Friday. Travel day. Actually I’m happy I got an image at all. We had rain in the morning and I missed a fantastic image: a young woman all under a hood, in front of a mostly bare wall, no face visible, one arm put forward in a strange gesture, obviously checking if the rain still falls, her appearance nothing but ghost-like.
It would have been a great image, very strange, if, yes, if I had not completely botched it. I just saw her peripherally, raised the camera, had one chance … and failed. Her feet were cut off, I got her in front of the only part of the wall that was not bare, the gesture was gone, it really had stopped raining and she had taken off the hood. Oh dear!
But that’s simply how it goes. On the street you don’t have many chances. You see something, you react, and then you’ve either got it right or not at all. Experience raises the number and quality of keepers, but it will always be a gamble, even in ten years, when I will be a 100% master photoblogger 🙂
Today’s image was easier to get. I saw the multitude of signs, found that the 85/1.8 compressed them enough to make for an image, and then I saw the young man coming from behind. I focused on the sign in the middle, and I only had to wait for him to pass the sign.
Btw, knowing that many of my readers are active bloggers themselves, I’d really like to ask you a question: What is it that you get out of blogging? Why do you do it?
I ask, because apart from the reasons that I mentioned yesterday, I also see this blog (and my photography as well) as part of a diary and as a timeline. I can use my images to locate past events, and frequently my blog entry triggers a fairly complete set of memories.
A project, that I’ve carried around for some time now, is to document the books that I read. I don’t really know what this will be, a critique after I’ve read it, or simply a list like the list of my Songs of the Day, but I strongly feel the urge to document what I do, and in this case it is primarily for me. We’ll see what comes from it.
The Song of the Day is “Don’t You See How This World Made A Change” by Blind Willie McTell. I have it on disc 43 of this fabulous 168 CD collection called “The Ultimate Jazz Archive”, but if you insist on something smaller, “The Definitive Blind Willie McTell” will also do. YouTube has a video.
There are 2 comments
Markus Spring (2009-07-12)
There are many reasons to write a blog, but for me it concentrates on two aspects: the personal impetus to publish work in form of words or images, resulting maybe from similar roots as the artistic urge to create.
The other reason at least for me is the framework this provides to make me step on, to not slip back into procrastination but to develop my skills and to reflect my development.
Those two get combined with the communication and feedback I get through comments and sometimes email contacts that can provide invaluable help and support.
The timeline aspect you noted, Andreas, is definitely an important point, but to address this I would probably rather create scrapbooks. No, for me the communication and development aspects are the main reasons to write and publish.
Anita Jesse (2009-07-10)
Following your excellent commments on blogging, mine seem rather lame, frankly. However, I will venture into this.
I find that putting questions, impressions, or feelings into words often helps me to clarify my thinking. Of course, much of what I write for my blog is meaningless blather; still,I enjoy having a place to share thoughts and feelings with others and I have become increasingly attached to a small community of photographers who enrich my journey in photography.
When I began posting, I had no idea whether or not I had staying power. Now, I will be celebrating my second anniversary tomorrow, and I see that the discipline of keeping my blog active (I am not disciplined enough to post every day pays off in many other ways.
I would highly recommend blogging to others.
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