Finally Waking Up

Digital photography has been my main hobby for the last 6 years now and I've gone from being a total beginner who knew next to nothing about photography to an amateur photographer who has accumulated a decent amount of gear and gained a fair amount of knowledge and experience. I admit that I tend to spend more time thinking about the technical side of photography and less time trying to improve the artistic side...and I believe this is the main reason why my images have not really improved much since I began. Oh, my images are technically better than when I first started, but artistically and creatively...they suck. But a number of events occurred over the past few weeks that seems to have nudged me in a new direction and changed the way I want to approach this hobby.

The first thing that happened was I came across an article on the Digital Photography School web site titled "What is Holistic Photography?". Some of the ideas in the article got a little deep at times, but I think the main concept it was getting at was the importance of balance. There are technical and artistic aspects to photography and a good photographer will strive to be proficient at both because they are both equally important when creating an image. After reading the article I realized that I really needed to embrace the artistic side of photography as well as the technical side...something that wouldn't be that easy for me to do. But just knowing that this was something I couldn't keep ignoring was enough to put me in the right frame of mind as I moved ahead.

The next thing that happened was meeting Kiall Frost and hearing about luminosity masks for the first time. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, I started doing research on luminosity masks and I'm currently in the process of learning about this technique. But it isn't that I'm learning a new post processing technique that is making an impact with me...what I'm starting to realize is just how important post processing is to the whole image making process. Over the past year I've tried several different post processing programs like the Topaz Plug-in Bundle, HDR software like Photomatix Pro and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2, the NIK Collection as well as Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 and what I'm finally beginning to do is push beyond my conservative comfort level and actually try new things...things I wouldn't have tried a even year ago.

And what this new adventurous attitude toward post processing is doing is to change the way I approach my shot making out in the field. The last 2 outings I shot half the frames I normally shoot and that's because I've slowed way down and I'm actually thinking about the shots I'm trying to take. I find myself being more aware of the light and even think about the composition of the image as I look through the viewfinder. I know I still have a long way to go, but it's a nice feeling to know that I'm actually beginning to think about the final image while I'm out there shooting.

The last thing that happened was the post processing exercise dA Crazies started doing recently.  What this exercise is doing is helping me to learn how to assess an image carefully, come up with an idea of what I'd like the image to look like, and is forcing me to learn new processing techniques that will help me to achieve the look I'm after. The thing I'm really enjoying about this exercise is how some of dA Crazies will talk about the parts of the image they feel they need to work on and what they did to change it. This is proving to be very insightful.

But why am I finally waking up only now? Well, I think the article about Holistic Photography planted a tiny seed in my mind and the subsequent events helped to get that seed to germinate and grow and multiply. That article made me realize I need to find balance between my technical skills and artistic/creative expression and that's a challenge I feel I'm finally ready for. The other events seemed to trigger something deep inside of me and I'm feeling a strong desire to take photography a lot more seriously so that I'll be able to create better photographs than I've been producing up till now. 

So now I'm eagerly looking forward to the next dA Crazies sunrise shoot where I can push myself a little more and try to get that one great shot...the one that has been eluding me all these years.

I just hope I don't fall asleep again...