Autumn leaves and life

When I walk outside I always notice the beautiful colors and shapes of the leaves on the concrete. As an exercise inspired by FYE I decided to photograph them and make a creative project out of it. I was attracted to the colors and sought words to go with them. I found this very beautiful poem by someone named Ted Onulak who put into words something that has been on my mind lately.

My pastel inspiration file

Creating an inspiration file

I have a file on my computer where I put (links to) inspirational photo's from other photographers. It never occurred to me to make one of my own images. But as a part of my FYE course I was asked to make one of my own images. Selecting images that moved me, not the ones that were somehow appreciated by others.

So I started looking through my files going backwards in time. It's funny how I still remember all those images when seeing them again as my perception of my mind is that I really forget very easily. I went through them trying not to think to much just pick them. I ended up with some 30 images from the last 3 months and it occurred to me that I had published most of them on Flickr.


So do I publish what I really liked or did I pick the ones that I though worthy of publication? I tend to only "like" my photo's that are technically well done. Perhaps I focus to much on that? Looking through the files I remember that I took this one without thinking. I did not check my camera settings and it's cluttered with all kinds of stuff. But I keep coming back to it, I really like it, more than the other images in the file. This little cat, going off doing her own thing, walking away. I like the contrast in the image and the B&W. And this was one I did not publish probably because I thought it was not good enough.



There is one more image I kept coming back to. It's so delicate and light. I did publish this one and it is my second favorite from my inspirationfile.

As both a B&W that is a surprise to me. I thought I loved color and I do. All the other images are with a lot of color and that always is one of the attractive parts of the image for me.

But I love B&W in other peoples images as well. I feel as if I have taken a small step in identifying what feeds my soul, I am looking forward to the next step(s).

Still some things to learn here. The lettertype is not what I wanted and I can't get the images in the text in stead of at the top. Anyone know how to do this?

A meditation on making images/pictures/photo’s:

As an opening to this blog I want to go back to the beginning and just wander around in my mind for a while meditating on why I take pictures in the first place.

These are some of the reasons that come to mind.

Freezing time:

The one that pop’s up the most is to freeze time and keep that moment alive forever in the picture. I forget a lot of things so easily or never even notice them because I don’t take the time to see. I am always busy with the next moment to come or the moments that have past. Taking a photo puts me back in the present time, I can keep forever something that otherwise would be gone. Some people can keep these moments in their mind but I need something visual to help me remember what a place looked like or how someone or something looked.

Then once I have taken the photo and am processing it I start to notice all kinds of beautiful detail, the way the light was falling, the color of the light, the details in e.g. the flower or the expression in the eyes, the colors in the image.

Looking at my photo’s or other peoples after they are presented has something so peaceful about it, as if time stands still for a little while.

To tell a story:

Looking at other peoples blog and flickr has shown me there is a story to be told. It doesn’t have to be one image in time but it can me a number of images telling a story as well. How some things belong together or where it adds to the story. I love reading blogs with beautiful images and written stories explaining why the images were taken of what was going on at the time. I want to learn how to do this.

To think about the positive things in life:

It’s always so easy to get caught up in things you have to do, to get stressed out about meeting deadlines, to worry about all my problems. It’s also important to look at what’s positive, photography helps me with this.

The technical side:

I like this as well. Just figuring out how the camera works and what effects can be reached with it. What happens if I use the flash, use a different aperture , how did someone else get that effect. What props can I use, what techniques can I use. Knowing the why.

Because someone asked me to:

Sometimes someone asks me to take a picture of an occasion or a person that has a special meaning to them. This is where it gets a harder, all sorts of questions arise. Do I try to take the image the way I like it or the way I think they like it? Will they like it. Will I mess up and not get a good image. If they are happy with the image I feel good, if they don’t like it I feel really bad about it. I obviously have some self reflection to do here.

Finding your eye

I signed up for a course by Kat Sloma to try and get a better insight into my photographic eye.

The first entry in this blog will consist of a photojournal which is part of the course.