“Stop trying to get it right. Just take the picture.” ~ Sally Mann
Because I am often taking pictures for other people I try to remember the various rules of photography…proper exposure, good light, composition and the rule of thirds, etc.
I want, and aim to try, to capture clean bright images that show a connection between the subjects. With family pictures I like for my pictures to tell stories that reflect the relationships between husband and wife, parent and child or brother and sister. With senior portraits I want to somehow reflect, at least in some of the images, the idea of one journey coming to a close while another is beginning.
Sometimes though I just want moody pictures. I want to move outside of my typical and explore a little. I want to not worry about the rules so much. I want to stop trying to get it right and just take the picture. And occasionally the results are exactly what I want and what I like to call “Pictures My Mother Doesn’t Understand.” A little darker, plenty of grain and just different from what I normally shoot. (For the record my mother is one of my biggest fans and rarely asks anymore if I’ve run out of color film when she sees something in black and white 🙂
Once again Sarah was a willing participant in my shenanigans last month when I got a wild hair to do some experimenting and we ended up with a series of images that I stuck with the pretentious artsy name, Gypsy Princess.
Photography has held my interest all of these years because it’s so versatile…so much can change from one image or session to the next depending on location, timing, subject…a hundred different variables. It’s so fun to me.
The Common Place 