I've been doing photography for a little over four years now. I realized this morning while I was putting out a weekly email that I do to friends and family that my photographic interests and outlook had changed significantly during that time. I started photography in order to document the birds and wildlife I saw. Consequently, my emphasis was mostly on subject and fidelity in capture and processing. That's no longer true. At some point I switched to having more interest in line, shape, color, texture and value than in any subject per se. I'm not really sure how or when it happened but it certainly did.
I also realized that I enjoy photographing glass - the strong interaction with light -refractions, reflections, dynamic range ... And that reminded me of the flasks that I think initially created my interest in chemistry as an adolescent and later drew me into math - Florence, Erlenmeyer, retorts, beakers, graduated cylinders, Lavoisier condensers. Those were some of the neatest things I'd ever seen and if you fill them with different colored fluids, then heat and mix them, you've got lots of interesting shapes, colors. lines, textures and values. Hard things to resist as a child or as an adult for that matter. (smile)
So I'm thinking I may have actually come full circle. I've been under the impression it was the mathematical bg that drew me to photography but it may have actually been the fascination with artistic elements that created the initial interest in science that then led to mathematics. Certainly to the extent that I am able to do mathematics/programming it's through visualization.
I'm curious. What have you learned about yourself through your photography?
What a great topic, Pat !! And what a fascinating introduction to it you've provided. I don't think I can offer anything as interesting - but here goes anyway.
My working life and interests centred around the arts - especially the history of the decorative arts and architecture. However, to my great disappointment, I could never paint or draw or do craftwork myself. On a trip to New Zealand a few years ago I started taking snaps as I went about but found myself composing scenes to get the most ` arty ' shots I could, and, when I returned, I found myself looking around at the trees and flowers in my suburban area and taking shots. Eventually I realised I needed an SLR, a macro lens etc., etc. and gradually I seemed to find a niche in which I could, to my great surprise, be creative in a way I had never been with a pencil or brush. Flowers, I think, offered a kind of sculptural beauty which I could try to capture in my images.
So I think floral photography has given me the confidence to feel I can in fact be creative in my own small way. Maybe the great thing about photography is that it's a democratic form of art; we can all produce something worth looking at - and, of course, in the case of flower photography, the beauty of the subjects themselves is a great help in that respect.
I took an oil painting class when I was eight, at my mother's behest. I still have my first oil painting. I can't say that about my first photograph however. I inherited an Exacta 35 mm camera that belonged to my dad, when he stepped up to the newest Minolta auto this auto that when it came out. This was the mid sixties and slides were the rage, we had a slide projector with the ring you loaded slides into, and had family slide shows. Some how very few of my images made it into these shows as I recall. At any rate I drifted away from photography, composed music in college including an orchestration class and dabbled in painting again. So I have always had a creative side. When I started mineral collecting in the field a camera was often taken, and I found myself taking nature photography. Pictures of the scenery, animals and plants. Finally all else has been discarded and my focus is Photography. I considered myself strictly a landscape grand vista photographer, inspired by Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell. That is until I joined the NPN website and started poking around in the floral gallery. Where I found the most diverse variety of postings and specialist artists on the site. So while not a floral specialist per se, I am thinking plants and flowers in the field. I like to bring my landscape side to the floral folks when the conditions all come together to make the main subject in the image floral but still including the environment on a grand scale if possible. I enjoy posting in the floral gallery and appreciate the great feedback and comments. This is a learning site as well and I believe my technical skills especially on the processing side have improved and from the floral gallery a greater appreciation of f/6 to f/3.5. So the journey of discovery on the site has been great and I feel I might not have the appreciation of floral photography without it.
I'm an ornithologist by profession and I began photographing birds...however, it was too much like studying them and as I became more aware of the artistic side of photography, I became more interested in composition and light and was soon chasing clouds and sun rises and landscapes. So now my two passions are landscapes and florals. The florals offer me the chance to really recreate a vision and to find a perspective, often through macro, that isn't obvious to the casual viewer, but is just as artistic, colorful, and wonderful. Working outdoors much of the time, sometimes I love nothing more than a rainy day when I can set up a flower in a vase, hope for some pretty light, and arrange things...
Interesting topic. Pat you said, "I may have actually come full circle." I guess I feel the same way. I grew up exploring rain forests, streams and lakes in the heart of Oregon logging country NW of Portland and I think many of my landscapes reflect that. I spend a fair amount of time doing the same thing I enjoyed as a kid but now I'm packing Photo gear.
In '09 my little Canon P&S that I had only used for ocassional snap shots stopped working so I bought my first real camera and was looking forward to learning about the craft and sharing it with my father who has been into photograhy for many years. He mostly shot friends and family, special events, landscapes and a few florals. He never aquired any expensive gear but he still mananged to get some very nice images. We talked about photography on the phone a few times and I think he was excited that there was something we could share again after so many of our common interests had fallen away with the passing of time. Unfortunately, a few months later he suffered a fatal arrythmia and we never did get together.
