I took this photo so long ago, I had a hard time remembering which camera I used. It was my Kodak. Anyway, this post is to fill you in on some other things I have been while on blogging break. Recently, Karen and I started a brand new photo challenge, but this time rather than on Blogger or in the blogging community, it's on Twitter exclusively. Photo By Request or if you are on the Twitter platform itself, its #PhotoByRequest because Twitter is all about the hashtag! This week's subject is "Toys" and it's our third round! We post on Thursdays, and you are invited, just show up with your photo posted to your timeline, and the hashtag. Easy peasy. It's going to be fun! I am looking forward to having a challenge, to maybe inspire me to keep picking up the camera even in the difficult times. Maybe I can get back to blogging full time again. I think it would be healthier than drifting from one negative thought to another.
"Above all, life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference."
~Robert Frank
I like the quote I chose for today's post. I think it fits my life as a progressive, and my life as a photographer. It fits a lot of decisions I make when it comes to actually clicking the shutter. Most of the time I prefer pure instinct, but in order to get better at what I try to accomplish with the camera, I have to schedule myself to practice with settings and light. Light! Oy... light can be your best friend, and just when you think you understand each other, the odd natural filter like a cloud or a flock of geese soaring over can change how you think about everything. Photographing fireworks is a lot like constantly trying to make a good impression. You have to get it right the first time, because there is NO forgiveness available.
Photographing anything in San Francisco, especially outdoors, comes with a unique challenge. In a word... angles. San Francisco is a love story, built on a million or so earthquakes. I swear, there are NO even angles remaining in the city. Nothing seems to really line up. My meter can read that I, and my camera, are perched equally straight on a hill, STRAIGHT, or even on a perfectly mostly flat surface and yet nope, some off angle is hiding somewhere, waiting for me to come along. Invariably there will be something out of whack! To the right. To the left. Something. I want and need to do more work with hills this year. Hills facing up and hills facing looking down. Stairs to. There are so many stairs in San Francisco... all of them present some challenges for the amateur photographer.
But challenges are good! I am thankful that I continue to be challenged by something I love so much!
I have not, and will not cease growing as a person, as long as I have photography to challenge me. And what's great about that is that as I adjust how I feel about lighting, I think I remain a little more open minded about the other challenges that haunt my brain. The ones that don't have much to do with photography. It all works out at the end of the day, and if for some reason I can't find the correct angle or lighting moment, or manage to screw in the right light bulb, there is always new opportunities the next day to get it all right!
My two great loves. Photography and Progressive Politics.
