Where is your big red X?

 Photography, Spirituality  8 Responses »
Apr 082009
 


Peaceful times (Tamron 11-18mm @ 11mm)

If you’ve not read David duChemin’s blog, I highly recommend it. There are lots of good nuggets of wisdom about being a professional photographer and following one’s passion. There are two articles of interest that I read: One yesterday. One today. They are: Know your place: A Sermon in two parts and Know your place, part two. They offer a good amount of food for thought.

Though I’m not in the market, just yet, to be a professional photographer, it’s great ground work for what lies ahead. In the second part he talks about your big red X. That is, the photographer that you are. Your brand, your unmistakable style. He says that there is room for everyone. You may not be Moose Peterson, but you can still be a professional wildlife photographer. You just have to hone your skills and direct yourself to be the best ‘you’ that you can be. You need to be the biggest, brightest X that you can be. He also talks about dilution. Are you the go-to guy for destination weddings, or are you the guy who does weddings, and macros, a landscapes, and … If so, how will your customer find you? How will they see your particular style? How will they choose you.

Zack Aria mentioned something similar to this about choosing pictures to go in your online galleries and especially your portfolio. Choose those that suit your style and are examples of your best work, etc. I wonder, periodically, what it is that I would do as a professional photographer? What am I good at? I point my camera at all types of things, but could see myself photographing the desert southwest, like Alain Briot. Or, closer to home, making a living photographing the Blue Ridge Parkway, of which I miss dearly at this time. By far, I think, most of better pictures are of those subjects. Subjects that I seem to relate to. Also, most anything with water in it, especially rivers and streams.

Food for thought: Where is your big red X? What are you good at? If you are, or were to become a professional photographer, what would be your area of focus? Where is your passion?

 Posted by Paul at 8:29 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Taking the 11-18mm out for a stroll

 Photography  7 Responses »
Apr 062009
 


A good place to read

I missed this weekend’s Flowertown Festival. It’s a yearly festival held in Summerville, SC and it attracts, from what I have heard, about 200,000 – 300,000 people! That’s rather impressive, considering that the total population of Charleston, North Charleston, and Summerville added together only adds up to about 180,000 … maybe.

Today, there were just a few remnants remaining. There were a few picnic tables, disassembled vendor stands, etc. I wanted to go out and shoot this evening and thought that I’d take in a few pictures of some azaleas. After all, they are in bloom all over the place. I decided that since I’ve not used my wide angle lens for quite a while, this would be the perfect opportunity. Originally, I wanted to go out and do some macro shots, but it was a tad bit windy. Winds were blowing a solid 20 miles per hour with gusts to 35. It would have been cool to do some ‘wind painting’, but I decided to go wide.

I went to Azalea Park, near downtown Summerville. I saw a bronze statue of a girl sitting on a wall reading. I decided that I’d take all of my pictures at or around this statue. The sun was going down pretty fast and this was the only part of the park that had a bit of sunshine remaining.

I had forgotten how much fun it was to shoot with an ultra wide angle lens. I had to get right up in her face, nearly 5 or 6 inches away from the face just to fill the frame and have a good deal of background visible.

I’m glad that I took the time to take the lens out of the bag. In part, Earl inspired me to get the lens out of the bag. He purchased a 14-24mm f/2.8 (way out of my budget right now) and has been doing some nice wide angle shots.

It was worth the time and the little bit of mud that I got on my knees from kneeling down next to the bird house on the pole. It’s nice to switch up every once in a while. It was a reminder of why I bought the lens.

 Posted by Paul at 9:30 pm  Tagged with: , , ,
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