The Artform of the Photograph Elevated
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: photography
Recently I've been reading a book on photography. Unlike my usual photography reading, this isn't a book on how to TAKE or MAKE pictures, it's just a book on the work of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century. They've inspired me in a way that's nearly impossible for me to describe. But I've been presented with all sorts of techniques and concepts that I am now fiddling with. My photography has progressed from the time that I was a little child simply photographing the events of my childhood to taking pictures for aesthetic reasons to attempting to create art. I don't know how inspirational this phase will be in my photography, but I'm excited by all the new ideas bubbling inside of me. It's as though the book was the key to unlock something inside of me which has been waiting to be expressed. Something always called to me from Dali, for example, which I have been expressing recently in my art. Here are some examples:






Here's another I was inspired to do from the work of an artist whose name I cannot recall right now:

"sometimes the whole guy is out of focus" - Seinfeld, how pharmacutical companies see us
Mood:  happy
Topic: photography
I'm quite happy because, although I'm not perfect yet, I've gotten much better at focusing my photo camera. Up until last spring I never had a camera that allowed me to manually focus the lens. Even though my current camera allows me to enable autofocus for snapshots, I have the option of turning it off. Last night while I was taking some pictures with Danielle, I was able to manually focus the camera for the first time. The reason for my troubles thus far is that, for some reason, it's very hard for me to tell when looking through the viewfinder if the subject is in focus.

I used to have that problem in HS when I would have to autofocus the video camera. However, one utility on my camera, along with some practice has allowed me to finally be able to manually focus - a utility that zooms in on the center of the image so that I can use it for focusing.

I've also learned two techniques recently. First of all, last night I was able to tell when the image is in focus by looking for the letters on Danielle's tshirt to focus. Second, I have learned that an f-stop with a higher number has a higher depth of focus. This means that more of the objects in front and behind of the focus point are in focus. I think this gives me some lattitute when focusing because if I'm slightly off, it shouldn't matter. The downside is that higher fstops mean smaller shutter size which means more light is needed or I need to shoot at a slower speed. This isn't a problem when I have a tripod, but for snapshots, it becomes harder.