I may not have a violin, but I have a camera.
(Personal) Project #60: become a better photographer. I purchased another lens for my camera. The photos above are the first ones taken with my new “baby” and a fair representation of my current work as a photographer even if they are, more or less, just test shots.
Before this lens, I had gotten quite used to framing the world in a certain way. I saw in 50mm, more specifically in 50mm on a Canon DSLR with a cropped sensor, but that’s enough technical la-la-la for now.
It was like this. My hands positioned my camera to focus on details and faces. My mind pictured them in front of beautifully blown out backgrounds. My eyes considered the light while remembering that my camera was going to seemingly add more. So far, so good but—one other thing about walking around with a 50mm is that it’s like walking around with a regular camera that’s broken and zoomed in all the way, all the time.
Sometimes, I want to capture an entire person, not just his or her face, and sometimes I want to do so without backing up 512,980 meters and sometimes, I want to capture the insides of entire rooms, and not just corners, single sides, or sections of walls. Basically, sometimes, I want to show the environment around me and not just little details here and there.
Thus, out of the six photographs above, the third is my favorite. As a 50mm-thinker, it’s wondrous. If I were standing in the same spot, 50mm would get me the Chanel advertisement and that’s it. Nothing else would fit in that frame, but with my wide-angled lens, there’s so much more.
♥
A wide new world of photographic possibilities is within my reach. With more possibilities, there’s more to consider. I need to (re)think about what I want to capture. I need to think about specific photography projects I’d like to do. I need to think about composition and light and color.
I like photographing pretty things. Garbage, dirt—things that depict the grittiness of life, I don’t shoot them. My desire is to become better at taking photos that depict beauty, that inspire hope, and that inspire an ebullience for learning, living, and adventuring about.
Photographs like the ones above are okay too. I took them while I was playing with my lens for the first time. I have to try different things; I have to practice. Still, I have to think carefully about what I’m depicting. When I look at the photos above, I don’t see beauty. I see consumerism. I like the styling and processing of the images, but I probably need to give my subject matter more thought.
This post was inspired by one of Sarai’s blog topic ideas.
