Can You See

This is my first post here. I also have a blog which is for photographers, but I beleive this blog should be written for those who appreciate photography as art. I intend to write about some of the images I make, the story behind certain images, also what I do and learn along the way. Now after saying that, this first post was originally written for my other Buchanan-Photography blog.

Can you see like a photographer? A good photographer sees picture opportunities and it doesn't always matter where he or she is. The inspiration may come from the subject, but the photographer adds his ability to 'see' and then to show that subject in an interesting way.

Many of us would like to be stimulated with travel, beautiful new places, new people, big events... or whatever you imagine. But, good images come from the photographer, not the place, people, event... Good photography doesn't always come from the very best equipment either.

I hate this shot, but it makes a point. It was a completely accidental shot made as I fiddled with my iPhone and my grandson. The low angle, harsh light, but actually decent framing command more attention than many of the more boring eye level shots we take. I guess this is what I look like to my little grandson. I don't know why he likes me after seeing this.

Images are always around us, waiting for us to capture them. Many come and go with the changing light, we must look for them, see them, often in our mind first. A different angle, lower, higher, different composition, back light, side light, rain, snow, early, late, selective focus, blur... a new vision can make the ordinary, interesting, sometimes great.

I apologize for forgetting the details of a story I read long ago, but it was something like this: A lady was talking with a famous photographer. The lady wanted to know what kind of camera the photographer used. She said she wanted to buy her son the same kind of camera so that her son could take such great photographs. Offended, the photographer replied with something like, "Why don't you just buy him a paint brush like Rembrandt used."

I have almost 18,000 images on this computer, a few are from around the world, a very few of famous people... a few of them are actually pretty good. Some of my best were taken within a short distance of my home.