So, not only is photography a way to connect with my roots in the sense of place and time but also with my father who is the deepest root of all. Hadn't intended in getting into all that but it is what it is.
After joining NPN and seeing the awesome macro and floral images I knew right away I wanted to get into to that too.
So, what have I learned about myself through photograhy? I'm more creative than I thought I was and photography has definitely taught me patience. Most importantly though is that after getting caught up in the hectic pace of living in this frantic world, photography has allowed me to reconnect with my past in a powerful way and strengthened the bond I have with family.
Hope that wasn't too "warm and fuzzy".
Not at all Bruce. Thanks for sharing the experience. Part of what interested me in starting the thread was conversations I'd had with a couple of other photographers at work. Also, I'll keep it in mind when I view your images.
Thanks for starting this is a really thought provoking topic. I have been dabbling in photography since high school days but really only got serious about 2 years ago. I mucked around the dark room in school and latter also set up a darkroom at home. Bought my first camera the Nikon FM in 1980. I still have this camera by the way which I used a lot of to take family shots when our boys were younger. Gradually I took less and less pictures due to work commitments when we moved to Hong Kong from Australia, My interests in photography was re-kindled when we went to Tanzania for safari 2 years ago. I bought the Canon SX10 camera for that trip and found I like taking photos of wildlife. The safari was one of our most memorable family holidays.
After the safari, I continued to played around the camera taking pictures of butterflies in the garden near work. Being a pathologist working with the microscope all day, it was natural for me to do macrophotography. I quickly found out that I needed to upgrade to a DSLR with a macro lens. I stumbled on NPN doing a Google search and posted some photos as a guest initially and join as member later following Bill Fach’s advice. I primarily concentrated on macrophotography of insects at the start but drifted into taking photo of flowers when there were no insects around. I posted a few images in the Floral gallery initially as a distraction but found that the tremendous support and encouragement from the guys in Floral was such that I began to do more and more Floral work.
Where has photography taken me this past two years? It has become one of my main passions and I now do photography whenever I find the time (sometimes to the annoyance to the family). I go out to the gardens during lunch time with a camera. I wake up early to catch the sunrise. I start doing more bush walks and visiting butterflies and wetland parks. Holiday destinations were chosen based on photographic potentials - Snow monkey in Japan, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Lakes Districts in UK. Although it may seem that photography is my primary interest, I am starting to realise recently that it is only a medium or catalyst that is leading me to other destinations of self discovery. Twice, I went out early for bush walks, with 8kg of photographic equipment in my backpack and I did not even take the camera out. I was really enjoying the solitude and inner connection with nature more than taking pictures (admittedly there wasn’t any photogenic opportunities or maybe I wasn’t looking that hard :)). I have also enrolled in an Ikebana course to learn the art of expressing beauty of flowers and nature and hopefully also capturing it on camera. For me, photography is more a gateway rather than the destination. Where would it lead me to in the next few years? DON’T KNOW.
Very interesting Gary. I hope you'll continue to post your Ikebana work as well as other images of course. I'll be very interested in where that takes you.
Thank you for the response.
pat
Posted by Morgan Casey on June 24, 2011 at 8:53 PM
Pat, thanks for starting this thread. It's been really interesting to read everyone's stories.
I've always had an interest in nature photography, (Art in College) and would always dabble in flower photography off and on. I ended up going into music as a songwriter/composer for some time and only seriously started to explore the macro/floral world more in depth about two years ago. One of the first things I noticed was how the composing side brought a linear quality to my photography. Now, it's evolved from a flower portrait, to a painted landscape.
I like how flowers can take the viewer out of the realm of a portrait, and into another world. I also really like the fusion of bold lines with vibrant colors and so many flowers have hidden qualities that not only makes them amazing to work with, but an experience that continues to grow.
What have I learned about myself through my photography?
I worry too much about details and too little about the big picture. When I see an image that I think is great, I too often I think it is the measurable aspects: subject, sharpness, exposure, depth of field that make it great. The big picture is immeasurable and making a technically perfect photo of it won't help.
Discussion
14 repliesI also realized that I enjoy photographing glass - the strong interaction with light -refractions, reflections, dynamic range ... And that reminded me of the flasks that I think initially created my interest in chemistry as an adolescent and later drew me into math - Florence, Erlenmeyer, retorts, beakers, graduated cylinders, Lavoisier condensers. Those were some of the neatest things I'd ever seen and if you fill them with different colored fluids, then heat and mix them, you've got lots of interesting shapes, colors. lines, textures and values. Hard things to resist as a child or as an adult for that matter. (smile)
So I'm thinking I may have actually come full circle. I've been under the impression it was the mathematical bg that drew me to photography but it may have actually been the fascination with artistic elements that created the initial interest in science that then led to mathematics. Certainly to the extent that I am able to do mathematics/programming it's through visualization.
