Opening Day

Welcome to opening day of "Opening to the Light." I'll probably be posting a photo a day to this blog. In the beginning, maybe those from my up-coming photo exhibit (July 24th, here in the retirement community I live in). I'm also thinking I may sometimes post both the orignal and edited versions, with my rationale for the changes. Or whatever else occurs to me to share about a photo.

There will also be gradual fiddling with the sidebar contents as I go along. Blogger has made a lot of changes since I last started a blog and my old brains are getting addled. Why oh why do folk fix things when they ain't broke? :-D

The above photo probably won't be in the exhibit, but it seems appropriate for the title of this blog. It's one of my earliest taken with an old Gateway camera. Back in the days (only about two years ago, but it seems like forever) when I could easily take 100 pix a day. Of course, the vast majority of those got deleted. Now, I do much more culling by eye before deciding to take shots. Also, my knees no longer permit the hours-long photo walks I was taking back then.

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INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

I was slated as a child to be a visual artist of some kind; trying to draw long before I could print my first wobbly block letters. I can clearly recall that urge to get down on the page something that totally captivated my eye and resonated somewhere deep inside me. In my teens that got shunted largely into poetry, but I never totally deserted the visual arts. Still doing the occasional sketch, painting, or collage.

In early 2008 I moved from my life-long home in New York city to a retirement community in South Central California. By early 2009 I was producing the community's monthly newsletter and being a photographer came with the position. I'd never taken any pictures before and photography was definitely not love at first sight. In fact, I was intensely embarrassed by the results for quite a while. Then somewhere along the way I got hooked. And although I still have less sense of myself as a photographer, say, than as a poet, I've grown to have a passion for "writing with light."

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

I realize my greatest weakness is still with the technical aspects of digital photography. I've read through my camera's manual at least twice. But I find it not so much hard to understand, as hard to apply what I've read. When some wonderful sight is urging me to dig my camera out of my purse in a hurry, the last thing I really want to do then is fuss with camera settings. So I always just let it auto-focus and deal with the consequences "post-production." Yeah, I know. I should -- and will someday -- take a photo walk just to try out various settings. If there weren't so many things one can do with a photo once it's on the computer, I'd probably have done this long since. Though one might also think that the many "great shots" I miss because of poor lighting would have also urged me to "get technical" a lot sooner. And only partly in my defense, my camera is not a really good one. E.g., it tends not to do well with indoor shots, under any of the auto-settings, under any lighting conditions. And focus, overall, tends to be somewhat chancey. However, I do think it'd do somewhat better even with the glitches if I'd get on the "tech wagon." Sigh. I'm the same way with computer tech stuff. Only learn it if I absolutely must.

My camera: a Samsung SL30 "Beauty Shot" ISO 1600, 2.5" intelligent LCD, ISO 1600, 10.2 megapixels. Though some earlier photos were taken with an old Gateway which in some ways, took better pictures.

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****