Sunday 5 April 2009

What do I love about photography?

Since I am not particularly good at drawing -or writing as you can witness here- photography gives me a way to express myself. Through photography I can express my views, feelings and ideas. That is why I opened a Flickr account long before thinking of having a blog.

Tantos siglos, tantos mundos, tanto espacio...

It also gives me a escape from daily problems, close contact with other people and even some power when I'm directing someone else. Even though I like landscapes and cityscapes...

Sun rays

... that is not really my thing (my cuppa tea as they say here). Too lazy to wake-up in the early hours to go find the perfect place at the perfect time - not me - I much rather deal with people so portraiture is what moves me. Wish I were more creative though, a portrait is not just the mere sum of someone sitting/standing/jumping/contortioning (you get the picture, no pun intended) and someone pressing a trigger. All the planning, camera equipment and models are worth nothing if you cannot convey YOUR idea. I will talk more about portraits in some other post let's stay with the phtography discussion.

And she waited patiently for her prince to come only to discover that she was standing in the wrong window...

My approach to portraiture is simple, whatever it works! I've heard lots of people moaning about film vs digital and straight from the camera vs Photoshop (here some disasters), and even among portraitists natural light vs strobes. I believe it all depends on your vision. In my case I embrace digital mostly because I couldn't afford buying film and develop it back in the day. About Photoshop I can say it is a great tool if you don't play too much with the sliders, and why limiting yourself if you have at hand such creative freedom. In terms of lighting, sometimes natural light is enough some others (especially here in Manchester) you need some help from external flashes -by now I have a nice collection of them - I will show you all my kit some other time ;¬)

Don't you have anything better to do than taking my picture? ... again!

As you can see from the previous image, photography is an excellent way of documenting what is going on with my life and what is important to me like my daughter and family.

Well this is it for now but I promise to get more into photography and into how I work and what I carry to my photoshoots. Hope you can come and read my blog from time to time.

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