Firstly, thank you for dropping by - I've been tempted to start a photography blog for some time now, but was a little worried about the size
of the audience that would be interested in reading my ramblings (i.e. nobody ha!), but I figure that if even one person reads one of my posts and
goes on to create something great as a result I would have succeeded. I can't guarantee how often I'll post new content, but I'm going to do my
best to share my views & thoughts on photography as often as I can.
Over the past 2 years photography has really taken a hold of me, I've been gripped by the thrills that come with taking a "successful" image, I'm
still learning every day and with each shoot I discover something new. I'm by no means an intellectual on photography, I just want to (hopefully) help
aspiring photographers find their feet and learn by some of my mistakes.
Onto the first thing I've discovered recently, it might help to:
Stop chasing colour...
I'm always on the lookout for signs of the elusive "fiery" sky around sunset, if there's clouds above and a break on the horizon around the
sun I get quite excited about the possible shots to be had, so when I started to see some familiar signs one Sunday evening I darted out the door
to my local river at Canford School.. I arrived with little to no idea what I was going to shoot, with vein naivety I thought so long as the sky was
filled with colour, the rest would fall in to place.
Right on queue the sky turned a lovely shade of pink and orange, it's always amazing to watch, but I felt like all the photos I was taking were
lacking a major element - light. Looking back from this moment it seemed so obvious, photography is ALL about light - the sensor/film in your camera
is sensitive to light, all photos are based on the capturing of light, so - good photography must originate from good light!
... & start chasing light.
With hindsight, and looking back over my previous photos that I felt were successful, it all seemed really obvious - I should be aiming to shoot
the hour just after sunrise and just before sunset, not the other way around. Previously, I would pack up my gear and head home
once the sun had broken the horizon, as I'd assumed the good "colour" had been and gone.
I wish I was writing this blog saying that every photo I've taken since having this moment were brilliant and contained perfect light, but the reality is
actually the opposite - I feel I am now more critical of my work and no longer rely on nice colours to make an image work.
Photography, for me, is a big learning experience - but I love it, with each failure I learn something new, and the big thing I'm starting to learn is that
there's no right or wrong, just right for you.
That's all for now... I hope this post has inspired something and you'll be back to read the next post soon!