Dharma

 Personal, Photography, Spirituality  7 Responses »
May 142007
 

pdlester_20040821_019-edit.jpg
I’ve been reading The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak Chopra. The last chapter of this short book deals with Dharma, or purpose in life. One question that really made me think was:

If money was no concern and you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do? If you would still do what you currently do, then you are in dharma, because you have passion for what you do – you are expressing your unique talents.

By definition, you are in dharma when you are doing this thing that you have passion for and you completely lose track of time. The expression of your talent takes you into ‘timeless awareness’. Further, one of the questions was that you should ask yourself, ‘how can I use my talent to help humanity?’ (spirit), not “what’s in it for me.”(ego). I like this principal. With that in mind: My immediate answer was photography. After sitting quietly and meditating, I came down to three areas of photography that I believe would be my dharma, or purpose:
pdlester_20060804_275.jpg

  1. Traveling the world, meeting, interacting, living with people of various cultures and sharing those images with the world.
  2. Teaching photography in a workshop setting, not in a classroom. I’ve thought about a beginner level workshop where the first day is technical boot camp where the students are taught the ins and outs of the camera. Subsequent days would focus on composition, lighting, etc.
  3. Travel around as an environmental photographer providing beautiful images of unspoiled wilderness that has been targeted for development or drilling so as to raise awareness of the impending destruction. The ultimate reward would be to have my photos stop such destruction.

That said, I’d like to share with you a site that I really like by James Nachtwey. His images are not easy to look at, but I believe that he is doing a great service to humanity by presenting images of important issues. I’m not sure that I would want to photograph the horrors of the planet, but I think that bringing these horrors to light help to solve the problems.

Have you ever thought about it? … What is your dharma?

 Posted by at 00:00

What I felt vs. What I saw

 Personal, Photography  7 Responses »
May 112007
 

pdlester_20070509_101_a.jpg

One thing that I like about photography, of the many, is that any scene is open to interpretation. Take this image, for example, this is what I ‘saw’ when I took the picture; however, it is not what the camera captured. What the camera captured was a little more subtle. Digital cameras seem to shoot for the middle of the road in everything. pdlester_20070509_101_a-2.jpg
As I get better in my use of Photoshop, I find that I am able change the feeling of the picture to more reflect what I felt at the moment. I care not to ‘document’, but to convey an emotion that I had at the moment. Here, I was simply in awe and appreciation of what I was seeing.

pdlester_20070509_001-2_a.jpg
About the photo: This is another photo from the University Place Boardwalk. I saw this as I was standing on the boardwalk, looking over the water when this scene appeared to my left.

 Posted by at 00:00

What a joy!

 Personal, Photography  16 Responses »
May 102007
 

pdlester_20070509_011_a.jpg

I had intended to go to FedEx, pick up my new computer, come back home, move all of my stuff around and then relax; however, the boys and girls at FedEx didn’t have my package yet because the driver was late getting back to the depot. So, since there were some beautiful clouds around, I decided to take my D40 and do some shooting.

There’s a place near my home called University Place Boardwalk. Why I hardly ever go there is beyond me, but I felt like going there today and I’m so happy that I did. I spent about 2 hours there taking pictures of everything. The clouds were beautiful, the water placid, the people friendly, the birds plentiful, and all was right with the world. I met another photographer there who was trying out his new Canon Rebel XT and we chatted for a bit while taking pictures.

I think that for the rest of the week, I’ll be displaying these pictures. I had so many that I was pleased with of the 100+ that I took. I hardly know where to start. So, I guess that I’ll start at the beginning.
pdlester_20070509_018_a.jpg
I’m really happy that things turned out the way that they did or I would have surely missed this fantastic opportunity. I plan to have dinner with the wife-a-roni on Friday. There are a number of restaurants around the water’s edge.

 Posted by at 00:00

Someone lives here?

 Personal  7 Responses »
May 092007
 

pdlester_20070502_0018_a.jpg
Each day when I pass this scene, I think: “Now, who would put furniture on a loading dock?”, add to that, the loading dock faces a parking lot. Anyway, it looked interesting enough in the warm morning light.

One day as I was leaving for the day, I saw a couple of cats sitting beneath the table, one was quite friendly, as pictured here, and one a bit standoffish. So, I took a moment with the friendly guy, shared a piece of my sandwich with him and went on my way. Now, I’m his new best buddy and if he is around, he’ll come to great me and, of course, if I have anything left over from lunch, I’ll share it with him!
pdlester_20070502_0030_a.jpg
I discovered yesterday that this dock is actually someone’s patio and that someone lives here! I saw the guy returning on his bike and go into the building. There are two doors and thus, two apartments. There’s also a small cat door in the bottom of the leftmost door. There’s no flap on it, so I guess that it could be a cat door or a rat door! :-)

Man! They’ll make an apartment anywhere! I imagine that the rent is pretty high, too. No thanks!

