Processing the Playground

Have I ever told you how much I love taking pictures?  No, I mean really....I love it.  LOVE it.  So much that I wish I could do it all the time.  Just walk around my life, camera in hand, grabbing those moments in my viewfinder and keeping them forever in my grand artistic plan.  And just when I feel like I actually have a grasp on what I'm doing with it, I see something that someone else has done and I go all the way back to the drawing board again.  Not that I'm holding myself up to someone else's standards or trying to adhere by rules other than my own, I just feel like I'm in a constant state of learning and developing and trying to figure out how this whole thing works.  Sometimes, I can see an image in my head, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make it come out of my camera like that.  I work this angle, that approach.  Change perspective.  Look for the details.  Adjust the composition, and then I process the heck out of it trying to create the look the lens couldn't find. 

I picked up a really great book the other day that's helping me through this process.  I've been pouring over it, looking at subjects I would never think to put in front of my camera and going How do you do it?  One of the chapters in this new bible of mine is on photographing children.  Since I happen to have a few of those on hand, I put some of these new ideas to work while we at the park the other day. 

Capturing a relationship without actually seeing their faces....

Choosing a viewpoint...also known as perspective.

Warm tones....I'm still working on this one.  Sometimes I love it, sometimes I think it's really unnatural....

Emphasizing movement...

Using props to add depth.  

I actually started this with the shoes on her feet, but it was really flat.  So, I asked her to take them off instead.  It made all the difference.

Perspective...

Oh...and did I mention, perspective?

(this could also be called, "Hey, where are you guys?....Over here, Mom.")

It's a work in progress for me.  Creating art always is.  Fortunately, I love the work and the process,