The accompanying photo was taken by my husband. I was busy putting on vision-distorting glasses so I could ‘see’ what it is like for a vision-impaired person to bowl. Not only was it was very enlightening, I think it actually improved my game. I am sure there is a lesson in there that pertains to photography as well. But first, let me explain that I don’t really bowl. Once a year I join other local Lions for the District 1-J Bowling event. In my case, that entails launching a heavy cylindrical object down a narrow alley, with the intent of knocking down a set of ten oddly-shaped wooden things called ‘pins.’ On either side of the alley are two gutters. Unfortunately, my bowling ball spent more time in the gutters than it did impacting the bowling pins. As much as my brain says to throw the ball straight down the alley, I end up throwing across my body with the unhappy result of the ball heading for the gutter on the left hand side. When I try to compensate, the ball ends up in the gutter on the right hand side. And so it went for the first two games - at one point, I may have set a record of six gutter balls in a row. Then I took a trip to the other end of the bowling alley, where they had the vision-impaired bowling set up. They put rails to hold onto and to guide your approach; and they put bumpers up on either side of the alley, taking the place of the gutters. A friendly lady offered me the choice of either blind-fold or heavy vision-distorting glasses. I chose the glasses. Then she took my arm and guided me over to the bowling balls. I chose the most colorful one, a task that proved easier than finding the finger holes. Then she put my hand on the railing and left me on my own. I looked down towards the pins. I could see the light wood color of the floor, and at the end of the alley some white linear shapes that I assumed were the pins. Instead of trying to be so perfect, worrying about form, finding the little arrows on the floor and such, I just aimed the ball as straight as I could towards the white shapes that were about 60 feet away. No pressure, just relax, and let it go. The bumpers would protect me. And others. To my surprise and delight, I ended up with a spare - much better results than when I could actually see what I was doing. Even better, once we returned to our normal lane, with normal bowling conditions, and without the vision-distorting glasses, my third game was much improved. One theory says I just got better with practice. Another theory says that I needed a break. A third theory says that the vision-impaired bowling results gave me the confidence that I could do it. Whatever the reason, with a little coaching from some Lions who really know how to bowl, and my new-found confidence, I ended up with a strike and a spare or two, and a much higher score than the first two games. Yes, I still fell back into the gutter a couple of times, but nowhere near the extent as the earlier games. So, what does this have to do with photography? I think that sometimes we just need to step back, stop trying so hard to be perfect, and enjoy the moment. Try something new. Look at things with a different set of eyes. Get out of your comfort zone and just see what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised. I would love to hear about your eye-opening experiences, either in the new year or years gone by.
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In previous posts about camera gear, I have mentioned different cameras that I own and some of the different ways that I use them. As the number and type of cameras have increased, and as the number, type, and purpose of the photographs themselves have increased, it has become more important to create and follow a disciplined work flow.
I am not saying that my work flow is the best; although it follows a certain logic, it is somewhat convoluted, embarrassingly lacking in the backup area, continually bumps up against the limits of my hardware, and probably has other flaws that will make themselves evident in an unhappy way at some point in the future. For now, it works for me; at least most of the time. My top Work Flow Characteristics include Discipline, Hardware, Software, Budget, Risk-Reward, Ease of Use, Adaptability, and Flexibility. This week’s post deals with Discipline. Future posts will cover the remaining characteristics, and any other ones I come up with between now and then. 1. Discipline - a system of rules governing conduct or activity (Webster’s Dictionary) The most important part of a work flow is to have one, and to follow it. In addition to the above, Webster’s Dictionary also defines discipline as an “orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior.” The best part is that you can make up your own rules, decide what is important to you, and find a balance between time, money, and security. There are risk/reward trade-offs in what rules you create for yourself, how closely you follow them, and how much time and money are you willing and able to invest. At a minimum, you should be aware of the risks of not having a workflow, or of having a workflow that does not adequately cover all essential elements. In the ideal world, the orderly pattern of behavior that makes up your work flow would include the timing of offloading images from your camera to your computer, location of primary and backup media, the timing of backups, file naming