A couple of weeks ago, I went on a roadtrip to LA. The trip was supposed to continue on to Texas to visit my sister, but she ended up not feeling well, so that part of trip got postponed. Since I've been criticized for not being as selective as I might, lately I've been trying to be more selective during the whole process of photography, starting with which pictures I take. My goal was to only take great photos, and try to edit before I even exposed the sensor. In short, I tried to pretend that I was shooting film, and that every press of the shutter cost me.
I did take a lot fewer pictures that's for sure, and I had a lot fewer to weed out. I am allowing myself to shoot a bit more in time critical situations such as action shots, and trying to catch mud bubbles popping. Also, if I was trying for a particular shot, I allowed myself the advantages of the instant feedback of digital and took as many tries as it took to get the shot, or give up. I also had a paid gig on my trip, I was hired to do a fetish shoot, and it was more important for me to get good photos, than to not take bad photos. While the average quality of my photos is definitely improved I may, however, be taking fewer of my best work because I'm taking fewer risks. I've also found myself a lot less likely to just pull my camera out to take photos of things, because they would be, at best, good shots, not great shots, so I'm taking a LOT fewer photos in general. It seems as if most of my work since getting back has been documentation, or taking photos for other people (band shots and the like). I'm going to continue trying to be extra selective about my picture taking for a while longer, in the hopes that it improves my eye for photos, but I suspect that the long term solution to getting great photos is a combination of improving my skill, taking risks, and just taking lots of photos. Unlike the similar trip from last year, I didn't take any photos on the trip down, or back. On Friday, we went to Griffith observatory, and were there for sunset. If we had gotten there an hour or two earlier, I could have gotten better shots of the moon and the sculpture, because I could have been further away and gotten better depth of field between the two of them. On Saturday, we went back out to the Salton Sea, and since we were at two of the same places as last year (Salvation mountain and Bombay Beach), it was tough not to take the same photos I did last year. On Sunday we were visiting with a friend who I did a few photo sessions with when she lived in Santa Cruz, and ended up doing a photo session with her. This time we skipped straight to the silly photos and did some of her rock climbing at night in evening wear. That night Candice and I went for a photo walk of downtown LA, and on Monday I had the paid gig. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellarsee/sets/72157625912266578/ or if you prefer the flickriver interface http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ellarsee/sets/72157625912266578/ Candice got this picture of me taking video of the mud volcanos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccmonty/5379329441/ -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
