I joined a new web ring today, a photography web ring. I'm very proud of how far I've come in just three years. I've owned cameras since I was 10, but they were all point-and-shoot. When we decided to go to Africa in 1993, I knew I'd have to get over my reluctance and learn about F-stops. It was worth it, of course. It certainly wasn't easy to train my eyes to see through the lens, though. They persist in "editing." Or is it my brain "editing?" Well, you know what I mean. The first dozen rolls of film were really educational. I learned that I always ignore telephone wires, and foreground clutter.
Africa didn't have much in the way of telephone wires to ruin my photos, but I did need to be a quick judge of how much light to use, get the shot focused, choose the angle and depth, compose the picture, and snap it before the animals moved. I have some really spectacular photos of exotic animal butts, moving away from me. By the end of the trip, though, I was pretty fast at everything but composition, and so I got a lot of photos that made me happy, and expressed some of the beauty and diversity of what I saw.
The next big challenge was cold instead of heat. I went to Iceland for four days, and took as many photos as I could in a four-hour day. That's right, I went in December. The sun broke over the horizon around 10am, and by 2pm it was heading down again. I did really well photographically, despite the unusual conditions. I highly recommend Iceland for photography: it's a strange, volcanic country, very beautiful and very empty.
Shooting in the intense humidity of Quintana Roo's coast was a good experience last year. I found out how water gets in everything, no matter how tightly you wrap the camera and film bags. I used my bandanas to wipe my brow every minute or so, to keep from adding to the problem. The intense blues of the sea and sky were well worth the sunburn and dehydration (neither severe, just one of the delights of Mexico). I think my shots of the ruins at Tulum look exactly like the postcards. You can see the improvement from Africa.
Most of all, I'm proud of my photos from Japan. Those, I put up on my web page here. And I am confident enough about them to justify joining the Ring of Photography. I used no flash at all, took photos in all kinds of weather, and got about 30 good shots (and 3-4 great shots) per roll of 36. It's really exciting. There's not a stray telephone wire to be seen, except where they couldn't be cropped out or shot around. No one has a tree coming out of their head. I got closeups of cats, long shots of private houses, and some really astonishing detail on statues. It's a fun hobby.
I plan on taking my camera with me tomorrow to the Bay Area. I think I'll go for The Great San Francisco Shot. I'll publish the results when I get back in a week. Ciao, readers.