of photography
You know, maybe I don't tell people this but i never was good at taking potraitures. Not that you had to have special lessons in taking photos of people (Henri Cartier Bresson never followed any rules anyway) but i never really had a knack for it. I was always comfortable with still life, inanimates, nature, colours, light.
Communication or any sort of direct contact with people made me uncomfortable and for the longest time I had difficulty talking to people while looking at them eye to eye (sometimes i still am of which i must sincerely apologise) .
Usually i just hide behind the camera because thru the eye piece things look different; you pull yourself away from things, you close one eye and no one else sees the other. It wasn't always a good thing. I used to display the photographs that i felt were "safe", that no one would laugh at or critic too harshly. The oranges with the play of light composed with a novice's understanding of the rule of thirds, i titled photographs that everyone could understand but never really could explain what I really meant. I hated taking events (i still do at times), wedding photographers made my hair stand but I tried doing it because of the the money it paid (esp to a 14 year old kid with a chance to use expensive equipment). What started out as love, slowly began to bother me like some bad rash in the unreachable areas of my back. That's i why stopped.
Fast foward 4 years. Army, JC and a bunch of friends later. My eyes changed or at least how I saw the world changed. It was no longer just seeing, it became a more intimate and meaningful relationship which the phrase "feeling the world" could only scrape the surface. Free time in the army meant I could read more, listen more. Met more people, figured out some stuff in life everyone needed to figure out for themselves. Basically I just grew up.
And then realised that I could give it one more shot, feel the same excitement I felt the first time the shutter clicked. Photos were much easier to take, I spent less time looking thru the lense which wasn't a bad thing. I saw moments, small glimpses of life, things worthy to capture. It was less viewing and more experienceing. Life became less boring, Suddenly finding the right angle became less important, no need for rules, threw formality out the window. I just snapped (not in a angry way but the sudden-ness was what i meant) .
by now i hope would that explain to you guys why sometimes i don't even look thru the eye piece these days when i shot and do that weird throwing the camera up and just go trigger happy moments.
I digressed.
I figured that people are much more interesting to capture than the dead objects i once surrounded myself with. And looking at the photos I took in Indonesia makes me realise how insightful documenting life is. The fun and laughter, the pain and and sorrow in colour or black and white and everything in between (there is a vast array of idunnohowtodescribeit thingys that exist between colour and BnW which i just discoverd).
Its a good thing i didn't sell away my lenses.
And it doesn't mean i'm gonna be anyone's wedding photographer. (unless the equipment is really good of course)
Communication or any sort of direct contact with people made me uncomfortable and for the longest time I had difficulty talking to people while looking at them eye to eye (sometimes i still am of which i must sincerely apologise) .
Usually i just hide behind the camera because thru the eye piece things look different; you pull yourself away from things, you close one eye and no one else sees the other. It wasn't always a good thing. I used to display the photographs that i felt were "safe", that no one would laugh at or critic too harshly. The oranges with the play of light composed with a novice's understanding of the rule of thirds, i titled photographs that everyone could understand but never really could explain what I really meant. I hated taking events (i still do at times), wedding photographers made my hair stand but I tried doing it because of the the money it paid (esp to a 14 year old kid with a chance to use expensive equipment). What started out as love, slowly began to bother me like some bad rash in the unreachable areas of my back. That's i why stopped.
Fast foward 4 years. Army, JC and a bunch of friends later. My eyes changed or at least how I saw the world changed. It was no longer just seeing, it became a more intimate and meaningful relationship which the phrase "feeling the world" could only scrape the surface. Free time in the army meant I could read more, listen more. Met more people, figured out some stuff in life everyone needed to figure out for themselves. Basically I just grew up.
And then realised that I could give it one more shot, feel the same excitement I felt the first time the shutter clicked. Photos were much easier to take, I spent less time looking thru the lense which wasn't a bad thing. I saw moments, small glimpses of life, things worthy to capture. It was less viewing and more experienceing. Life became less boring, Suddenly finding the right angle became less important, no need for rules, threw formality out the window. I just snapped (not in a angry way but the sudden-ness was what i meant) .
by now i hope would that explain to you guys why sometimes i don't even look thru the eye piece these days when i shot and do that weird throwing the camera up and just go trigger happy moments.
I digressed.
I figured that people are much more interesting to capture than the dead objects i once surrounded myself with. And looking at the photos I took in Indonesia makes me realise how insightful documenting life is. The fun and laughter, the pain and and sorrow in colour or black and white and everything in between (there is a vast array of idunnohowtodescribeit thingys that exist between colour and BnW which i just discoverd).
Its a good thing i didn't sell away my lenses.
And it doesn't mean i'm gonna be anyone's wedding photographer. (unless the equipment is really good of course)
posted by Jon at 10:05 PM
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