Leaping Into The New Year With A Roar

     It’s a brand new year. My grandmother used to say, "Whatever you do on the first day of the new year, is what you will be doing all year.". I made sure I did all the things that I hope to do in this year. I wrote, I took some photos, and processed a few of those photos, I did a little woodwork, I rode Saki,  and I rode my skateboard. Those are all things I hope to be doing quite a lot of in this coming year.

     I also had a job interview today. I don't want to be doing that all year though. I thought the interview went very well, but I wasn't offered the job right away. The gentleman interviewing me, said that he had more interviews to go, and would let me know next week sometime. The pessimist in me says that was just a polite way to tell me that I didn't get the job, and he would let me know in a week. This would only be a part time job, and wouldn't pay my bills, but it would be the start of something coming in instead of everything just going out. It would also only be on the weekends. I'm fine with that, for right now, but as I said, I'm thinking that I don't have the job, so the search will continue. It is exhausting though. This is the first company that I applied to that actually called me in for an interview. The one that was almost a done deal, has yet to get in touch with me, so I'm counting at as a no go as well. I can only wait and see right now.

     Let's get to those pictures, I took them of my favorite subject, Saki. I rode to that empty abandoned parking light by the Space Center, so I could get that nice background of the river. I am going to share one photo with you and it's the one I posted on Instagram on my normal account, not the photography one. The reason is, that I took this photo with my phone, and then when I got home I went to a lot of trouble to process it in Lightroom, to get an even better image. I played around with the tint, and the exposure, and I even isolated Saki, so that I could make it more pronounced in the photo. Basically I over exposed Saki, so that it would be highlighted against the rest of the surroundings. It was a lot of effort into a photo that I'm not even highlighting as one of my best, but in the end, it came out really well, and I also learned a few things about processing a different image other than my camera. This is when I was really hit by the limitations of a JPEG versus RAW image. I knew that JPEGs had limitations built into them, but I had never seen this limitations until today, and it was a little mind blowing. Here is the image so you can see what I finally came up with.

     If I didn't tell you that there were limitations with that photo, you wouldn't know, and it is really hard to explain them, but once I got in and started moving things around, I noticed how the colors moved. I noticed how the shadows and lines weren't as crisp. I know that part of that is that it was my phone versus a camera, but it is also those built in parameters that JPEGs have. It was a truly eye opening experience, and one that tells me just how lucky I am that I get to take these photos, and get to play around with them in this way.

     Elie told me about a series that is on Netflix, called Tales by Light, and it is about photographers and how they chase shots and tell stories with them. I was watching one of them today, and he said something very interesting, and I really liked his view on this. He said that he doesn't take photos, he is given them. It all comes down to what the subject will give you, and I really liked that, so I no longer take photos, I'm given them, and I will appreciate everyone with a little more zeal than I may have done before.

     This reacquaintance with photography, has opened up so much more within me. The one thing I wanted most to do in photography, was to be able to take a landscape photo that was worth a damn, and I finally did that by taking a new approach at it. That new approach allowed me to see things through new eyes, and by doing that, I look at the world with new eyes. I see things that I didn't necessarily see before. I look at angles and say,  "if I had my camera, I could get this shot.". I plan on going to a bunch of those places, and getting that shot. I would love to do this for a living, but I know, I have to get a whole lot better before that will be even close to happening, and I have a long way to go. Every single shot that I take now, and love, I know can be better with more experience and knowledge. I can always improve, and that is what this year is all about. Not just in photography, but in everything else. I made a big change last year, by leaving a job that was security, and I chased some dreams. I'm still working on those, and I'm not letting them go, but I have a solid foundation to build on with them. I will see those dreams come true, and with those dreams coming together, more dreams will pop up, but the definite consistent things in my life that will always make me happy are, Morty, Saki, and my camera. The next time you see me in person, don't be surprised if I ask to take your photo. Yes I said take, but I also said ask. I want permission to be given that photo. If I do get that shot, I promise you, it will be one of the best ones you have ever given to a photographer, and I will share it with you freely. Peace in and goodnight.