The Seedlings of Photography

I started photography a little while back (November 2011) with a cheap, basic Canon PowerShot A3300 IS.

In the past I rarely had my picture taken, let alone that of my dear horse or cats. I actually had a sidelong dream of becoming an outdoor/travel writer and have a photographer best friend to go places with me. I would write about the mystique and natural history and my friend would capture everything on camera. However, I do not have such an avid photographer friend and I grew tired of sharing my life with such a wonderful horse as Seriff (“sir-reef”–he’s an Arabian) and have so very few pictures. So at some point my dad decided it was time the family reinvested in a camera, the first in over a decade.

This is one of my favorites from my first digital photography upload. It is amateur considering the morning rays were an accident–I was shooting for the contrast on the tree trunk.

I did my research and decided to get the PowerShot because it had good ratings for its price. Not too many people complained about its short comings. During the week after Thanksgiving that year, I got it really marked down and with a free case (i.e. pouch) for it.

We had a late winter in 2012, so even in November we had a rain that really livened the azaleas in front of the house. This just might be my first more strategic photo. I was aiming for the texture of the leafs with the water adhesion. Little did I know there was this thing called “composition” and you are supposed to keep subjects off-center for the most part. Well, I guess you don’t always need to study art and know what has decent aesthetic appeal.

I went shutter crazy. I got snap shots of all the animals at the barn I board my horse at. I got pictures of the cats, most of which are terrible because one cat was a black kitten that moved 100 miles an hour and so she always appeared blurry. I read a lot of photography articles and realized I could only improve so much without manual controls (the house has terrible lighting, too). In a matter of weeks I essentially outgrew my camera and wanted something that I could be more creative with.

This is Seriff. Seriff’s eye anyway. I wish I could retake the shot slight more to the right so I have more pasture, but I may have lost his face since he would not stand still (camera in hand, food usual goes in people’s hands…that is how horses connect the dots). I like to think the image has an appeal and it reminds me to go out and try more “horse views” until I get a good one…but that will remain a challenge for the same reason this one was.

Despite feeling limited with the PowerShot, I used it a lot, and I like to think as a new photographer I did well with it. I still use it now and then, but usually outdoors and for more landscape shots–this camera does not work well with limited light, and you can’t really adjust the depth of focus or even direct the focus for close up shots.

This is the best “macro” image my little camera could do. I used to put my hand the same distance away as my subject and tell the camera to focus on my hand. Sometimes that messed with the exposure settings, but at least there was enough substance for the camera to hone in the right focus. I love plants and few things are more beautiful than the sheath layers on buds and the venation on the back of leafs.

The five images in this post are the ones I consider my best “seedlings.” My first attempts. They were there to trick me into being interested in photography as a budding passion and not just for snapshots of my pets because I know few people with cameras and know how to use them.

I was just learning about how sensitive a camera is to sunlight, and I decided the silhouette effect where leafs and stems overlap was fascinating. Also fascinating was “spying” through the garden at the marble bench. How simple my thought process was then.

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