I'm curious. What have you learned about yourself through your photography?
My working life and interests centred around the arts - especially the history of the decorative arts and architecture. However, to my great disappointment, I could never paint or draw or do craftwork myself. On a trip to New Zealand a few years ago I started taking snaps as I went about but found myself composing scenes to get the most ` arty ' shots I could, and, when I returned, I found myself looking around at the trees and flowers in my suburban area and taking shots. Eventually I realised I needed an SLR, a macro lens etc., etc. and gradually I seemed to find a niche in which I could, to my great surprise, be creative in a way I had never been with a pencil or brush. Flowers, I think, offered a kind of sculptural beauty which I could try to capture in my images.
So I think floral photography has given me the confidence to feel I can in fact be creative in my own small way. Maybe the great thing about photography is that it's a democratic form of art; we can all produce something worth looking at - and, of course, in the case of flower photography, the beauty of the subjects themselves is a great help in that respect.
I should have guessed - that explains the sense of architectural space I've seen and commented on, in so many of your images. Very interesting.
Thanks
pat
Paul
pat
pat
In '09 my little Canon P&S that I had only used for ocassional snap shots stopped working so I bought my first real camera and was looking forward to learning about the craft and sharing it with my father who has been into photograhy for many years. He mostly shot friends and family, special events, landscapes and a few florals. He never aquired any expensive gear but he still mananged to get some very nice images. We talked about photography on the phone a few times and I think he was excited that there was something we could share again after so many of our common interests had fallen away with the passing of time. Unfortunately, a few months later he suffered a fatal arrythmia and we never did get together.
So, not only is photography a way to connect with my roots in the sense of place and time but also with my father who is the deepest root of all. Hadn't intended in getting into all that but it is what it is.
After joining NPN and seeing the awesome macro and floral images I knew right away I wanted to get into to that too.
So, what have I learned about myself through photograhy? I'm more creative than I thought I was and photography has definitely taught me patience. Most importantly though is that after getting caught up in the hectic pace of living in this frantic world, photography has allowed me to reconnect with my past in a powerful way and strengthened the bond I have with family.
Hope that wasn't too "warm and fuzzy".
pat
After the safari, I continued to played around the camera taking pictures of butterflies in the garden near work. Being a pathologist working with the microscope all day, it was natural for me to do macrophotography. I quickly found out that I needed to upgrade to a DSLR with a macro lens. I stumbled on NPN doing a Google search and posted some photos as a guest initially and join as member later following Bill Fach’s advice. I primarily concentrated on macrophotography of insects at the start but drifted into taking photo of flowers when there were no insects around. I posted a few images in the Floral gallery initially as a distraction but found that the tremendous support and encouragement from the guys in Floral was such that I began to do more and more Floral work.
Where has photography taken me this past two years? It has become one of my main passions and I now do photography whenever I find the time (sometimes to the annoyance to the family). I go out to the gardens during lunch time with a camera. I wake up early to catch the sunrise. I start doing more bush walks and visiting butterflies and wetland parks. Holiday destinations were chosen based on photographic potentials - Snow monkey in Japan, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Lakes Districts in UK. Although it may seem that photography is my primary interest, I am starting to realise recently that it is only a medium or catalyst that is leading me to other destinations of self discovery. Twice, I went out early for bush walks, with 8kg of photographic equipment in my backpack and I did not even take the camera out. I was really enjoying the solitude and inner connection with nature more than taking pictures (admittedly there wasn’t any photogenic opportunities or maybe I wasn’t looking that hard :)). I have also enrolled in an Ikebana course to learn the art of expressing beauty of flowers and nature and hopefully also capturing it on camera. For me, photography is more a gateway rather than the destination. Where would it lead me to in the next few years? DON’T KNOW.
Thank you for the response.
pat
I've always had an interest in nature photography, (Art in College) and would always dabble in flower photography off and on. I ended up going into music as a songwriter/composer for some time and only seriously started to explore the macro/floral world more in depth about two years ago. One of the first things I noticed was how the composing side brought a linear quality to my photography. Now, it's evolved from a flower portrait, to a painted landscape.
I like how flowers can take the viewer out of the realm of a portrait, and into another world. I also really like the fusion of bold lines with vibrant colors and so many flowers have hidden qualities that not only makes them amazing to work with, but an experience that continues to grow.
- Morgan
Very interesting to me. Your last paragraph in particular describes the way it sometimes feels to me. Thank you for the response.
pat
I worry too much about details and too little about the big picture. When I see an image that I think is great, I too often I think it is the measurable aspects: subject, sharpness, exposure, depth of field that make it great. The big picture is immeasurable and making a technically perfect photo of it won't help.
Pete D.
pat