I got my state fair photos developed. I am so disappointed in myself. They're awful. I mean awful. Out of focus, poorly composed, badly chosen F-stops, everything. I couldn't understand it until I remembered I hadn't done any serious photographing in almost a year, since my trip to Japan, in fact. Man, does it show. What makes me feel glum is having just had my friend Denise, the professional photographer, visiting. We talked about photography almost constantly while she was here. Her work is so good I can't even be jealous. I merely aspire to being that proficient and inspired. The funny thing is, I think I could be if I'd work at it. Photography doesn't come easy for me. I can do a lot of artistic things very well but looking through a lens and seeing, really seeing, what's there is tough. It takes practice. I need to practice more than once a year, obviously.
My disappointment is not depressive but rather motivational. I love photographs. I long to take the quintessential shot of something, whether it's a cow, a landscape, or a quality of light. I won't beat myself up over this failure; failure isn't a dirty word.
The fair's over so I can't reshoot that. I might give myself an assignment: shoot one roll of film every week, no matter what subject. Learn to focus on details. Photograph the houses that so appeal to me, or appall me, as I make my rounds of the neighborhood on the dog walks. At the very least, don't expect to retain my hard-won skills with no followup. It's not like riding a bike. It's not physical. It's visceral, and it goes away unless you use it.
Now, because I promised, here's a photo from the state fair.
Cow butts. Wouldn't you know the one really good photo I took was of cow butts? I should have superimposed the Majon Award over this, as per the suggestion of Ab Nomen.
The IndexNext Entry