Instead of obsessing over composition, is the flash head pointed in the right way, what about aperture, and is my ISO too high, I’m going to try to take an ordinary photo in P or even Automatic mode.
It won’t be a scene of immense natural beauty in a wilderness somewhere, or it may not be a bustling street scene covertly shot to capture a busy moment in time, but it will be a memory. My son Adam has changed so much in the last 8 weeks yet I’ve been too tired or busy to take out the camera. Can you believe there are only a few dozen shots of him? That’ll have to change.
I plan on leaving my DSLR somewhere handy, or even the Panasonic FZ5 and record daily snapshots. These are the moments that make up my life – Adam’s smiles, his cries, his feeding, his playful gesticulating while he lies in his cot. My family, my wife, dog, my siblings, my dad, my friends. Visitors to the house will be encouraged to pick up the camera and take a photo of Adam with his mom and dad, otherwise we may never be in the same frame!
In preparation for the exhibit next month in Bandon I had some prints made. I also had some family snaps printed and they have gone down a treat. Digital photography is a wonder, these images will be with us for the rest of our lives.
If I can I’ll create a script that will allow me to autoblog them to Adam’s own blog. It shouldn’t be too hard and it’ll be great to have in chronological order.
Take an extra-ordinary photograph today and everyday.
3 replies on “Take an ordinary photograph today”
A very good idea, that. It was taking pictures of my daughter (just turned 2) that got me interested in photography again, so it sounds like I’m going the other way from you (from the family photos out to all sorts of other things). Whether or not they’re great images, you’re capturing memories with the family shots, so they’ve a great deal of value in that.
And every now and again you’ll (more often for you than me, I’d say), you’ll get something extraordinary anyway. I wrote a quick photo essay about this subject over at JPG mag if you’re interested. And thanks for the blog and the photos, by the way – really enjoy them.
D
David – lovely shots of your daughter, and good luck with keeping the hobby going!
I have found a renewed interest in taking pictures now that I’m not trying to “take a great picture” every time, and I have managed to take some great photos over the last 2 days 🙂
flora…
Definitely, the most sensible thing i have seen in a long time….