Catching up

I realized over the weekend that I miss blogging. It's been too long.

I haven't been up to much but the usual. Work, puppies, the lake.........

I have decided to enter a photograph in our fine arts show at the fair. I only have a 1 in 10 chance of being selected for the exhibit but you never know till you try.

It was an interesting process to choose the photograph. I sent the photos to my parents as well as a few friends and asked them to pick their favorite. Everyone picked something different. So I expanded my viewers. I narrowed down the choices to the favorites and then printed them so that the next group of people had the actual photos. Two of the people I asked were avid photographers themselves. Their feedback was very helpful but also a little difficult. They were my first true critics of my work. They were very supportive and they gave me great feedback. But it was also a little humbling.

I have the photograph chosen so the next step is framing. I found what I hope to be the perfect frame so now it is a question of matte, no matte, etc................

Regardless of how this turns out I am so glad I did this. I put myself out there like I never have before. And I feel like I can be a better photographer for it.

Much like any target shooting I have to learn to breathe, I have to learn to be patient. Quantity is not always quality.

I recently took family photos for some close friends of ours. I got some great shots but I know I could have done better. I learned a lot of things about my style when I reviewed the shots. And I know I need to work on my staging. I don't do a good job of taking my time and waiting for the perfect framed shot. I just shoot like crazy and hope that one of the shots is a good one. That for a good photographer it does not make.

A few of the photographs that I am not entering for the fair I am going to submit to the Smithsonian photo contest.

More to come......................