The Joy of Light
“Light makes photography. Admire it. Love it. But, above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.”
I have always felt that photography, in the right hands, is an artform. However, sometimes it is hard to tell when, and how, the craft of photography can become an art and whether a particular image meets that criteria. I have often thought a lot about this in my own photography. And that is the subject of this Blog: how do I find the Art in Photography and how do I know when I have found it?
I hope you find my thoughts on the subject entertaining and, occasionally, informative.
You will notice that I have not included a way for you to directly engage in comments or argument about my comments. I don’t want to be in the position of having to police comments or censor people views or way of expressing themselves. I am too old for that. However, if you wish to engage with me directly go over to the “Contact Me” page and drop me a line. I try to answer all of the comments I receive and If I find feedback that helps me develop my own thinking I will write about it here.
October Camera Show
Last weekend was the most recent edition of the Vancouver Camera show and as usual it was a great deal of fun. I had my table again and was able to sell enough of this and that to pay for my table fee. The hall was busy, lots of people, and great conversation. I had...
Hangin’ with the Artists
Joanne and one of her gorgeous paintings! Last Friday I was back at the Italian Market in Burnaby. Susan and I were on our way out to a dance and wanted to grab a bite to eat there and have a quick visit with our son-in-law, Joe, who was playing the music for the...
150 Pictures
Just over a month ago I received an E-mail from my camera club saying that there was a photo exhibition in Richmond, not far from where I work. Other than it was a showing of Chinese photography there was little in the way of information. The exhibition was to run...
The Print Makers
Photographers should hang around artists. I've talked before here about the benefits for a photographer of going to art galleries and shows. If you are thinking about your craft seriously these events will get your mind churning. I am not talking about photo...
And Speaking of Books ….
The Gods of Photography are not dead! And furthermore, they do speak to us. What follows is a true story and, to me at least, it is pretty strange. Last week I was at my day job, you know, the one that I need but also the one that keeps me from my photography. Yes,...
RPRT Photography
When I was younger, sometime in the last sixty years, I used to take a lot of pictures. And every so often one would stand out from the others: it would glow and shimmer and utterly amaze me. I remember the first time this happened. I was in Wales in 1958 and we had...
Travel Art
Susan and I have just come back from a short vacation to Cuba and the Caribbean. As part of our trip, like always, I have taken many pictures. I think some of them are very nice and worth working up into prints. But that has got me thinking about when an image becomes...
Thoughts on a Picture
This past Christmas had several days of beautiful white snow. I am sure there were many who did not appreciate it but I found it wonderful. It was a chance to get out into the winter with a camera and try to capture it: not just get a picture of it but to actually...
Brownie Target Six-20
Well, Father forgive me for I have sinned. But salvation comes through confession and I have a confession: I am a Camera Junkie! I tried to hide this fact by saying I was a Camera Collector. Not just any camera collector, but a cream-of-the-crop "Canon Collector". I...
How to be a Better Photographer
The Brownie Hawkeye is a simple box camera introduced by Kodak in 1949. It was fixed focus, fixed iris, fixed shutter speed. And it worked just fine. To aim the camera you looked into the viewfinder, the lens on top, and saw the scene through the top lens on the...
Color
So here is the train of thought: using my old cameras with B&W film; being impressed with B&W images and wanting to explore them; what happens if I put color back into them; how do we relate to color in photography? Other people go around thinking about...
Carte de Visite
My Cartes de Visite are small, about 65 by 106 millimeters, on very heavy card stock. The images are on very thin paper glued to the card. Susan wanted to got to an antique show here in Vancouver this past weekend. I had heard that there were also cameras at this...
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