...you might like things that bounce.

I get the "bounce the flash off the ceiling to soften the light" thing.  Big white-ish light overhead = familiar.  Ummm... yeah... unless you live in Michigan in November through May... but that's another story.  I've been fiddling around with some tips from David Hobby, who writes this blog.  The dude is awesome for a bunch of reasons.  First and foremost, he shares.  He doesn't hide his techniques.  Quite the contrary.  He actually challenges people to go out and TRY them!  These pictures are a direct result of that.

... you may be seeing me beginning to see the light.

I'm thinking that the answer may be light. Not really like a lack of heft, or a scarcity of seriousness.  I mean the actual thing that makes the picture.

Sitting alone for hours at a time is an amazing experience.  It's hard to believe that hunters are not all philosophers.  For the past few weeks, I've been hunting.  I haven't been killing a lot of deer (1), but I HAVE been thinking a lot.  Watching a sunrise without having had coffee brings you to strange, inescapable conclusions... like the fact that you aren't really seeing the things that are there.  What you are seeing is the light that is bouncing off of the things that are there. No light... no see.

I think this may be what eventually moves me from taking pictures to making photographs.  You can make the light do what you want it to do.  I've had a LOT of fun doing it, too.  In addition to clicking the shutter, I've been clicking a mouse in search of skill development.  One concept that is in a lot of places is getting the flash off of the camera. The way this changes your pictures is... well... day and night.

... do not adjust your monitor.

Style.  Should you chase it or just let it come to you?  I'm not talking about no-pleat, flat-front euro pants or the thankfully brief resurgence of the cardigan sweater.  What I'm asking is do you aspire to master a particular style, or does your work eventually become your style?  If it does, how does it?

If you like the way something looks, do you just tend to do more of it?  If you do so much more of it that you do less of other things, does it just "become" distinctively YOUR work?  Is it eventually a level of comfort that makes a photographer's work recognizable?  I hope not.  I hope I never chase a style... or settle for one.  If you see me getting into a technique rut... please, please stop me.  I never looked good in cardigans.

More after this jump... heheh... jump.

...maybe you know the difference between snapshots and photographs.

I'm guessing it's about $10 a print or $1000 in equipment, whichever comes first.  It's odd, though, that when I think about what kind of photographs I want to take, I inevitably wind up hoping for something that looks like a snapshot.  Here is an example... It's one of my all-time favorites.  It's a snapshot.

How about this one, though?

We were getting our picture taken for the purpose of having a picture of what we were doing that was a lot of fun.  Is that a photograph?  (I have to admit that I didn't take either of those gems... nice work, Jackie!)

Soooo... it gets more complex.  What if instead of the picture for the moment, you make a moment for the picture... like this one:

I think that's a really, really cool picture.  It's purposefully done, but has some extra people/legs in the background.  Does that move it from photograph back to snapshot?

How much of a role does editing play?  If you crop a snapshot to make it something that seems to be "better"... does THAT make it a photograph?  This one is some of that:

The reason I ask is because I don't have a style.  I'm new at this.  Historically, had you asked me I would have said that this was a GREAT picture:

Now... so what??? It's a boat.  Does it invoke any feeling for me?  No.  None.  It's a boat.  It makes me feel like looking at another picture.  Jackie taught me this... pictures need people.  People have stories.  For me, I think that's what it might come down to.  Are snapshots photographs, as long as they can tell a story effectively?  I feel like to be serious about telling stories through pictures, I should be working on making great photographs instead of hoping for good snapshots.

I don't expect to be good at it yet... but I'm hoping that watching it come together over time will be fun.  If you have anything you'd like to teach me, about photography or anything else, I'd love to learn from you.

E