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God Made Morning Light for Photographers

I thought my friend was crazy. Wild horses weren’t going to get me up at 6am to go walking. She wasn’t only crazy, she was persistent. After three years she finally wore me down, and I agreed, only for three times a week, of course. What kind of torture would it be to roll out of bed while it was still dark on Thursdays?

I’ve been doing this for a few weeks, now, and am beginning to see some benefits other than stamina, weight loss and general self discipline. As we were driving home this morning, a strong, focused sun was just coming over the hills in the east. We drove past a row of what I would have taken for sunflowers, except they were pink. (And blooming in November – Sunflowers don’t usually do that.) They were about 7 feet high, and I was able to crouch down and take this photo with the early morning sky in the background. The intense sunlight acts like a spotlight in a studio, and shows every detail of these mysterious flowers.

I know all the photography books say morning light is best, but I hadn’t paid much attention. If that meant getting up early, I’d settle for second best, but I’m beginning to realize the difference is too significant to ignore. There’s a lot to be said for morning sun.
I’ll be getting up to take pictures early more often, even though a huge part of me still agrees with Garfield.

By the way, does anyone know what these flowers are? They’re large, about 8in. across, and were about 7 feet tall.

It’s Never Too Late to Start!

My mom is 71, and has been suffering with a broken foot for the last couple of months. She does spend some time online, and loves all things computer-related, though, so I’ve been sending her a few new computer and photo tips as I learn them.

This morning I got an email with this brilliant flower attached.

Dear Debbie,

I’m having so much fun that I can hardly stop to write to you. You introduced me to Flock and things have just snowballed from there. There is this really neat place to put up your pictures. I love it. I’ve been going through my pictures that I’ve taken this year and picking out the ones I like the best. I add them to the Photo Uploader and guess what? I can even crop off something that got in the edge that I didn’t want, or crop it smaller so you can see more detail. It is wonderful! (I’ll send you a link in about an hour)
You know, last night you showed me how to use the macro on my camera. I’d never done that before. I ran all over the house taking macro pictures of all kinds of things. You wouldn’t believe how much fun it was. I will send you a few and see what you think. My main purpose was to take a lot and “get a feel for what could be done” with the macro. Now that I’ve tried it, I can use it more discriminately, but it was really great to “find” a new area of photography. This summer I took lots of pictures of butterflies. Maybe next year I can get some of them with the macro – but then, maybe they won’t want me that close.
Cameras – even my little one- have so much potential for fun.

Enjoying life,

Mom

Just goes to show, its never the wrong timing to make photos a part of your lifestyle. Don’t be intimidated by the ‘Pros’ out there who love to talk camera-eze and make us little people feel uneducated. Photography is really all about recording and sharing how YOU view the world. Happy snapping!

Autumn Cherry Blossoms

Cherry blossoms are iconic for Japan. They’re not just a national flower. In a sense they represent everything Japanese. Every park, every school, every mountain road, many private gardens, and of course every temple has its share of cherry trees. If you fly over the countryside in April you’ll see that really, the whole nation has taken on a pale pink hue.

If you ask a Japanese person, “Why cherries? Why not roses?” They will explain that its because they identify with the cherry blossom. It’s delicate and refined, and blooms when it is still quite chilly, thus representing enduring hardship with grace and beauty. The main thing they identify with is the fact that they are so short lived. They last only about 3 days, and then rain down from the tree in the slightest breeze. They will tell you that’s how they want to live. Beautifully, and with grace, then when the time comes to let go of life, or even just a relationship or a stage in their life, they want to let go with no struggle and no regrets.

I think it’s a shade on the dark and lonely side to see them trying to be satisfied with this life with no thought of what may come after, but indeed it is a noble effort.

What most Japanese don’t even know is that some types of cherries bloom in the fall as well. In the fall, for some reason the flowers last for weeks. These trees started blooming in mid Sept. and are still going strong six weeks later. A testimony to the fact that life doesn’t necessarily have to be short to be sweet.