SAILBOATS

This post was inspired by an article I read recently: The Struggle for Photography Perfection - Is It Worth It? by Jason D. Little. lightstalking.com/photography-perfection

I am a perfectionist. 

Being a perfectionist is both a blessing and a bane. Seeking perfection motivates me to improve myself and my efforts. My perfectionism, however, too easily morphs from the role of creative consultant to tyrant. 

As I wrote in a previous post, most of my photographs are worthy of only the delete button. But, here and there is a photograph that makes me sit up and think "Hey, this is good!" The feeling of "I did it" is exhilarating. I stand up and do a little happy dance in front of my computer.

Then I sit down and Perfectionist Susan takes over. She carefully unfolds The List, a checklist of the qualities good photographs should have. Composition: check. Exposure: check. Sharpness: check... I begin to analyze the photograph, pull it apart. Is this photograph good enough? What would other people think about it? Would they like it? Before too long, the excitement I felt is gone and what I thought was a good photograph is now only mediocre. 

In his article, Jason Little wrote...

"The ability to create compelling photos relies most heavily on vision and instinct; 

it’s about capturing a moment. 

Moments — if we were to somehow think of them as being sentient things — 

don’t care about your f-stop or ISO level. 

And neither does the person who views your photo and is moved by it." 

Perfectionist Susan shouts "But what if a professional photographer looks at this picture...?" as I stuff her into a mental closet. I can still hear her muffled admonitions, but for now, I want Jason Little's wisdom to reign supreme. 

Years ago, I visited a couple of Amish communities in Pennsylvania. To supplement their families' incomes, Amish women sew quilts which they sell to tourists. Dozens of these quilts were displayed on lines strung outside large tidy farmhouses. I learned something about Amish quilts when talking with one of their creators. Each quilt contains a mistake, put there on purpose as a reminder that only God creates perfection. More wisdom.  

So, in keeping with the theme of this post, perfection, or the lack of it, I present two photographs... 

The first 'Wind Turbines and Sailboat' was taken with my iPhone. It was all I had with me, my big camera being elsewhere. The moment, however, was too good to let pass. I had to capture it. The photograph, from a purely technical POV, shows that I pushed my iPhone camera beyond its abilities. That said, I like the grainy, out of focus result, so much so that I upped the grain further. (I also cropped the image slightly, converted it to B&W and added a slight vignette.) Score one for creativity over perfection!

I am a slow photographer. It takes me time to think through a shot, the composition, what settings I should use. To my way of thinking, greater care = greater chance of perfection, right? In short, I probably won't be standing, anytime soon, at a barricade snapping away as the Tour de France competitors whizz past. Still life photography suits me much more. 

Which brings me to my second photograph, 'Under A Summer Sky'. Again, another 'I have to capture this moment' effort. I was on a ferry when a sailboat suddenly appeared, moving quickly in the strong wind blowing that day. I grabbed my camera and began shooting. I was over the moon later when I reviewed the photos on my laptop. The picture was actually in focus. The horizon in the original photograph was skewed, but correctable. I did adjust the exposure, shadows and whites slightly. 

Two different photographs of sailboats. One it technically superior to the other. Does that make it the better picture? I find them both compelling. What do you think? 

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

As an aspiring photographer, and dare I say it, an aspiring artist, I have been searching for 'my style'. 

To me, that means the following... 

• THE PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE OR METHOD FITS ME.

Take shopping for clothing. You try things on until you find what suits you. Same with photography. 

I have accepted that I will probably never be a nature photographer. Hiking three hours up steep mountain trails to photograph a pristine alpine lake...sorry, not going to happen. Waiting patiently in a cold wet forest for a bald eagle or a stag or a bobcat or something to maybe make an appearance...nope. I deeply admire photographers who do that kind of work, their patience and grit. The accolades they receive are hard earned and richly deserved. 

• MY PHOTOGRAPHY MUST BE A REFECTION OF WHO I AM.

