Enjoy!

Things in Italy aren’t so great right now, so, like many people, I find myself under pressure to work harder to make ends meet, so, of course, I am accepting more translations, filling up my mornings (which I used to dedicate to blogging and photography) and then going to work in the afternoons at the school. And then I find myself high-strung and frustrated about the smallest thing. Why? Because I don’t have my outlet.

I find myself further and further behind in my blog reading, and postings, my mailbox is brimming with interesting articles and images posted by fellow photographers that I enjoy reading and learning from, my blog lies dormant, and my camera is covered in a fine layer of dust, projects lay (temporarily, I hope) abandoned, half-finished. New Year’s goals….why even bother mentioning them?!

And so it came that I had an epiphany the other day…everyone has fallen on hard times, and everyone has life get the better of them, but that is it, isn’t it? We only have ONE life! So why, oh why don’t we try to spend most of it doing something we love, something that helps us learn, that helps us feel alive?

So maybe it is time to reduce the workload, just a little bit, and dedicate one morning a week to go out, enjoy the sunshine and beautiful spring weather, and live a little, camera in hand…

As I transcribed this episode I found myself fascinated by this – besides liking wildlife documentaries in general, this was one of the first I had ever seen documenting exactly how wildlife photographers get those amazing shots that we see and never really think about.

It made me reflect on how much we, as photographers, are willing to truly get out of our “comfort zones” and go out there to capture the moment. Not many of us are willing, I in particular fear photographing people in public, although I enjoy street photography.

So new goal: don’t be afraid!

Just before Christmas (yes, I know) I had another amazing opportunity to photograph some of the best choreographed fireworks ever. Well, maybe except for the Symphony of Fire, if it is still called that.

Anyways, I already wrote my tips about how to photograph fireworks here. Now I want to focus on the other stuff, the fun stuff – POST PROCESSING.

Since very often when you photograph fireworks, you have a tripod and a lot of people around you, even if you change your focal length a bit, you end up with images framed in much the same manner. Well, you can change this in your post processing, and you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. Change those images from “similar” to “very different”.  So here are some ideas:

1. TILT THAT HORIZON

Who ever said a horizon had to be vertical anyway?

2. DARE TO BE BLACK AND WHITE

It might seem all the more magical that way

3. SATURATE

Really show what the sky was like

4. UNDEREXPOSE

This works if you shoot RAW - Focus just on what was lit up

6. ADD A TEXTURE

This one is tricky as not all textures will work. Experiment!

7. CROP CLOSE

Crop so you focus on just one part of the frame

These are just a few that I had fun doing. If you have anymore, please feel free to share in the comments below!

As we walked around we decided to go a little off the beaten path and took a little walk along the marina instead of following the boardwalk. Well, at the end of the marina what did we find? An amazing secluded beach with some awesome rock formations! Needless to say, hubby settled down while I lay down in the sand, set up my little tripod and started experimenting with something I have always wanted to do – long exposure.

So, here is what I learned from my first experiment with long exposure:

• Tripod. No ifs ands or buts.
• If you want to do long exposures at sunset, there is still a lot of light. Today’s sensors are super sensitive. Invest in ND filters. I had to use my ND and my polarizer, and I still had to close my aperture almost all the way.
• Use low ISO to reduce noise.
• If you can shoot RAW. It helps you recover some of the sky that you may lose while trying to expose for so long.
• Throw the camera into Shutter Priority or, better yet, Manual mode.
• Use a remote shutter release, or if you don’t have it, or forgot it (oops!) use the timer. All you need are a few seconds.
• Have fun.

That last one is always a must!

I am sure I have a lot to learn, and by no means are these perfect images, but it was a wonderful experience, and most certainly a learning one. Next time I will bring my proper tripod though, at least I can change my point of view a bit more! Not that I’m complaining or anything!

When I was back home last summer, I happened to walk into a secondhand store, and as usual, began browsing the shelves. My eyes happened upon two books. One of which was Photography for the Joy of It by Freeman Patterson published in 1977. Yes, you read the date correctly. 1977. I read a few pages and was intrigued. And really, for $1.00 how can you really say no?

And I will say it was worth the investment. Sometimes with digital photography we get so caught up in the fact that we can take a nearly endless amount of photographs, go through them quickly and only keep the ones that came out well, that we forget what it is like to slow down and actually MAKE a photograph. Reading Freeman Patterson’s book reminds you of what it was like to work with film. Selecting the film, metering the light, composing, waiting for the right moment, the right feeling and pressing the shutter release. That is what I sometimes feel is missing from my photography.

Reading this book made me want to go back to film (that is what I started out with after all) an just take the time to enjoy it.

The book itself is well-written and divided into chapters explaining equipment, light, composition etc, like many other books on photography. It also full of colour photographs, which considering the publication date, probably made this a fairly expensive book when it came out! There are also chapters dedicated to different types of film, which are quite interesting for all the digitalphiles out there. What makes the book different, as I mentioned before is the talk about the feelings of photography. And just for this, the book gets nudged up to:

5*****

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to sum things up, and refocus our goals. Last year I wrote these resolutions for 2011:

• Improve the quality of my images
• Continue to improve my photomanipulation and editing skills
• Participate in more photowalks, and this time, beat my hubby’s butt!
• Participate in more competitions – if you don’t try you’ll never improve!
• Continue to post good quality shots as often as possible.
• Start playing with film again
• Get an Explore or Spotlight, or better – both!
• Keep studying

So, let’s see, how much of this did I accomplish? Some, but not all. I DID get a spotlight (actually, I just found out I got another one today!), I managed to get published in a collection online, and entered multiple contests (alas, I won none of them. I shall keep trying, who knows, this may be the year!) I certainly participated in photowalks, although they were more often than not hikes, on which I took my camera. I have hardly touched photomanipulation this year, and haven’t done as much as I had hoped. Flickr was unfortunately tossed aside for the longest time. But I did do the following worthy things:

• I opened up a facebook page for this blog.
• I wrote fairly consistently, although not often.
• I learned how to use my amazing 50mm prime lens, and love it.
• I was official photographer for a wedding, and a portrait shoot for a friend.
• I opened a new gallery on Fine Art America, and kept updating Imagekind.
• I have faithfully posted to AM3 almost every day.
• I have read lots of books this year, and learned a lot from them.

Goals for 2012:

• Be better and dedicate more time to this blog, and to my photography.
• Reinstate my Inspirational Photographer of the Month (anyone interested?) and my Inspiring Photographs.
• Up my facebook following (let’s make it a goal of 50 people, that’s not too much to ask, right?)
• Enter more competitions (always).
• Continue to post daily on AM3
• Read more.
• Maybe sell something to someone who isn’t just a friend or family member (although it still makes me feel good).
• Feel more confident.

I don’t want to overdo it. Sometimes life just sucks you in and sweeps you away, and you don’t have time to do the things you love. Maybe, this year, I will do my best to make room for those things.

Wish me luck!