I was recently asked to volunteer for the
Youth Art Team during spring break, as several of their regular volunteers were gone. This is a joint community group sponsored by several local churches in town to inspire and teach kids about art. The current year long project is a photography project. I was excited about helping out, but what I found was more than an enjoyable afternoon with some fantastic kids, I also found inspiration and a perspective change on how to take great photos...
Maybe this was because of the current topic they were studying or because they had invited
Tim Dodd, a fantastic photographer, to speak to the kids, or a combination of both... but what I learned was two things...
- Secondly, it is okay to take the time to find the photo you want before taking the picture. They encouraged the kids to take the time to set up the picture, aligning it in their viewfinder first before taking the picture. They were asked to only take 24 pictures of a variety of things; spending the time first to get the picture they wanted.
I know these sound like very simple things, however being well versed in Photoshop and Lightroom, I find myself taking rapid-fire pictures because I know I can go back, edit, crop and tweak my photos to get the picture I want. However,
why not get the photo you want in the first place and save yourself some editing work. I guess being a hobby photographer I took
'the law of averages' approach...
'If I take a lot of photos then chances are some will turn out as hoped'.
However, I decided that I would start practicing these simple things so that I could develop and grow as a photographer. I decided to start with a photo essay with images from our property while walking my dogs. I borrow one of the themes from week one of the Youth Art Team's curriculum and
took photos of the things that were ugly in order to find beautiful images through the viewfinder. I wanted capture them through the lens of my camera with minimal adjustments (besides color correction of course) in my photo programs...
Here Are The Results!
What do you think of my photos?
Am I successful in finding beauty from ugly things? Any suggestions to make them better?
