Did you know there’s a whole industry just for book cover photography? That’s news to me, too, but I’m all in!
“The Sherwood”
Art Through The Lens
Yeiser Art Center
Paducah, KY
It’s said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess that goes for photography, too. It’s all about what you see in the picture, what emotions it evokes. Does it make you want to look deeper?
The photograph above won First Place in the Art Through The Lens – Regional Showcase. No one was more surprised than me! But the judge said he kept going back to it, trying to try figure it out. So he looked deeper. And that netted me First Place and a check that almost covered the cost of the frame.
A couple of months ago I had a rough time with an online Photography Class. The instructor’s critiques were so withering that I developed performance anxiety and froze up like a turkey facing a firing squad.
So what did I do? Signed up for another class, of course. Not with the same guy, mind you. I only need to be bit once to know I don’t need to walk in that yard again.
My new instructor, Kerry, is touted as “a kind and gentle” teacher. And what a difference praise makes! Confidence has been restored and I’m back to making happy-go-lucky pictures again.
Here in the Near South we have Nearly Winter. There’s hardly any snow and temperatures usually stay within a tolerable range. Our Springs are glorious, Autumns colorful, and Summers are blazing hot. But Winter is mostly just blah with its miserable grey skies and weather that never gets cold enough to break out Aunt Minnie’s old fur coat.
I flunked out of Photography School.
It’s sad to admit, but I was the worst student. Even more damning, I was the ONLY student! Can you be at the bottom in a class of one?
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made.
How to amuse yourself when a spouse is on a long, boring shopping trip?
Look for shiny things to photograph – Still Lifes on a Shelf.
Old Annie was a dog that lived on the farm some years ago. She was gentle and kind and pleased to have company on a long walk. We would follow Annie through the woods, down to the creek, and all around the farm. Inevitably she’d lead us to a spot and stop. It would be an old stump or groundhog hole. Her tail would wag happily and she’d look up as if to say, ”See? Isn’t this great!”
Every once in a while I go on a binge and read somebody’s blog from the beginning. Like Bumfuzzle, or Gone With The Wynns, or that dude that hiked from Mexico to Canada. These folks are daring adventurers and they inspire me to get off the couch and travel.
This month I’m following the trail of Mr. Quintin Lake on his blog The Perimeter. He’s walking the entire coastline of England. And as if that’s not ambitious enough, he’s photographing his journey along the way.
But what makes his blog so extraordinary is that Mr. Lake is a professional photographer. Award winning, even. And his work is absolutely stunning.
I’ve spent a lot of time studying his technique. He’s an architectural photographer and seems to concentrate on linear forms. Not only is his subject matter fascinating, but the framing of his shots are pure genius.
Now, I don’t have a $6,000 camera outfit like the professionals, but I do have a very respectable compact Nikon (P340) that has lots of manual controls. So I thought I’d wander around the farm and try to copy Mr. Lake’s style, including his square frame format.
Fence post
Bluebird house
Tractor implements
Hay Wagon
Corn crib
Retired cattle gates
Can’t say I’m ready for the pros yet, but I am pleased with how some of the photos turned out. And if I took the time to learn Lightroom editing, well, there’d be no stopping me!