Rick’s Rants and Raves

I’m currently reading Within the frame : the journey of photographic vision, and it has been a wonderful book for my current skill level photographically and artistically. It “is a book about finding and expressing your photographic vision” and has helped me understand some important lessons.

Zoom isn’t everything

In one section, he talks about his younger days when he thought a big lens meant someone was a serious photographer. Therefore he spent a lot of time chasing after longer zoom lenses. I’ve definitely felt this draw, and a bit of envy when I see long lenses in the wild. But longer zoom doesn’t help with composition all the time. Sometimes you just have to get closer to the subject. And sometimes a wide angle tells a more interesting story than a close up. For example, I loved the mound of fabric in this picture. A couple of days ago, I might have used the macro on my zoom to get really close to the fabulous colors and patterns. Today, I was trying to look for wide angle shots, and I think this one nails the situation perfectly: big mound of fabric with a bunch of women going through it furiously. The activity and the intensity were just as important as the patterns.

The gear doesn’t make the photographer

When we were in Parry Sound on the Island Queen tour, I went looking for interesting detail shots on the boat. A gentleman at the bow of the boat, almost sounding confrontational, asked if digital SLRs really took better pictures than point-and-shoot cameras (or as one of my acquaintances at work calls them: point-and-wait). I pondered my answer for a moment because I knew that a great camera does not make a great photographer. I know that no matter how good the paint brush, my paintings would look like a four-year-old had just finished finger-painting. I know that a great photo from 2009 isn’t that much better than one from 2008 (Anne and I got the dSLR for Christmas, 2008. Thanks again Maggie!). So I told him that for some people, dSLRs enable them to take better pictures. I personally like the level of control that I get, and the broader feature set. There are certainly some point-and-shoot cameras that rival entry-level dSLRs for features and picture quality. So, though I feel a bit snobby at times with my dSLR, looking to see if anyone in the crowd has a better camera (frequently, yes, but just one or two , I try to remind myself that it is the skill behind the viewfinder that makes the shot.

Today at the India festival, while we were in the auditorium, the mayor came out on stage to welcome the crowd and say a few pleasing words. I decided that although my focus for the day had been on wide-angle shots, it was time to switch to my 70-300mm lens to see if I could get a decent shot of the mayor from our current seats (I didn’t care enough to move my feat). I switched lenses, took some shots, and started to switch back when a coworker, who’s somewhat familiar with my photos, noticed my camera and said “Ah, no wonder to take such great pictures.” I just grinned and thanked him for the compliment. The camera helps. But I know I won’t turn into Ansel Adams just by getting a better camera.

My artistic muse

Within the Frame, mentioned above, discusses at length the concept of a photographic vision, or an artistic muse, if you will. The author’s muse is finding interesting people in interesting places. He is phenomenal at portrait and travel photography (fit for National Geographic). It worried me for days that I don’t seem to have a muse. I enjoy taking pictures of family, flowers, kids, birds, and musicians, as well more technical fun like light box, swinging lights. Where is my muse? Right now, I think my photographic muse is my busy life. We didn’t go to Vermont (twice), Parry Sound, the Dublin Irish Festival, or camping just so I could take pictures. But I enjoy taking pictures while we’re there. Sometimes I shoot just to document, but as often as possible, I shoot to creatively capture the time we spent. My muse is finding and capturing the interesting bits as my life goes flying by me.

Keep the lens cap off

Another recent read was The Digital Photography Book, volume 1. The author provides his advice on the technical aspects of photography in a kind of FAQ format. Its a very fast read and very interesting. One of the pieces of advice that really changed me was “keep the lens cap off”. His argument was that after you take the camera out of the bag, it should be READY to use. And that means take the lens cap off. The risk to the lens is relatively low (it is under your control, right?) and if you have to fumble with the lens cap at the crucial moment, you just might miss the shot. This was a dramatic change in perspective for me, and closely matches with how Anne treats the lens cap. In fact she was relieved when I told her that my attitude toward lens cap use had changed since I was frequently nagging her to put it back on if she wasn’t actively engaged in shooting. I was over protective of the lens at the expense of missed shots. And since two of my favorite targets are kids and birds, that two seconds messing with the cap really does mean a missed shot.