Postcards from the Creative Journey

Making the Photograph

 

Photographers are naturally drawn to certain subjects. White buildings are a definite photographer magnet. In the days when film and developer were the only manner of photographic expression, being able to control the high tones in a negative and a print was a sign of exceptional photographic skill and it was almost a requirement to have a white building in your portfolio. With the increased photographic control afforded by digital technology, that mark of technological prowess is no longer impressive as it once was. So now, we make the photograph for other reasons. I had similar white buildings in the Change of Pace folio, so this one didn’t make the cut. It also didn’t make the cut for the building’s owners. This scene no longer exists. The building was demolished less than six months after I made this photograph. The lesson? Make the photograph. You never know when the scene will change.

Consider the Final Presentation First

The EXIF data shows this photo was made on September 15, 2006. (There’s that date again. I did make a photograph this week on September 15, but it was so bad it wasn’t even good enough for a square peg.) And this one isn’t very good either, but “it’s good enough for the final presentation.” What? It’s a pretty good composition for Hell’s Half Acre with water, trees, rocks and a “so-so” sky, but the image won’t hold up much beyond the fairly small web version you are looking at now. Consider the final presentation before you make your photograph. Your cell phone camera won’t give you enough information for an A3 print but if you screw up with your 10 or 12 megapixel digicam, it just might be good enough for a small web viewing.

St. Francis and The Broom

Here’s another church from the photo safari of 2009. Well, actually it’s the rectory (the Priest’s residence for the parish) next to the church. It’s about the only photograph I made at that stop because of locked doors and a lack of access. I have noticed in my photographs that I am a formalist. By that I mean I arrange things very carefully and proportion the areas in the frame to create a composition. It works best (for me at least) if I a thing or two just don’t fit in the arrangement of rectangles that occupy most of my photographs. Here, St. Francis and the Broom (there’s a great title for this print) fulfill that responsibility quite well.

Searching for The Edges

I think photographers have it pretty easy in terms of art. So much of taking a photograph is mechanized, automated, pre-set, default valued, averaged and auto-focused there is not much we have to do except worry about the aesthetics. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? The beautiful arrangement of the elements in this photograph had already been done for me by caretaker(s) of Pioneer Village. In this photograph, the only thing I had to do was to determine the edges of the picture.