The (un)Educated Eye

Hello All! I hope this post finds you well and happy. Are you busy preparing for Spring, or are you feeling Winter’s claws like a porcupine’s quills, sunk deep and in need of a tough removal? I noticed all of the greening of fauna and flora today, so I think I will make it. This weather has been all over the place, but we wouldn’t expect anything different around here, nope! In fact, I did see someone mowing their grass last Wednesday, and it was only 40 degrees outside. I was amazed, impressed, and wondering why not tall grass warranted a mowing, in their mind. To each their own! This brings me to the post title today, The unEducated Eye, where we will discuss our uneducated eyes, and how our brain and mouth may not understand the disconnect.

On The Photographist Life, you will find professional photos and cell phone captures. The cell phone captures are usually used when I am out and about, discovering new places or visiting haunts I truly love. I want to quickly capture what I see, this encourages you to check the places out for yourself, and it allows me the ability to enjoy what I am seeing too. I would never submit these pictures for awards or accreditation, nor do I refer to them as photos. They are pictures that are not my “work”, but snapshots that I am sharing with you. Sure, we could say all images are artistic and of high quality, blah blah blah, but in reality, that is like comparing a chips ahoy cookie with grandma’s homemade, family heirloom recipe, chocolate chip cookies. Are the chips ahoy good and serviceable? Of course! However, the real deal, tried and true, hand crafted, love-poured-in recipe of grandma’s is not only better, but crafted and honed over time with love and care to deliver a product that is just that much better. So, if photos from my professional camera are better, why am I not sharing those all of the time?

Yep, TIME. I like to take my time with my professional photos. This is why I am not trying to attain every client out there. Sure, I could slap a filter on it and call it a day, call it professional, but that’s just not my style nor approach. Again, to each their own! I respect photographers that use presets(filters), but it is not my style nor approach. I am a hand crafter, starting my art before composing the shot, to delivering the final finished, hand it over product.

Does this mean my blog doesn’t deserve my time or handcrafting? Not at all! I actually spend a ton of time on my blog, but at the end of the day, the stories of the images tend to be more presiding, and in that, the images are only to enhance the story. I have a confession. I have not been writing because I have no stories for you, nor any images to go along with them. I am focusing more on my professional studio work, and that’s what has been more pressing in my life. You can’t and won’t grow if you are not focusing on what needs attention for growth.

So, this goes back to that conversation we had recently, that was centered on the need for elimination. I have to eliminate things that squander my time, that are not pushing me or making me grow, or that are not fostering the next best version of me. Clearly that means no cell phone captures of what my days consist of, no stories of what I am doing, no blog posts encouraging you to get out and explore your local world. While this is a bummer for me, and maybe for you, I am hoping you are still getting out there seeing and experiencing new things, capturing your own cell phone images, maybe even grabbing a professional camera and calling your work professional, even though a good camera doesn’t make you a pro, an educated eye does. Oops.

I will post some photos for you, and some cell phone captures…does the mix make me “almost professional”? I think not, and my credentials don’t think so either. Time to get back to work and focusing on my next level of growth, see you when I see you?!