots.

The closeups lack context to a neighborhood development. It could just as well be a clearing in the wood. Focus is good. Composition leaves the viewer with a bit of tension. We do not have large predators nearby. Deer are naturally suspicious of human activity of which there was none. Their appearance is a regular occurrence and we all moved on after my shots.