It stands out in my memory. Nellie and my favorite daughter… beach. I’m glad I got this shot. I miss the dog. For that matter I miss the daughter too. They move away. You don’t see them much. You always expect there will be another visit. Time just keeps going forward. It’s better to be positive thinking.
It’s a high contrast shot at the beach. Yet the color seems muted and even. No shadows to speak of. Good shot. How’d I do it? Some days you thank the gods. Ask no questions.
Risk assessment. When I started getting serious about photography in college there were fellow students who were literally obsessed and crazed over dirt and dust. It would degrade the picture and was totally unacceptable. I used a UV filter over my lens to protect the glass. I cleaned my glass assiduously with great care. Fast forward. Nothing ever came of all of that caution. My images have been fine. I still use a UV filter… and in all the years and with all of my camreas… I have fried one camera underwater while on vacation. I have lost one. I have had others go missing… overall it has not been a hardship and the obsession has worked. ?? What obsession? More laissez faire. What? Me worry?
The question is 112k slides… was it quality or quantity? And the follow up question is the same for 500k digital images now going on 1 million.
It’s a philosophic question. Shoot early, shoot often, hope to get a good shot? Or aim for good shots? Make it count.
I know not. It was probably price. The cost of film and developing… vs the cost of memory cards. Since images can be calculated to be mere pennies nowadays… almost free, I guess I shoot without the thought of cost. I shoot freely.
I can readily attest to a lot of bad slides and bad images. Has the percentage changed? Am I better than I once was. Or, do I just feel that way. It’s nice to feel unencumbered by $. I am happy to say that I experiment freely with technique and have the ability to get immediate feedback. Quality is definitely better since I have digital cameras.
Slide film comes color balanced for daylight which is a little bit blue. Incandescent lighting is yellow – tungsten. It wreaks havoc whenever you try to shoot indoors at night. Hence, flash, it compensates for the yellow and makes color appear more natural. One never knows what you will get indoors in natural light with slide film. Ok, so Photoshop can compensate… but there is nothing can be done about a wild and colorful shirt. It must have been a present….
I’m gonna take a wild guess. It was mom’s birthday. … and John took the picture. He’s not in it. No tripod. No inclusive selfie. It was still in the era of not digital camera that could do everything. Flash, hence, the shadows. Smiles. Universal. It’s good to see everyone happy. The cake? So, happy birthday, mom. She had a lot of birthday cards… shhhh, we don’t know how old…
Was I a good dad? Different than my dad? Hey! My kids got to learn to ski. I taught them. Sort of. They got better than me. … naturally, of course. Were they really this little. Dave has been skiing in Japan chasing powder snow. Lift tickets in the US can be more than $200. Things change.
Slides. Hard to shoot with a proper exposure. No one shoots slide film much – these days. As you can readily see, the snow is overexposed. But this was about getting a picture of the kids. And many folks would cringe. You took a big $$ SLR to the snow. Moisture, cold and the elements could ruin your $$$ gear. I just shot my pictures Lucky for me there were no accidents. … to kids or gear.
It was St Pat’s the other day, not yesterday. I make up posts as I go… everyone wears green. We did. Sorry, no pic. …ok, no excuse. We wore green too… green shirt and green dress. Indoor incandescent lighting – the green is lost. And my jacket is closed. Red is easy to see. But the green is lost. It’s the lighting.
Meanwhile… my point? I edited. I went to sleep after the long day of fun and celebration. And I dreamed… of making up posts. Gee! Get a life!! Yes, I did. It had me tossing and turning and composing and…. it’s like running in a dream. You feel like you are wading thru molasses. Thankfully I awoke and I can write, compose, and edit without hindrance. Better? Well, at least I control the horizontal and vertical once again. You would have to remember the “twilight zone” for that reference.
Groups. Group shot. I can’t resist. Herding cats comes to mind. It’s about as impossible. We gather. Everyone is cheery. They all cooperate. It is a concerted effort to ignore me. Candid?! So I get lots of shots where there is chaos. Order?! Formal?! No one bothered to dress for the occasion. Come as you are. Am I complaining? It is a bittersweet photo that becomes more valuable as the years pass. Folks grew. Folks left. Folks did not arrive for the next visit. Nostalgic? Missing people? It’s complicated. But here we were on this day and in this place memorialized for the ages. It will be in the pile of Colleen’s old family photo collection one day.
Depending. It can have many meanings?
I like to get to an event early. Better seat. Better view. Better picture. We arrive a couple hours early. Colleen is very good natured about it. I got great shots. No complaints. Sometimes you do sacrifice for the cause.
Early morning – moon – is a challenge. But I felt it was worth it with the interesting clouds lurking about. Different. Eerie! Crepe myrtle? I never saw one before coming to live here. It is a non sequitur that just creeped into the post.
We went all over hither and yon to get a proper picture of a heilan coo. Oh yeah! Ha ha! It was fun to finally be rewarded with a close up. Not much to look at. But different from the everyday angus steak on the hillsides we travel. It wasn’t easy to get a shot so it was all the more valuable and satisfying when we finally saw it close up.
PhotoCritical 