Winter Creativity / new jersey photographer

Wow, it's been a week since my last post! I have been keeping myself on my toes with my 365 project in the midst of my schedule somehow always filling up at the last minute. I have tried to do as many group themes as possible, but some days I'm ready to hit the sack and I'm not feeling that creative. A photo still has to be taken... and sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

My creative spirit wanes during the winter months, when things slow down. It gets quiet outside, people are off the streets, I wear layers upon layers and still feel cold. The colors are dull, drab and dark. Now is the perfect time to read, explore and master the options on my camera that I don't use in a normal shoot. Instead of buying the latest, greatest gear, I want to master the art of the photograph. My clients don't care what shutter speed I use, if I have the latest Canon DSLR body, or whether or not I shoot in Raw or Jpeg. They just care about the final image and really, so should I.

I've learned a lot over the past few years about the more technical aspects of photography. Really, great photographs come down to the aperture, shutter speed and iso settings. No matter what camera you have, these settings all are at work. Make the perfect combination for what you're trying to achieve and you've got your shot.

If you don't know what these things are, I suggest you pick up Bryan Petersen's "Understanding Exposure". I've read and re-read his book a few times now and I always learn something new and I begin to explore a different aspect of my photography.

I used to shoot primarily in Aperture Priority Mode ("Av" on your dial). I knew what I wanted the image to look like, I'd set my f/stop and I'd go shoot. I never thought much about shutter speed and just allowed the camera to pick that for me. It worked well for awhile, but then the camera wouldn't do what I wanted it to do when in certain lighting conditions. I couldn't get the shot to look the way I wanted, how rude!

Over the past year, I've become more comfortable forcing my camera into settings it wouldn't normally do itself. I now shoot in Manual Mode ("M" on your dial) with Manual Focus as well. I have complete control over every shot and how I want it to appear. Sure, those auto settings help out from time to time, but it's so much more exciting to pull something out of yourself and put it into the image you are creating. Now, manual shooting is kind of difficult in self-portraits, but it can and has been done :)

I'm not sure where I'm headed, but the next year will probably take me places I couldn't imagine now. I have been reading a lot of blogs and books, while also exploring my own creativity the past few weeks. I will continue to explore myself and my images until the weather warms, the colors turn bright and the days are longer.

Winter Creativity / new jersey photographer