As summer begins to wind down and my kids get geared up for a new school year, it always gets me thinking. With photography, I feel like there’s always something more can I learn and something new I can practice. Today, each of the ViewFinders will discuss what they are interested in learning or teaching in the photography community. Maybe it will spark some ideas or inspiration for you!
I have been enthralled with some of the multiple exposure images I keep seeing from some of the film photographers I follow. You can see some here on Viewfinders here and here. I would love to learn how to do it. I know it will take some time researching and practicing… and allowing myself to completely blow it and make mistakes. I recently downloaded the app Blend to teach my eye to see two images married into one. Baby steps, right?
~Staci Lee
You’ll recognize this image from my last post, taken on a recent visit to the living history museum Old Sturbridge Village. I desperately want to learn to be comfortable taking photographs of strangers, and people in the moment. I am often so focused on the little details of a place that I neglect to connect with the people around me and appreciate that they are just as interesting as the things I’m pointing my camera at. I’d also like to take more nuanced candid shots of friends and family — too many of the images I have of my loved ones are in posed positions at holiday time. My goal this year is to break out of that mold and gain confidence and skill in capturing people in a compelling way.
Oh! and also — my husband Dan, a fine woodworker, just bought an infrared camera to use when examining and assessing antique furniture and art. He has very kindly offered to share it with me, so you may be seeing some of my first infrared images in upcoming posts!
I admit I used to be an online class junky. It seemed I always had a class or two going, most of which centered around photography of some sort. I have backed away from that over the past few years and allowed myself to flow into my own style unencumbered and practice what I have learned. However, I am considering taking Joel Meyerowitz’s Master of Photography class, after reading all the good reviews others have written about here. It might be just what I need when the rain hits in PNW. I am also hoping it might help me become more comfortable and bit bolder when I am taking photos out in public. I do it, but I don’t like it.
xo. Cathy
This may seem like a departure from the subject, but I love deepening my spiritual practices and examining the relationship between my creativity and intuition. As a break from my day-to-day photography work, I tend to gravitate towards long-term meditation courses, such as the beautiful offerings at Annapurna Living. This is my third year studying Kundalini yoga and meditation through Annapurna Living, and I love the way it feeds every part of my life, especially my photography. Kundalini yoga centers and grounds me. It calms my anxiety about career decisions or general professional angst, and it quiets my monkey brain so I can hear my intuition and find my way through life with ease. When I am deep into an editing session for work, or in a flow while shooting, it reminds me so much of my meditation practice. They feel one and the same. So, once my boys are back in school, I plan to sit on my meditation cushion with more regularity than summer allows and study the wisdom that lives inside of me.
xoxo Deb
There are going to be a lot of changes coming my way this autumn with our daughter hopefully leaving for university. So while I’ve done my fair share of photography courses in the past (Jonathan Canlas’s Film is Not Dead and a Street Photography course in 2016), I’m going to be keeping it low key this autumn and try to embrace it all. I am however, trying to find a medico-legal course so that as our children grow up, I will be able to put my career in medicine to other uses.