A New Focus

I decided to change the purpose of my blog page slightly, from a focus on various outings to a focus on my overall experiences with photography. This is due to not always getting out for some photography as regularly as I would like to. If the weather is bad or my schedule doesn’t allow it, etc., I might not be able to post anything for a while. Or, I may have something to write about but no new photos to go with it; much like when writing about places I want to visit for the first time.

So to avoid a lack of posts somewhat, I thought I’d change my focus before I get too much further into posting on here. Besides, I have many subjects that I like to capture images of; historic places and nature of course, but also current events, artsy things, etc. The first photo below is one I took at a Peace Rally I covered for the West Chester University of PA campus newspaper, The Quad. The second photo I took is one example I consider on the artsy side.

In starting my new focus, I have a new venture coming up in the general world of art and that is the possibility of being in an art show for the first time. The alumni association of my local community college is holding its annual art show for members this December. I graduated from the community college back in December of 2006 with my liberal arts degree and minor in journalism.

The participant application and fee both have to be in by November 20, and I have a few things to do before then. I’m working on writing a short artist statement, as well as deciding what five photos to submit. After that, I have to get them matted or framed and hand-deliver my photo entries to the alumni association. The easiest part of this is narrowing down my photo choices to only digitals for their sharper appearance.

I’m not sure how much it will cost to have photos matted, and money has been an issue lately what with the economy. If I find a low enough price, I will definitely be able to enter the art show; otherwise, I will wait for future art shows when there is more money.

There are more advanced areas of photography that I want to learn about, such as infrared black and white photography. I’m inspired to do so by the works of photographer Simon Marsden, who takes dramatic and haunting photos of European castles, ruins and landscapes. I upgraded from the 35mm Minolta Maxxum 5 film camera below; and have been using my current camera, a digital Canon PowerShot S5IS for two years now. It doesn’t have an infrared feature, so I’ll need another camera in the future; preferably a digital SLR by Canon or Nikon.

One goal with infrared photography is to capture wedding images. I never really thought of wedding photography to a serious degree before, although my cousin’s wedding photos were very inspiring. They weren’t done in infrared; it was a mix of the scenery, candid and posed shots that inspired the idea to think more about wedding photography as another subject matter.