Monday, August 1, 2011

A Photo A Day [Day 335]

The Tree of Life

Another shot from my trip, this one taken on the road from Berkeley Springs to our rental cabin.

Ok, now it's time to prepare yourself for a pseudo rant. Ready? Read on.

So I once read an interview with a photographer saying that with the proliferation of inexpensive digital cameras many folks fancy themselves to be good photographers without having any actual training or skills. To him, a proper photographer understands how to set up a shot and takes the time to do so, whereas those of us clicking away with our cameras hoping that one shot out of ten will be usable aren't real photographers. I believe it was the same guy who said that if a photo is taken from a moving car while driving down the street it's not going to impress him as any idiot could take the same shot. I'm not terribly offended by this assertion but I do have to wonder if what he's talking about is all there is to photography. I will admit that I took over 50 photos while my husband was driving down the road as much of our trip was spent in the car. I will also admit that most of those were blurry, composed badly, focused on the wrong thing, etc. But doesn't it take some sort of skill, some sort of artistic eye to be able to sort through the duds and find one worth using? I feel like I managed to do that with a few of my shots, figuring out how to crop or process it to bring out the beauty of the scene. Which I hope is what I did here. Anyway, rant over. I'll go back to my haphazard method of photography and hope there's some merit in my work after all. :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a not-even-amateur photographer, even I will occasionally get a really great shot. Anyone can do it just not as often as the pro or dedicated amateur. In the end, it doesn't matter whether the great shot was gotten accidentally or as a result of knowledgeable actions on the part of the photographer. It is what it is.

Anonymous said...

Don't let his slim definition get you down. It's hard when something new comes along that allows more people to have success.

I love this photo. Well-done.

Bree said...

We all have to start out somewhere, and I'm sure even that guy started out with just snapshots & hoping at least one would turn out. If you can get one or two great shots, and be able to pick them out of a group of not as good ones, it doesn't matter how you got the shots.

I always enjoy your photos, and obviously others do too. Keep it up, you're obviously doing something right.