Photographing Things

At the beginning of the year, I decided I would try to post a photo each day on Facebook. At the time I didn't realize what that personal challenge would mean, or how much I would learn.

It means shooting almost every day. It means editing almost every day. It means walking through the world with eyes that are constantly noticing how sun illuminates buildings and trees and sky and water. 

So far, I've mostly been shooting in the morning. Not because the light is warm or the dew is fresh, but because that's when the dogs need walked and I'd as soon walk in the woods as on the road and I might as well carry a camera. I walk paths I've walked a thousand times before and will walk a thousand times more. I walk past the same trees and the same pretty patch of moss. Almost always I walk past the point in the stream where the water flows over the rocks, and almost always I am pleased to see it. Seeing that pleasing stream each day for a thousand days has made me realize that the relationship between how things appear and how they appear in a photograph is rather complicated.

You see, there's a thing and there's a photograph of a thing. Sometimes the photo captures the essence of the thing and sometimes the photo stands on its own. Sometimes the thing is beautiful, and in spite of unceasing efforts of the photographer, the beauty eludes capture (this has been the case with the aforementioned stream). Sometimes the thing is ordinary and the photo reveals something wondrous. Sometimes the photo captures a part of the thing and reveals the beauty of the part.

That's a portion of what I've learned so far. I'm also learning a bit about f-stops and shutter speeds and I've found the setting that lets me take three shots every time I press the shutter button (which sounds cool and makes me feel like a pro!). I still get confused sometimes about why the screen is dark and then notice I haven't taken off the lens cap (which reminds me I'm not a pro!).

But mostly I've learned that after you point the camera at a thing and check the settings and adjust the focus and press the button there is a process that takes place that involves light and luck and color and texture and lines and maybe some mystical energy that can't be seen or touched and very occasionally the result is rather pleasing and so you go back and try again.

Dandelion, an ordinary thing.