January 16, 2024
As I've been practicing more shots and post editing I decided it would be a good idea to try and work on at least one photo every day. Today, I was a little distracted and busy getting ready to head back home after spending a few days with my partner, Jo. As I was gathering my things and packing this afternoon, they asked me "Did you want to find something to take some pictures of?"
"No, I'll just find something at home at this point, I think," I responded.
But earlier in the day I had noticed a row of books that I thought might make a good subject. I was just avoiding them.
I finished gathering my clothes, packed up my laptop and chargers, etc. Jo went upstairs to go unload the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen a bit while I packed. And when I finished, all that was left was my camera, still sitting on its tripod from the snow pictures I was taking yesterday.
I glanced from the camera to the bookshelf. My heart hurt a little, but mostly it was happy. The subject I was avoiding was calling to me, and I couldn't pack my camera yet.
When I was a kid, my grandfather had this same set of books. I remember sitting and looking through them at the art when I was young.
My grandpa died when he was 60. He lived a really tough life and was absolutely a parent to me. My parents either weren't around or were too neglectful to properly care for my siblings and I most of the time. As a result, our grandparents and great grandparents filled in those roles instead. I spent a lot of time with my grandpa. I was the oldest of my siblings, and so I was really lucky in a lot of ways to get to know him for as long as I did.
This one is my favorite from the shoot today. It was fun to play around with making things mostly just stick out from an otherwise black scene.
The problem, of course, was that there was no background/foreground distinction on a floor-level bookshelf in a basement. On the shelves around the books were a couple of tea pots, and so I decided that would be a perfect foreground object.
The tea pot I decided to go with had some really cool curves in the shape of the pot around a hexagonal base that made for some awesome shadow play. The range of colors in the paint on the porcelain, along with the brilliant reflections really makes the shadows feel like they fit better in the corners of the bookshelf. It lightens the scene overall and provides an even more dramatic perspective for the books in the background.
After a lot of moving around and trying different angles and distances to get the shots right and some test shots, I had taken 79 photos. I packed up my camera and finished about my business for the day. Jo and I went out for a beer this evening before they went to pick up their parents from the airport. Afterwards, they took me home and I worked on parsing through my photos from the day.
I'm loving this practice, and it is so much fun to learn what will call to me. I'm always a little surprised at how ultimately, the subject is always just asking to be shot. Today, I almost ignored that call and I'm really glad I didn't.
And I think I'm learning another really valuable lesson about this artform. Much like other forms of art, it is really personal. What calls to me is only calling to me because it is personal. What catches my eye may not catch yours, and you may see something I completely overlook. It isn't about finding subjects; it's about hearing the ones that are already calling you.
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