Welcome to "Be In Focus!"
I've decided to blog for many reasons, here on this blog we will be discussing photography, art
creativity and creating. The motivation behind creating and the ways and means to create at your highest potential.
Potential at your highest is far beyond average and is not a scale you set for yourself!
Your greatest potential is outside of yourself and every day you can move through difficulties, bad shoots and work closer to your higher creative self by keeping your passion in focus and your mind and insecurities out of the picture.
Passion is your dream, what makes you feel elated... What engages and inspires you.
How does this apply to photography, creating and art. What we focus on expands and grows...
That said: we as artists and people in general need to make a few important decisions
before pointing in a direction of creating. We generally don't get in the car and start driving around
without knowing where we are going. So when we pick up our camera we should have an idea of what intrigues, inspires and motivates us. Those few desires enveloped into a direction will lead you
to what your subject(s) will be. Be it landscape, portrait, birds, water, flowers, macro, etc.
As a creative it is very important to know your passion because you will emote, display and create images and art work that shows your passion within your end product all the while engaging your higher self.
The reason I have decided to start blogging and make it a reference to creating is because I receive daily emails, messages and texts from people who want to know how to photograph whatever...
The whatever could be any where from a newborn shoot to a mountain range.
I have to say I'm honored that many ask me these questions.
However, in attempting to answer and help others I am losing my direction and passion.
I work many hours and try to find the time to handle my own photography
and I really don't have the time to offer lessons on a daily basis. It started with one or two people and it took up an hour or more a day. But now it's all the time... I am at the point where I started receiving so many questions, that I sat back and compared them realizing that there was something largely in common with all of the questions.
For one, most people who want to be a photographer really don't know how to use their camera.
And two, they don't really know what their passion is, therefore they don't go after it, bond with
it, immerse themselves in it and become at one with it. The Love Factor is missing....
I have many friends that love photography, love the subject they are photographing and are intimate
with their camera first and second their focus. They know what they Love, they know how to get to that subject to watch it, study it and capture it at its most magnificent beauty. They are intimate with their surroundings, the sky, the lighting, the time of day and all the other factors that play in to knowing when the scene is right. And when all of those factors are optimum they go out and shoot.
Being out of focus leads us to violate the standards of lighting and time of day. Creating an outcome that is less than you expected. Followed by disappointment and second guessing yourself and your abilities. When really the issue is not in the end product it is in the stage that wasn't set properly.
Landscape & Wildlife photography is the hardest type of photography because of the constant second by second changes that occur before your eyes can even view they are occurring. You are not in a studio with controlled lighting and the ability to adjust it to soften your subject our put more light on it. You are outside in the elements that are at many times not too friendly and can easily be taken out of focus if you are not shooting at optimum times and attempting to capture what inspires you.
When I see photography from some of my friends that I will example they all have one thing in common... They LOVE their subjects or scenes and that Love carries and flows through their
end product, which is an outstanding work of art that was created by all the proper elements generated at one key moment.
My great friend Becky Weck is an outstanding photographer who could have her work in many galleries. However, she photographs for Love & not the status. Her focus and love is so keen that when she photographs her family and the children she adores you can feel it emerging through the image. Seeing her photographs is a spectacular experience because her focus follows the love she embraces whatever the image before her is.
Deb Carey is a friend I met via Facebook. Deb and I are the only people I know that use Olympus
cameras. And we both love them! The wonderful thing about Deb's photography is that I really want to go to all the places and landscapes she photographs. And.... when I view them, I feel like I am there, in that moment. Again, focus--her desire, love and appreciation for the landscapes is so powerful that all of that energy explodes through her photographs.
These examples are made to tell you what can be seen, heard, felt and admired by images that
reach out and touch you. They tell you a story, they engage you and they cause you to feel!
THEY HAVE PASSION!
It's okay to not know, to feel foolish, to be embarrassed at times and fall short of attaining an immediate goal. The best thing you can do is focus on "your passion" follow your desires, put your boots on and go out and shoot again. It's your race and you can't depend on someone else to
bring you to the finish line..
A photograph is a moment in time that will never be repeated.
Capture those moments to your best potential by being in focus.
Feel free to follow along and post subjects of interest you may later want to discuss.