I think I'm a bit of a contradiction. At heart, I am a minimalist, but I like drama. Translation: I like simple things that make a statement. Years ago I owned a deep red sofa. Enough said.

Something isn't dramatic, in my opinion, because it screams at you. There is great drama to be found in the quiet, the still. Consider a drop of water suspended from a leaf over the glassy surface of a still pond. 


Today's offering... 'Steps to Somewhere'

All Rights Reserved

Taken with my iPhone. Edited 

"USE THE FORCE, LUKE!" I MEAN "USE 'THE MEH', SUSAN!"

(I wish I had made this post on May 4th...May the Force be with you! Stay with me now. I promise, Obi-Wan Kenobi's admonition to "Use the Force, Luke!" will make sense.)

As an aspiring photographer, I am often overwhelmed by what I need to know, what I need to master. 

I have on more than one occasion wished I had started this adventure years, no, decades ago so that I might have a hope of becoming a genuinely proficient photographer someday. To my dismay, I have discovered that my brain is definitely not as quick on the uptake at 55 as it was, at say, 25. I do eventually learn what I need to know, it just takes a frustratingly long time. 

Maybe, however, taking longer to learn something is really better. Lessons learned from repeated effort or from mistakes are the ones that take deepest root in my psyche.

Those of you who know me well know that I am "a keeper". I find it hard to part with things. For example, if I find a plant growing as a volunteer in my garden, I will transplant the stray rather than toss it into the compost dumpster. Spent a few hours this past week relocating wayward lamb's ear seedings.

OK, Susan, so what has horticulture got to do with photography? One lesson that is finally making its permanent home in my brain is "90% of my photographs need to go to the trash". Duh! I have found, however, practicing that simple rule to be a tough one. My overstuffed hard drive can attest to that fact.

Here's the problem: I don't consider myself a competent judge of what technically constitutes a 'good picture'. I rely on how I respond to my photographs. Unfortunately, I can look at hours of work and feel only 'meh'. I can't tell you why the photographs rate only a 'meh', they just do. After a couple of days of only 'meh', doubts about ever taking a decent shot mushroom. I begin to wonder if I should just hang up my camera. Me, a photographer, who am I kidding? Then it happens. This is a good one! The feeling of discovery, the sense of certainty is invigorating. Again, I can't tell you why I feel this way. I just know this particular photograph is a good one.  

All Rights Reserved

Alright, time to cue Obi-Wan. "Use the Force, Luke!" Just as Luke struggled to trust the Force, I have struggled to trust 'The Meh'. When I trust 'The Meh', I make better decisions about which photographs deserves to be kept. Photographs that get 'The Meh' get the delete button. No reprieves, no second guessing. Of course, my 'meh' may not be your 'meh'. That's OK!

May 'The Meh' be with you!

PORTRAIT OF A MUSE

Joy is my muse.

She is also a good friend, enthusiastic personal assistant, patient model and dutiful dog walker.

As I was doing the post-processing on the photograph above, something nagged at me. I couldn't put my finger on it for the longest time. Then it came to me! Joy's face reminds me of the female faces of ancient Greek statues.

FUN WITH FILTERS ON FRIDAY

One day last January, while making my way from the grocery store to my car, I happened to look up. The bare, somewhat twisted branches, of a tree stood etched in the low angle sunlight of a winter day against a crystalline blue sky. The sight stopped me in my tracks.

To the amazement of drivers looking for a place to park, I set my bags down and began to dig in my purse. I was in search of my iPhone. With phone in hand, I circled the tree looking for 'the angle'. 

This odd behavior was the result of a photography class I was taking at the time. The instructor, a professional photographer named David Perry, had shown a number of stunning photographs taken with his iPhone. The photographs were wonderfully evocative and imaginative, this achieved through post-processing done with editing apps available for iPhone.

This I had to give a try...

Original photograph

  

'Fun with Filters on Friday': Tree in Winter

What I did...

