Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.

-Ansel Adams

I love photography. I love being able to take a picture, and in that photo capture just a small moment of a day. The best pictures, I believe, are those caught candid. I'm always the one snapping candid pictures at a party. You catch people off guard, and unaware. They're not posing. They've got no sculpted expression. Nothing to hide behind.












I'm walking down the streets of downtown Marion with my model for the day. We'd been planning this shoot for a long time. It was a great opportunity for the both of us, however it had been difficult to get a time set up. Our two main problems were that, either, our schedules conflicted, or it was the weather that was putting a dent in our plans.


Finally, one day, we were able to get together and shoot. Our previous failed sessions had made this one all the more sweet. We were both very excited and ready to have at it.

The beginning of a shoot is always just a little bit awkward. The model is unsure of what to do, and so are you. You really need to get the feel of what it is you're going for. You try different angles and poses, until finally you know exactly what it is you want, and you know exactly how it is you're going to get it.



That particular day I was going for a mellow, sort of city look. A faded look, with an underlying tough, grunge feel. That's exactly what I got, and it made me proud. I uploaded the pictures, and the response I got made me feel amazing. I still open that album up on my computer and take my time to look through each picture. They make me smile.







To know that each picture was taken by me. To know that people think pictures I take are good makes me feel awesome. There's nothing better than to feel proud of your work, and then also have other people tell you that you should be proud. Nothing can compare.



I love working with people much more than I like working with inanimate objects. Don't get me wrong, I love taking pictures of both, and I did a lot with nature before upgrading cameras, but now that I've had opportunities to work with people, I prefer it. A person can give you all sorts of emotions. You work with them, shape them, mold them into what you want. They also provide a challenge. It's much harder to get a good picture of a person than it is with a flower. Flowers are always there. Set your camera on macro settings and point it at a geranium, and under decent lighting conditions (which you'll probably find yourself with, considering most flowers are outside), you've got a good shot. A person, however, must be hitting the right pose. Must have the right expression on their faces. They then must hold that.







In the already overly cliche world of photography you have to have a certain flair to your pictures. I feel that the only way you can get that across is through personality, through people.

Don't get me wrong, as I said before, I still enjoy working with inanimate objects. My favorite kinds of still life pictures are the ones of something you wouldn't necessarily think of as an interesting thing to capture, but through manipulation of angle or position to get a good light or shine, it makes for a beautiful picture.





Now these pictures, I'm especially proud of. Not because they're particularly good, but because I shot it using a handheld, point and shoot, film camera that was about 10 years old, and then developed the film all on my own, and then enlarged the film all on my own.

I try to take my camera with me everywhere. If I could I'd carry it around school with me. Three problems,
1) It's too big and bulky.
2) I'd run the risk of having it stolen. Not a risk I'm willing to take.
3) I don't think too many people would be happy with me snapping pictures in the middle of class.
When I go to a friend's house, I bring my camera. When a friend comes over, I like to take a few pictures.
I'm always the one at the restaurant, with my camera out taking pictures of the food and the dishes and the cups and the forks and spoons, and just anything, really, attracting a lot of insults and stares from my friends. I don't really mind, though. I still do it.




Well, when it comes down to it. I own a Canon. That doesn't make me a photagrapher, just a Canon owner. I like to take pictures, but I'm strictly amateur. Maybe one day I'll have a website. Maybe we can get a little crazy and say that maybe one day I'll have a studio. Although, when I think about it, I don't want a studio. I don't want to be at all confined when it comes to where I go or what I take with my camera.

I'm a picture taker. Who happens to like picture taking quite a lot.