Picture Perfect
You know how some days you just feel "off"? You're brain's working slow, you drop this, you run into that, the wrong words come out of your mouth every time you open it? Your plans fail, your feet hurt, and everyone's looking at you like you have fresh bagged spinach in your teeth?
Well, somedays my camera has spinach in its teeth too.
I take a lot of pictures. I even post most of them here, which is good for you if you like them, but bad for me if I want to be taken any kind of serious (which does happen occasionally). A good photographer takes five hundred shots and maybe shows two of them to the public. A good photographer maintains the line between a good shot and a great shot. I, on the other hand, will post a picture if it tells part of a story or is even marginally interesting to me (if no one else), no matter if there's goo on the lens or someone (I'm not naming any names, but you know who you are, SIMON) is making a face.
Somedays my camera feels "off," though--shots are poorly lit, poorly exposed, poorly framed, just poorly executed in general. People are making weird expressions, holding their hands at stomach-churning angles, and posing against backdrops that are at once distracting and devoid of interest. And yet I post damn near everything here because this is my primary creative outlet and I always learned that where there is a captive audience, there are advantages to be taken.
Today was to be no different. We had a few adventures this weekend, and I snapped my requisite two-hundred or so photos. I selected about fifty to share, and I've got them all processed and ready to go. As I was doing my usual color and contrast corrections, though, I was taken aback by how wonderful some of the shots were turning out. Surprisingly stunning. Most of the pictures were taken on Sunday, when it was cloudy and gray and not what I normally consider "good light," and, as per usual, it wasn't until we were headed home that I realized my ISO was set to 1600 and I threw my hands up because I was positive all the colors and detail were going to be blown out and irreparable.
And yet when I started processing the pictures, I found that the colors were extra vivid, the edges were popping off the backgrounds, the people and structures seemed to naturally compose and balance themselves within the frame. All of which goes to show that (1) I have no idea what I'm doing and (2) when I can point to one of my photos and say "spectacular!" it's far from tooting my own horn. Why? Because I will forever maintain that the camera is doing most of the work, and Photoshop fills in the rest of the gaps.
Although I occasionally try my hand at manipulating the manual functions, I generally just pick a setting and go with it, crossing my fingers as I click away. I'll gladly take credit for "vision" or whatever you want to call it that enables some people to see two boys playing by the pier and other people to see "Two Boys: A Work of Art," but for the most part, as soon as I held and SLR in my hands and looked through the viewfinder, I knew I was working with more than just a tool--my camera is a collaborator.
So now, before I move onto the weekend's activities, here are three of the very best shots from the last forty-eight hours--the only images you'd see if I had any kind of restraint, which I don't and probably never will. There's also a bonus picture that I wanted to draw special attention to because it's evidence that sometimes we need to skip the arms-length self-portrait and have someone else take the shot.
Dome at the new Westfield Shopping Centre.
Coit Tower from Lombard Street.
Two boys at the Chrissy Field pier.
This one might actually get printed out.
More tomorrow.
Love the bridge in the background of that last one.
The colours ARE so vivid...
That last one is a keeper in a frame. But seriously, you take fabulous photos. It is one of the first things that attracted to your blog. Then I touched your hair and I keep coming back and imagining it while I look at you. OK, now I sound like a stalker. *shrug*
I agree with Jen B. Us Northerners, we are a little creepy.
We are definitely creepy. But yes, amazing photos! Though I always like your photos :)
The dome just blows me away. The way you framed it and the detail is amazing.
Coit tower brings back memories of a vacation too long ago. I have to come back!
I've always enjoyed your photos & the stories they tell. Keep doing it. These are great shots, btw. Love the one of the boys as art. :)
My photography professor, the incomparably weird Joel Sternfeld, told me the truest thing about photography that I guess you've discovered here: in that gray clear afternoon sunless light, a pile of crap could look beautiful.
Gray light is a photographer's dream because too much sun washes out all the colors - cloudy can snatch dimension from your photos but clear (high, thin clouds) gray light is a miracle for color.
As you've found out!
This Creepy Canuck wants to tell The Long-Time Obsession: You two are beautiful people. I'm overly happy and wonderfully excited that you and Simon found each other in this upside down world.
Apparently you have a huge Canadian fan base!
I took many great photos on the vacation I went on, but one of my favorites is on top of a parking garage, all dirty concrete and even a garbage can. It's a horrible picture. I love it because crooked in the middle is my best friend holding open an elevator door for me even though we were hating each other that day. Every picture, good or bad, means something to me.
Don't censor your photos, I love them all!
pretty photos leah :)
Those really are spectacular shots. And thanks for the tip about Photomatix. I've only played with it for a little while last night, but I can already tell it's going to be a lot of fun.