 Posted by at 06:50

Direction

 Personal, Photography  7 Responses »
May 042007
 

pdlester_20060929_094_a.jpg
Switching over to Lightroom required that I add keywords back to most of my files. I’ve been doing about 1,000 or so images/day. I’ve only 1,500 left to add keywords to. Naturally, while adding keywords, you have to look at each picture and make a decision as to where to ‘place’ it. I see that I have a lot of different types of photographs, which got me to thinking about this post.
pdlester_20061112_013_a.jpg
At times I wonder about my own personal direction regarding photography. I see some photographers who seem to have a solid direction. What I mean by that is that their websites generally show one type of photograph, for example, landscape, macros, animal shots, sports, or people.

At the moment, I see myself as a dabbler. One who takes photos of this and that, but with no real direction as to where I want to expend my energy to take/market my photography. I like shooting so many things and when I shoot only one subject, I always feel like I’m missing something.

I’d have to say that the overwhelming number of my photos (> 60%) are landscapes, which I seem to enjoy the most. Within that category, they are split probably 60/40 between beach and mountain views.

Now, down to the nitty gritty: I’m not sure of my direction. For now, I’m not even entirely sure if I need a specific direction, or if being a ‘jack of all trades’ will suffice. I suppose that I have a ‘means’, but no well defined ‘end’. Right now, I’m just having fun and intend to keep my day job. :-)

This brings up another tough topic. The day job. I realize that, in all probability, I could not replace my current income level by being a photographer who just sells prints. I am, by trade, a software developer with 20+ years of experience. I’d have to sell a heck of a lot of prints. I’d have to be involved in some other type of photographic venture, such as putting together workshops, which sounds really appealing. I could do Blue Ridge Parkway workshops, for sure.

Right now, it’s all about fun; however, in the back of my mind, I think that one day I’ll need to channel this joy/love into a revenue stream.

 Posted by at 00:00

Not such a good idea …

 Personal, Photography  8 Responses »
May 032007
 

pdlester_20070503_038.jpg
OK, sometimes I don’t have such good ideas. Today’s idea was one that was in that category. I decided to take my dog, Hobbs, with me on a photo outing. Bad idea. I was planning to shoot some more macros of the ladybugs and various insects that I find in an open lot. However, Hobbs had different ideas. He decided that wherever I was, he wanted to be. Instead of roaming freely among the grasses and deserted streets, between the legs of my tripod is where he wanted to be.

He even came up with a whimsical game called “Jungle Schnauzer”. The object of the game was to go into the tall grass and run around. The entry point to the grass must, however, be right in front of where I was setting up to take my shot! You should have seen that grass sway! Not a great condition for macros!
pdlester_20070503_003_a.jpg

Lastly, who could forget the game of Chase the Jogger! There was one guy who happened to be jogging by and Hobbs took off after him. Fortunately, the guy was a dog lover and gave Hobbs what he wanted, some lovin’. This is not good for concentration!

So, to heck with it. Make lemonade from lemons. The sun was coming up, so I just shot the sunrise and then headed home. Next time, I’ll either walk or shoot, but not both!

 Posted by at 07:40

Soccer Mom? So, so … Basketball Dad! Way cool!

 Personal  4 Responses »
Apr 222007
 

dsc_8540_a.jpg
I just got back home from my son’s basketball tournament, from which we took 2nd place, again! This makes 4, 2nd place finishes in a row. That aside, I am really getting into shooting the games, although this weekend meant spending 3 of 4 games in a hot, stuffy, dimly lit gym. Getting close to the action is no problem. The problem is getting far enough away from the action. They gyms are pretty small and, to get the best vantage points, I had to sit on the top row of the bleachers.

I like to shoot sports because you don’t have much time to think. It’s all reaction! I love how unpredictable things are. Of course, you have to know the game to know where the action is likely to happen, but it is a grand old time. Also, there is so much emotion involved and the potential to get so many different pictures.
pdlester_20070422_0711_a.jpg
I usually can’t tell you too much about what happened in the game, but I do have a great time shooting it and looking at the hundreds upon hundreds of shots that I take during a tournament weekend. Right now I am importing, into Lightroom, some 2,000 pictures that I took this weekend. Editing is not fun, of course, but looking at them is.

I also maintain another website, on a volunteer basis, for the team. It’s a great time! I would guess that being a “Soccer Mom” is OK, but being a “Basketball Dad” with a big bad camera, is even ‘way cooler!’. :-)
dsc_8584_a.jpg
Lastly, I must really like this stuff because when I got home I thought: Hmmm, I could go out and shoot some macros this evening! Maybe I will!

 Posted by at 18:45
Page 30 of 31« First...1020...2728293031
© 2011 Paul Lester Photo Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

Bad Behavior has blocked 262 access attempts in the last 7 days.