But, when I started to improvise and really PLAY with my camera I realized that for me, taking photos is an analogy for dealing with LIFE.
When I was a kid, I loved taking photographs. Back in those good old days, film was expensive and it cost money to get it developed. So, I was fairly careful about my photos. Stingy, in fact. Each photo equated to money spent and I wanted to make sure I got my money's worth. When I got my prints back I'd hold on to all of them. Even the ones that didn't turn out so well. I ended up with bloated, overstuffed albums with a lot of junk photos in them.
Then, the era of digital cameras arrived! An amazing thing, a person could take as many photos as they wanted and just delete the ones that didn't turn out!
While I knew that intellectually, it didn't register emotionally and I was still stingy about taking my shots AND greedy about hanging on to every single one. For me, each photo had to be carefully planned out and only one or two snapped. It wasn't until I read a post on escapeadulthood.com that challenged my thinking and got me on the path of taking (and dumping!) a LOT of photos.
The post described a challenge to just grab your camera, and start clicking the shutter WITHOUT looking through the viewfinder. Just taking the most random of snapshots, then keeping ONLY the ones that turned out well. This appealed to the improvisor in me. So, I brought my camera along when I went on a trip to Puget Sound. 3 lazy days by water's edge and I tried it. I snapped and snapped and snapped. Hundreds of photos. I crawled on the ground and snapped shots. I held the camera above my head and snapped shots. I held the camera over my shoulder and snapped shots. And, once in a while, I actually looked through the viewfinder and snapped shots.
When I got home I downloaded about 500 photos into my computer! I then deleted the ones that didn't appeal to me. I got a LOT of crappy photos -and I dumped them, free of guilt. I also ended up with a lot of wonderful, unexpected photos that I love. Ever since then, I take LOTS of snaps of the same thing and then delete and edit until I keep THE shot. The one I wanted in the first place.
For Christmas, I was gifted a lovely camera. Instead of my little, compact point and shoot, it is an Olympus with two different lenses. I've been taking it with me on my regular walks around the neighborhood. On Saturday, walking with my daughter, I saw the sun pouring through a gap in the trees. I stood there and took about 20 shots of the same thing.
When I got home, the picture you see on this page was THE one. The one I wanted. The light hit the lens just right and the explosion of purple light that resulted (and the bubbles of light) created an image as magical as the moment felt with the sun coming through the trees.
In fact, I'm learning that the more shots I take, the likelihood increases that I will get a magical shot. There is no rhyme or reason to it, either. Sometimes the first shot turns out to be the one that I like the most. Sometimes the last one, but, usually it is a shot somewhere in the middle. And, sometimes I find that NONE of the shots turned out the way I thought they would, so I dump the whole lot and move on. The next series of pictures will usually hold a gem. Nothing is precious or sacred it is merely an act of doing my best to get something wonderful and moving on if I don't capture it!
Just like life, isn't it!
No comments:
Post a Comment