logista's photostream  

Just playing

Got a new toy, er, tool today! A color card, so of course I have to take all the color out ;)

Damaged rose is damaged.

I started with a new project/group recently: Lighting Essentials Project 52, which is a pretty intense year-long project to help people "step up their game" in photography. The emphasis is on commercial photography, but people of all levels are taking part. I came to it when I was looking for a group that focused on lighting.

The first assignment (which I missed, but am doing because I'm a completist), is to concoct a vision statement for yourself.

Right. I moaned when I read that. I'm ex-corporate; I hate anything that smacks of management-speak. However, having read through the assignment, and listened to the critiques, I've come to realize that what we're supposed to do is develop a mantra, something we say to ourselves when we go to shoot. There are so many things that can distract us from taking a good picture, this mantra is intended to help me remember and concentrate on what my pictures are about.

So here is what I came up with: I abstract the essence. Just a few words, but they define the kinds of pictures I take, and ones I want to take. It doesn't mean I'm always going to do abstract images, it means I will always work to find the essence of the subject without having unnecessary baggage.

We'll see how it goes.