For Five Days, I Thought I Found a Loophole
Photography Clips
This was my perspective earlier this week. I found myself on the crow’s nest floor with my feet up, trying to figure out what to do next. To explain how I ended up there, I have to go back several months... Podcast Notes: Photography Clips Podcast: Music From the Doctor’s Office:
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Was Her Dress White?
Photography Clips
I recently attended a wedding as a guest, and afterward I had a chance to look through some of the photographs taken by the wedding photographer. One detail kept pulling my attention away from everything else. The bride’s dress didn’t look white. It had a tan cast, almost as if a light sepia tone had been applied to the image. Maybe that was part of the photographer’s style. Some photographers like warm skin tones, softened greens, faded shadows, and a vintage look. I understand that. We all make choices that shape the way our photographs look. But I kept coming back to the dress because...
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The Things I Keep Walking Past
Photography Clips
After all these years of photography, I know what will make me stop. A beautiful sunset can do it. So can wildlife, a waterfall, an old building, an interesting street, or a moment that suddenly comes together in front of me. Sometimes it’s the light more than the subject. I can be driving somewhere and notice the way late afternoon light is hitting a field or the side of a building, and immediately I start wondering whether there’s a photograph there. That’s what experience does. The more we photograph, the faster we become at recognizing the things that interest us. But recently I...
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Do I Give Myself Permission to Get Away?
Photography Clips
For the last few weeks, I've caught myself doing something I don't normally do. I'll open a map and start looking around. Not because I have somewhere I need to go. Just because part of me wants to. I find myself looking at mountain roads in West Virginia, waterfalls in North Carolina, little historic towns, state parks, and places I've never visited before. Before long, I'm imagining what it would be like to get up before sunrise, grab my camera, and spend the day exploring wherever the road happens to take me. Then, almost as quickly as those thoughts appear, another thought follows. "You...
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When Advice Becomes a Substitute for Seeing
Photography Clips
There is a strange point in learning photography when instruction begins to work against you. At first, advice is useful. You learn how aperture changes depth of field, how shutter speed affects motion, and how light shapes a subject. You begin to understand the camera instead of merely hoping it gives you something usable. Then the advice keeps coming. Every image should have a clear subject. The shadows should be opened. The highlights should be protected. The background should be simplified. The colors should be corrected. The horizon should be straight. The eyes should be sharp. The...
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The Photographs We Keep
Photography Clips
Every now and then, I look back through old photographs and wonder why I kept certain ones. Not the obvious ones. Not the family photographs, birthdays, holidays, faces, or moments that clearly belong in the archive. Those explain themselves. I understand why they are there. I am thinking more about the quiet images. A road. A tree. A field. A lake. A building I passed once. A patch of light on an ordinary afternoon. At first, some of those photographs do not seem to say very much. They may not be strong enough for a print. They may not belong in a portfolio. They may not be...
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Earning the Viewer’s Eye
Photography Clips
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but attention is not automatic. That is something I think about more and more when it comes to photography. We can make the photograph. We can print it, post it, frame it, share it, and send it out into the world. But none of that means anyone is required to stop and look. The viewer still has a choice... Podcast Notes: Photography Clips Podcast: Music From the Doctor’s Office:
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Images That Changed How I See
Photography Clips
I do not think a photograph has to be famous to change you. It does not even have to be understood by anyone else. Sometimes an image works on you privately. You see it once, and for some reason, it stays around in your mind. You may not know why at first. You may not be able to explain what it did. But later, when you are holding a camera and standing in front of something ordinary, you realize that the image has taught you how to look. That is the part of photography I keep coming back to... Podcast Notes: Photography Clips Podcast: Music From the Doctor’s Office:
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The Thought Process Behind Every Photograph
Photography Clips
The camera only records what is in front of it, but the photograph begins before that. It begins when something makes me stop. Sometimes it is a certain kind of light. Sometimes it is a face in a crowd. Sometimes it is a shadow falling across a wall, making an ordinary place look different for a moment. Other times, it is something quiet that most people would walk past without giving it much thought. That is usually where photography starts for me. Not with the camera. Not with the settings. Not with trying to make something impressive. It starts with noticing. I have taken enough photographs...
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The Danger of Nostalgia in Photography
Photography Clips
I have always loved old photographs. There is something about them that pulls me in. A faded print. A family face. A place that no longer looks the same. A street corner that has changed. A house that is gone. A person who was young then and old now, or maybe no longer here at all. Photography has a way of keeping those things close. That is one of the reasons I love it. A photograph can take something ordinary and give it weight. It can make us stop and look again. It can remind us that a moment mattered, even if we did not fully understand it at the time. But I have also learned there is a...
info_outlineI have always loved old photographs.
There is something about them that pulls me in. A faded print. A family face. A place that no longer looks the same. A street corner that has changed. A house that is gone. A person who was young then and old now, or maybe no longer here at all.
Photography has a way of keeping those things close.
That is one of the reasons I love it.
A photograph can take something ordinary and give it weight. It can make us stop and look again. It can remind us that a moment mattered, even if we did not fully understand it at the time.
But I have also learned there is a danger in nostalgia.
Nostalgia can be comforting, but it can also be dishonest...
Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/the-danger-of-nostalgia-in-photography/
Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/
Music From the Doctor’s Office: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/music-from-the-doctors-office/