Concept

As many of you know already (and those of you who don’t are about to be told), I am an amateur photographer.  I’m not quite sure why I use the word ‘amateur’ when I have been paid for some of my work…maybe it’s because I don’t do it on a full-time basis.  I would be full-time, if I made enough money for that to be possible.  So for now, ‘amateur’ it is.

‘Amateur’ also because I’m still learning.  I’d like to think that even if I thought I knew everything there was to know about photography, that I’d yet still learn something…but I digress.

Lately, I’ve been delving into night and slow-shutter photography.  I’m getting better at it, and while I sometimes think that there must be a trick to it, or some easier way to get the results I want, part of me knows that’s not the case.  I just keep experimenting and when things come out wrong, I try again.  But I have to admit that I’m getting better at it.  I don’t know why I dislike using the flash, and I know it would help, but I just think that it whites things out too much.  The good thing about having a Canon is that it is excellent in low-light.  That’s one of the main reasons that I got it.

But also, I’d like to get into some concept photography.  Manufacturing situations or scenes for a specific purpose.  I’m not going to give any of my ideas here (unless I come back to complain about it not working), but hopefully one day I can show you what I’m talking about.

However, the problem with concept photography is that I either have to get a model in (difficult) or photograph myself.  I don’t really like

being on the other side of the lens, mainly because I, like most people, don’t think that the way that I look on paper is the same as the way I think that I look, and therefore despise every picture that is ever taken of me.  But I’m trying to get past that, so I’ve been doing self-photography in order to get the results that I want conceptually.

One of the problems, though, is that it takes ages for me to do a shoot of myself, because I keep running back to the camera to check and see if it’s coming out ok.  Also, trying to direct myself on where to stand in relation to the camera isn’t as easy as it looks.

But I’ve had some ok results so far, so maybe it’s like the slow-shutter photography: I just need to practice at it.

So, for those of you who like seeing pictures of me, then you can expect to see more.  And for those of you who don’t like seeing pictures of me, well, you might want to take a break for a bit

Catch you on the flipside.

 

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