C. Brendemuehl wrote: > I put these together because they're things I've either > struggled to learn in the past or am still learning. (I > often struggle most with #4.)
I'm still learning, although with the happy thought that photography is a hobby I can pick up when I want, regardless of the weather and time and the only person I have to please with the results is myself. > 1. Do you shoot snapshots quickly or do you plan ahead? I generally take digital pictures the first time, look at the scenes later on my computer and make notes, with a view to returning at a later date and committing what I really want to film. > 2. Do you pose people or just have them bunch together? Rarely take people shots now, but what I do take out, I try to do without people realising they may be the subject - street scenes look odd without people. > 3. Do you use controlled lighting? By exposure time, not by any artificial light. I still have a flash that has yet to emerge from its box - for me this is a last resort. > 4. Do you look at the whole frame in the finder, or just > what is in the center? What I hope will be a full frame. > 5. Do you ever use a tripod, monopod, or other support? Tripod, wall, tree to lean against... > 6. How long is it from the time you lift the camera to your > eye until you snap the photo? If the light is right and I am happy with the view not long, but it depends on the scene. If it is a building photograph, I often use a waist level finder and tripod so I can keep an eye on what is happening around me before I take a shot, to avoid a passing pedestrian or car ruining the scene. > 7. Do you shoot for pictures to keep or just because > something looks nice at the moment? To keep, often for the reason that the subject of the photo will shortly be hideously altered or pulled down. > 8. Do you choose film based on the subject being photographed? Always. > 9. Do you evaluate the character of your photographs? I often wonder at how much pride and prestige that old buildings must have had when new, and shudder at the block like replacements which are turning every town into replicas of others. I look back at pictures of local roads with attractive front gardens; most have gone for concrete parking spaces. My photographs evaluate the use of local land over several decades. Every individual has their own viewpoint on how well or how badly they perceive that use has been and the direction in which it is going. Malcolm