• Converted photograph to black and white
• Applied square crop
• Applied texture filter (if memory serves, I think it was called 'grunge')
• Applied frame filter

I am going to write more about my iPhone photography experiences in a future blog posts. Stay tuned! 

If you would like to see some of David Perry's work, check out his website: http://www.davidperryphoto.com/site/DPerryPhoto.html

KEEPING IT SHORT AND TO THE POINT

I enjoy reading blogs. Especially when they are short and to the point. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to read lengthy posts, interesting and relevant as they may be.

I suspect many of you are in the same boat as me. So many wonderful things to read and so little time. With that in mind, I make this promise: my blog posts will be as short as possible.


The photograph below is another early effort, this time at night photography, from summer 2014. 

WHY DID I PICK THE TITLE 'SUSAN THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER' FOR MY BLOG?

Maybe it's the writer in me, but titles shouldn't be a random string of words. A title must mean something to both the writer and the reader.

'Susan through the Viewfinder' has the following meanings to me. 

• It references my photography work. A viewfinder is the device on a camera that shows the field of view of the lens. It is used by the photographer to frame and focus the shot. 
• It is a play on words on the title of the sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The title of the sequel is Through the Looking Glass. 
• Photographers with far more experience would probably argue the point with me, but isn't photography all about the capture of reflected light at any given moment? Which brings me back to Alice. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice ponders what the world is like on the other side of the mirror hanging over the fireplace. She discovers that she can pass through the mirror to another world. The world she enters turns out to be a reflected version of her own.
• Photography is a captured moment. It is a reflection of the world around us.

The photograph below is a first attempt at capturing light trails. 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG?

I love to shoot photographs. I also love to write. What better way to combine those two loves than in a blog. Remember the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials from way back when...You got chocolate in my peanut butter! You got peanut butter on my chocolate! Two great tastes that taste great together! Photography and writing: two great things that go great together!

The last year has been a journey for me in more ways than one. One of those journeys has been of discovery, or should I say, of REdiscovery. I have been rediscovering myself. Photography and writing are the vehicles I have been riding on that winding, sometimes very indistinct, road to rediscovery. As I type these words, the vision of an old, drab green Land Rover bouncing across a dusty African landscapes fills my mind. On board are individuals on safari. I can imagine they are wildly excited and more than a little scared. They're on their way to see lions and zebras and elephants and who knows what else! But, what if the vehicle breaks down? They are out in the middle of nowhere. Is there cell phone service? Is that a vulture circling overhead...?

My journey of rediscovery is also one of redefinition, of reclamation. I have been handed the amazing opportunity to become someone new. Like the adventurers on the Land Rover, I am traveling through unfamiliar country. Or maybe, it is a land I once knew when I was much younger. I left it to visit other places. Unfortunately, over time, it faded from memory. 

I know I am heading toward experiences that will change me forever. I am wildly excited, and more than a little afraid... Is that a vulture circling overhead?

I hope you will join me on this journey.

 BTW: The photograph above isn't mine. I wish!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

About this time a year ago, a dear friend (Hi, Sheri!) and I took a class at Bellevue College to learn how to use our expensive, feature-loaded DSLR cameras.  

The instructor was a very patient professional photographer named Tom Heffernan, He painstakingly walked us through the workings of our cameras from A to Z. While I found the technical stuff like f-stops, white balance, focal lengths, etc. squiggle-eye inducing (numbers are not my bag, man), Sheri sucked it up like a sponge. Composing the photograph was much more to my liking. 

There were, of course, assignments to complete. Sheri and I went out on a couple of photographic safaris. We made an awesome team. I spotted the shot; Sheri, so quick to figure out aperture and shutter speed, handled the technical aspect. We would have made a great sniper team.

When I look at my early photographic attempts (those taken without Sheri in tow), I see mostly cringe-worthy efforts. Here and there, however, is a shot that hints at what the future might bring...with lots and lots and lots of practice. (Below is an early effort.) 

BTW: after a year, I think I finally understand aperture. Shutter speed is still a work in progress.