I've upgraded this weblog to Movable Type 2.63. This provides benefits mainly to me, as author, but there's one huge benefit to my readers: no more e-mail addresses stored with comments!
E-mail addresses are still required to post comments, but only so that I have a reply-to address when the comment is delivered to me. Your e-mail address is no longer stored with your comment, so no new spam damage will be done.
Most arts are additive: one adds pigment until the painting is complete, one adds words until the story is complete, etc.
Photography is a subtractive art.
A photograph is composed through subtraction: during composition, the photographer works (yes, works) to subtract elements from the image until all that remains is that which he wishes to capture on film. Angles shift, focal points change, light alters until all that is left is that which the photographer sees in his mind's eye.
It's challenging.
Over and over and over again I get my prints back from the lab only to find that a stunning shot is ruined by a twig here, a candy wrapper there, a power cord in that corner.
My ability to subtract content from images has improved in the past six weeks, but it has not been perfected. Perhaps it never will be perfected.
I love to photograph my tree. It's my favorite subject. Why haven't I been able to produce a good photograph of it? I've been unable to subtract the extraneous elements. I likely never will be able to unless a) I get a boat and drift out into the pond, or b) a rare northwest snowstorm occurs, in which case I'll have a magnificent shot.
Kris believes that most of my photographs lack a point of interest to hold the viewer, and she's probably right. I suspect that if all extraneous elements were removed from the photographs, though, a point of interest would manifest itself without me having to find it.
We had our penultimate photography class tonight. We've no class next week, and then the following week we have two assignments due:
- Create a slide show set to Louis Armstrong's "A Wonderful World"
- Bring three to five enlargements to share with the class.
Jace had a nasty auto accident yesterday. Here's hoping his spirits -- and his transportation -- recover quickly. The photography on his site inspires me to work.
I'm rather obsessed with this whole photography thing, aren't I?
On this day at foldedspace.org
2005 — Oscars 2005 Kris and I have finally completed our quest to see every Best Picture nominee. I'm here to tell you which are my favorites, and which I think should actually take home the Oscar tonight.
2004 — Fifteen Years of Progress These are the kinds of things I think about in the morning, as I'm soaking in the tub: what technological advances have we seen in the past fifteen years?