Hello Friend-
I wanted to touch base before the Spring excitement of practically weekly shows gets started for me. I'm sharing some new images that you may not have seen if you aren't following along with me on Instagram where you'll find my "Window Frames" project that is new at the shows this season and my ongoing struggle with work gloves blow outs. I'm using old/vintage/shabby/fabulous found window frames to bring my work to life. It is bringing me much joy.
I'll be at the Starving Artist show in downtown San Antonio at La Villita Saturday and Sunday April 7,8th this week. Next weekend at the Lubbock Arts Festival at the civic center April 12,13,14th, then as part of Fiesta at the King William Fair on April 28th. Then in May at LagoFest at Lago Vista on May 5, Art on the Greene in Arlington the 11th,12th and 13th finishing the month at Kerrville Festival of the Arts May 26 and 27th. Dang gurl....I know! Then the big Hot sets in and I'll share more later on future shows.
So, last month in Salado I had someone in the booth looking at my photographs and wondering "Why can't I take photographs like that?" I hear something similar almost every show because everyone takes pictures now. Everyone has a camera in their hand all the time with their phones. I'd been thinking about what makes my work different for a while. How would I describe my work, what am I trying to say ..etc etc and ended up landing on this idea. I'll share it with you and you can test it and see if it doesn't make a difference in the way you see and photograph.
The disclaimer: All types of photography are valid and worthy, one isn't better than another just like any other art form, love what you love. This is what I've found true for me.
My photography truly changed when I embraced the notion that I could make my photographs look like what I see. A lot of that is captured in camera and some of it is created in editing. The idea is that when you look at something or something catches your eye, you focus on whatever that is and all else "falls away" or isn't noticed. That isn't necessarily true when you are taking a picture. The camera is going to pay attention to everything that is in front of it. Yes, you can manipulate that but this isn't a technique talk but about generalizations. So for an amateur, the biggest impact they can make to upping their picture taking game is to make that realization. Find what captured your attention in the first place and make that what the photograph is about. Notice that trash can that is going to be in the shot if you don't take a step to the right because your camera sure will. Once you realize that the camera sees all and doesn't discriminate like your eye and minds does instinctively then you can take steps to make your photograph look like what you saw, either by what you do in camera or afterward in processing.
I still take "representational" photographs-ones that look exactly like real life but more and more I'm trusting that what caught my eye and attention and spoke to me will speak to others as well. Having almost weekly feedback from folks coming through the booth looking and smiling and dreaming along with me has done wonders to validate the directions I take my work into as my confidence grows. I say to you-Give it a try- see if you don't notice a difference in your photography when you treat camera or phone like a human eye and see if you can't recreate that feeling yourself.
That's it for now. Please do following along with me through this season as it feels like a turning point in my photography career and I'll be out and on the show circuit more than ever and hope to meet you along the way.
See you down the road,