schemes, and tagging and cataloging of the images, as well as the processing of the images. For example, is your work load time-based or project-based or something else? Do you process images on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? Or do you process them on a project basis, as photographic events conclude or as clients require? On a scale of 1 to 10, I think my work flow is about a 6. I give myself Plus Points for having a work flow and following it; but then there are Minus Points for not having it written down, for missing some key elements, and for being rather casual about timing issues. I actually follow multiple work flows, depending on the camera and the nature and purpose of the images. For example, iPhone images are the simplest and least risky. Mostly I use them for sharing on Facebook directly from my iPhone. Occasionally I will offload them to a uniquely named folder on my computer, and send them to friends via e-mail. If I lost any of them, it would not be a big deal. Sometimes I use iPhone apps for special effects. I have a couple of different apps including Instagram, Snapseed, and Photosynth, but the one I use the most is Camera+. Next up the scale of risk is my Lumix Point-and-Shoot. The images are relatively small JPEGs, around 3 - 5 MB. They are sometimes just for fun, or to capture something that is pretty or interesting. This is my ‘go to’ camera for Lions Club events, most Legion events, and other day-to-day activities. Because of its small size and unobtrusiveness, I have used this camera at family weddings and other gatherings. The Lumix uses the SD cards, which easily upload to my MacBook Pro via the built-in card reader slot. Other than tagging and rating in LightRoom, there is minimal or no post-processing of these. When I do make changes, it will be to correct exposure, do color balancing or to apply cropping. I use Picasa online for image sharing: these images have appeared in our club newsletters and magazines, on our display boards, in YouTube videos, and for sharing with friends and family. Occasionally I am asked to go back in my archives and produce images for special requests, but normally these images are in the low-risk category. The serious work flow issues come in to play with my DSLR cameras. The images are in my personal ‘high risk’ category - I would be very unhappy to lose these, so the backup considerations are more important. All of the other workflow characteristics that I mentioned above really come into play with these images, so I will use continue my thoughts in future blogs on work flow to illustrate how hardware, software, and other characteristics come into play. Flowers from the French Market Have you ever been told that you have really nice photographic images, followed by the dreaded comment “you must have a really nice camera?” Or worse yet, admired another photographer’s work and thought “if I only had a nice camera like he/she must have.” Perhaps you have admired those photographers whose websites list all the camera gear that they used in a particular photo shoot, or maybe there was some envy involved, or just a feeling of being turned off. Those are just a few examples of why camera gear really isn’t all that important. Some of the greatest images have been made with a home-made pinhole camera, or a smart phone, or without a camera or lens of any sort at all. There is so much more to creating great images than spinning a few dials and clicking the shutter button. So why IS camera gear important? To illustrate, let me say that my own camera collection includes both film and digital cameras, point-and-shoots, and SLRs. Some of them spend most of the time in the drawer or closet, and others are with me or close at hand all the time. I seem to have compartmentalized what cameras I use for which purposes. This blog-post deals with the informal, every-day snapshots and the camera gear I use most often for those. Later on, I will continue this thread with my “big” cameras. My iPhone (which has 2 cameras), and point-and-shoot are always with me - either in a pocket, purse, or on my belt. These are my “walking around” cameras, my security blanket in case I see something great that I need/want to capture. Their main advantage is small size and unobtrusiveness. The images are mostly documentary - I was at a Lions Club meeting or American Legion event, or with a friend or family member, or in the forest preserve walking the dogs. You get the idea. The relatively small image size and file type (jpeg) are suitable for sharing on social media and via e-mail, as well as useful for creating collage-type display boards. They are great publicity for the Lions Clubs, and appear frequently in Club, District, and State newsletters and magazines. The iPhone photos are particularly well-suited for sharing on the Roselle Lions Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RoselleLionsClub and website http://www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/roselle/index.php. So, my everyday camera gear is light-weight, easy to carry around, and most suitable for snapshots of everyday life. Digital technology for the point-and-shoots and smart-camera phones has come a long way since they first appeared on the scene. They are not my only camera gear, but they are a very important part of my life as a photographer. |
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