Years ago, I started taking pictures. Making images, some pro photographers say. I photographed our tribes of dogs, legions of kittens that our adoptive cat dropped on our back porch at any given season, and various leaves and broken branches which I thought were ‘artistic’. Outside, my photos turned out reasonably well, but that’s about all I could do. I had no idea how to use the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) to actually ‘make images’ that were worthy of showing or selling.
Until now. I have no idea how I stumbled onto Jared Polin on YouTube, but I did. And somehow, after decades of trying to figure out why my pictures looked like they were shot in with a cardboard disposable camera (actually those took better pictures), I got it. I’m not ‘there’ yet, as a photographer. I have a ways to go before I can truly show high-detail, dramatic photos like those of Polin or my pro photographer friends, but now I know how to get there.
This may not seem like the cure for the common cold, or a considerable bump in one’s stock portfolio (though I do anticipate an increase in income from this), it is exciting to use this renewed medium in my work, or by itself, as its own work. I will post some photos going forward, but wow…what a difference it makes when a pro explains things in such a way that you ‘get it’.
UPDATE 09-03-16
I just got three images accepted onto Shutterstock as stock photo for sale! I’m pretty excited, and it makes me want to take LOTS more photos!
