Painting With Light

“Lake Sixteen Sunset” © R.L. Herron

I originally wanted to write about a specific kind of camera I was collecting. However, I soon realized I already had a web site devoted to them, and an active forum about them. What, then, was I doing writing a blog?

Well, I think it comes down to a way of expressing creativity. I enjoy photography, always have. Minored in it in college, a long time ago. Played with it, off-and-on, for many, many years. I’ve gotten more interested in it again since I retired. I like being able to produce images that convey some sense of what I was feeling at the moment the shutter was tripped. Same thing with my writing. I have time to do it now.

I like the photo above, not because it’s anything spectacular, but because it captured that fleeting moment just after sunset exactly the way I wanted it to. And it’s particularly important to me in another way, one that isn’t evident just from the image.

It was taken on an evening when my son, a professional photographer who now lives more than twelve hundred miles away, was in town … and we were out together, talking about photography and shooting pictures … together.

You don’t see us together in the shot, but we were. And that’s what makes it special to me.

It’s been a long time since I added anything to this blog. I have to admit, there’s no reason other than procrastination. I’ve been taking shots that I meant to post … just as I’ve written new stories … but I just didn’t take the time.

I’m afraid I don’t have the time this time, either, but I promise to get better at it.

I did want to mention how digital has become important in my camera arsenal. I still have over 150 film cameras – and love working with them – but my digital SLR has become a must-have in my camera case. It’s not that it’s better than all those film cameras … it’s just so, well, convenient.

The world has moved into that realm, big time, and that is certain to accelerate. Right now, film is harder to find, and film processing is also getting harder to come by. I’ve started considering my own B&W processing.

However, I scan the negs to make prints, and no longer need the traditional dark room. Old dogs do learn new tricks, and this old hound is still learning. There are some fantastic new digital toys out there, and I’m sure I’ll find time to play with a few of them.

But I still salivate over neat old film rangefinders!

“Canal in Venice” © R.L. Herron

For the title of this online rant, I chose Painting With Light.

It’s the basic definition of the word photography and that’s what this blog is about. At least, what it’s intended to be about … with an occasional foray into my writing.

Photography, as a craft, has existed for more than 150 years. Like good writing, it can capture moments that reflect the very essence of our nature. Good or bad, immodest or demure, intemperate or heroic, a photograph can catalog human existence, evoke an emotion, or become an artistic mirror into the soul.

Once the sole province of chemical manipulation, this artistic expression, like so many other things, has moved into the digital realm. While there are advantages to each medium, I guess I still feel the strongest ties to film, where I learned the craft.

Sure, I will own and use digital equipment, but I still collect and use old film cameras. Can’t seem to find a reason not to!

I think one of the unfortunate aspects of the digital age is how it has allowed nearly everyone (myself included) to assume their photographs are worthy of attention.

Worse, because it has become so easy to do, it has made convincing people not to post scores of mundane images an exercise in futility. The same is true of the written word. Having my own blog is a case in point.

Digital cameras have the unique advantage of giving us the opportunity to see our flawed images immediately and correct (or delete) them. But making such an edit rests squarely on the less-than-certain assumption that the average snapshooter would even recognize a flawed image.

Theoretically, all our snapshots should be better … at least in the sense that “old Aunt Bessie” is not hopelessly underexposed and forever unrecognizable, in the only pictures you ever managed to make of her.

However, my creative sense tells me that, like being a writer, being a true photographer is about more than snapshots.

Let’s face it, most of us really are just snapshooters. That statement is as true for writing as it is for photography. The simple snapshots of an era, given enough time, can become a window into a society or culture, it’s true.

But truly Painting With Light is about purposely capturing (or trying to) those images that record our times, preserve fleeting moments of beauty, or … if we’re really lucky, stir our souls.

When I post my musings, I will often include my own light paintings (such as my “Canal in Venice” shot above) and hope you enjoy them. Comments and critiques are welcome but, please, be gentle. A dialogue is what I really hope to start.

To me, the dialogues that are started about images are what being a photographer is all about … just as comments on writing are the food of the author.

I’m sure Aunt Bessie would approve.