Moving on

Now were finally back to the photography timeline. After spending some time outdoors taking photographs, I had compiled hundreds of images I thought were good, but something about them just did not impress me. As anyone that has looked at images for any serious amount of time, there are images you will personally like, and images you think are great. The difference between a personal great and a great image is sometimes hard to distinguish, but it is relatively easy. The images that you can look at and say thats a good image, are generally personal favorites. Then the images that you look at and stumble for a few seconds, only to say the same thing are the great images. It is that pause that leaves you thinking...................................................... but there aren't really words to describe it, that makes it great. If that pause leads to an indecision, then its a personal favorite. If that pause still cannot come up with anything, its because pictures can say what a thousands words cannot. No matter what you think about the image you are enjoying, there is more than one way to describe it, so you will try and find the best word to describe it, other than just, "thats good" or "thats nice" After having taken so many pictures, nothing really had given that feeling until these were taken. Some pictures taken earlier were great pictures, especially of the fog, but nothing that pushed the creative envelope. After some harsh self-criticism, the effort moved away from the standard deer and landscape pictures. The initial push came during the winter when I found some ice surrounding a plant outside. I took a picture of it, and thought it was amazing. Abstract, and large enough to fill the frame, it sparked a new thought of what could be done. Since I am completely self taught, instead of the rule of thirds, it was fun to break that rule and fill the frame with a design, lines, textures, and color. Once the picture was taken, it set a goal and a precedent. If nothing was initially as exciting as that, the image was just deleted. A few weeks later, getting frustrated not being able to duplicate a picture of that nature, the patio behind the house became the new subject. Following the lines of the shadows, a leaf and some water started screaming at me. It was loud, and became a classic that is one for the ages(started my shadow obsession). Summer came around and I was back outside. Camping next to a dam on the Maumee River and recognizing the potential for opportunity, I sat next to the dam just trying to figure out how to explain it through an image. After an hour or so just sitting there, it came to me and I started pressing the shutter button. It finally happened. It was extremely pleasing and knew that instant I had something great. Then that next spring I enrolled in a recreational photography class. It turned out that it was for beginners, with NO experience. I stayed in the class where I made friends with the instructor and helped with the class. I did not "learn" much from the class, but helped with instructing. By helping the instructor, it forced me to recognize what I had been teaching myself. It allowed me to verbally explain what I had been seeing and experiencing. Being self taught, the lingo and explanation for my actions had restricted my ability to expand. Finally, being able to communicate my thoughts and actions to others, I could jump the puddle in front of me. As a class we went on a field trip to take pictures at a local park. Fortunately, the field trip was at Secor Park in Lucas County Ohio, which is also the National Center for Nature Photograpy. The center has a gallery that frequently has works from all over the country and is run by Art Weber. After having been at the park probably a hundred times, I figured I would not get anything, how wrong could I have been. There were some spring flowers out front where I took the image of the giant leaf. We shared the images we took in class and my instructor loved the image. It was bothering that he criticized the shadow I loved so much, but then realized that you can never call an image perfect. Realizing that perfection is not achievable, practice will only make picture better. With perfection not being obtainable, then getting better was now the main goal. Taking baby steps, making sure it could be taken the best it could have been through my experience, everything reinvented itself. Although it was still in the car, wildlife took the passenger seat.