Close Your Eyes

Before we get into what I wanted to talk about here today I’d like you to take a moment, close your eyes, and imagine a photograph. What came to mind? Was it a snapshot of your significant other? A beautiful landscape? A classic work of art? Maybe you invented one in your mind, an image never seen outside of your imagination. Now, consider being the photographer behind the camera as the photo was taken, even if you were the one who took the photo. Can you imagine the smell of the air? The sound of the environment around you? The emotion felt as what lay in front of the lens transpired?

This is something that makes photography unique among other forms of art. These are not just arbitrary collections of light or pixels, photographs are alive. They are living breathing creations. Every snap of a shutter is another wormhole opening that bridges the past and the present. They collect memories, preseve them and hold the potential energy to thrust them back into your awareness. Even when they are not your own. A great photograph can take you anywhere, it can transform you. Of course, that is, if you let it.

Trouble is that we are currently drowning in imagery. The potential of any one image is being diluted with over exposure. I bet that when you closed your eyes, your mind didn’t jump to one, single photograph but leapt among a dozen different images, bits of each colliding into the next. Our minds move so quickly through an endless mental back catalogue of imagery that it can be hard to focus on any one thing for more than a split second.

It’s why you don’t see me posting a ton of images here or on Flickr. Being more mindful of what I choose to share allows them to have more of an opportunity to be seen, absorbed, and with any luck, remembered. Mental space is a precious thing these days and we can use all the breathing room we can get.

In light of this perspective on the value of any given image I have, in the past year or two, found myself shooting less than I once had. While out taking photos of something I won’t fire off a few dozen shots of the same scene. I find myself being more selective of when I trip the shutter. It has lead me to to a place where I feel more focused and confident in the process of shooting. At one point in the past year I lost my one lager capacity compact flash card and rather than go out and replace it with another I decided to stick with the few 2Gb cards that I have around. These give me around 120 shots per card and I rarely switch out cards unless I am traveling and shooting more often.

I find that in limiting the potential amount of images I allow myself to capture I am able to drive myself into a mental space that puts a greater importance on the things I do choose to capture. It puts me more in the moment rather than constantly glued to the LCD display of my 5D. While this comes after years of constant shooting and learning, I think both beginners and pros alike can benefit from a few creative restrictions.

Photography is a lifestyle as much as it is a profession. The images you create are only as good as the places you allow yourself to explore or the situations you place yourself in, so rather than let photography control your desires, let your desires and passion drive your photography.

Point being is that I firmly believe that to get great photos that will leave a lasting impact you must live your life to its fullest. Don’t question yourself too much, just stay active, follow your instincts and passion, and surround yourself with things that inspire you. Take chances! Nothing ever happens just by sitting around. Sometimes to discover these things you have to go out into the world and find them.

This is something I realized a few years back when I started to shoot film again. I discovered that my favorite personal work was that which I left a little piece of myself in. Sometimes it may be an intimate moment, other times it could be a place or situation not typically thought of as deserving of a photograph. Years of tailoring my shooting and subject choices for what I thought others would like grew tiresome. Letting myself venture beyond my comfort zone helped me discover that I did in fact have a voice while behind the lens and it’s been a joy to explore the implications of this. Even while out shooting at my favorite lake or while on a job site, I look for things that speak to me. I compose the shots I take first in an obvious way, then I shift my perspective to look for that one magic spot where I feel the subject resonate with my point of view. A good example of this would be the seemingly out of focus image posted a few weeks ago.

Life as a photographer should be an open book. There should be no dividing line between where your day to day life begins and your photography ends. Share with the rest of us what makes you you. When I see an image I always search for its reason for existing as much as its technical achievements. No matter how great an image may be technically, it won’t leave a mark if it lacks a soul.

This is one of the most important lessons learned while developing my skills as a photographer which, of course, is never ending. As with every great photogrpher in the medium’s short history you never really stop learning, it’s beautiful evolution and it should be embraced. So, that said, get out there, camera in hand, and live.

Autumn Daydream

As a photographer it sometimes feels impossible to resist the song of fall calling out to be photographed. It only comes once a year after all. This year has felt off somehow though, as if the trees are out of sync. Thankfully though, the past couple of days things seem to have started to fall into place. Trees are starting to glow their warm yellows and oranges and the light of the sun throug the trees combined with the crisp air seems to illuminate the calmness that the season brings. A season of transition and a time to relax and settle into the cold months of the year. This is the first of two or three fall images I will post before those last few desperate leaves manage to drift down.

The image was shot with my 5D along with my new Olympus 55mm lens, a fun combination that I am still only just now starting to explore. The only alteration from the original image was a boost in the highlights using a curve tool and a very slight tint in the shadows, further illustrating what you can accomplish without a heavy reliance on post processing.

The Beginning

Here we have it, the long rumored and discussed design refresh! In the same way a musician slowly fine tunes an album of new songs for a new record I have been slowly picking away at details and preparing things to build a solid future here on fiftyfootshadows.net. The process started over a year ago when I felt a fresh new design would help push things into an exiting new space for the site. My original mockup, while good, just didn’t quite feel right. This lead me to scratch what I originally designed and start fresh with simply a pencil and some graph paper.

All at once the new design came to me like the sharp glare of sunlight after coming out of a dark room and I sketched out what would become the design that you see today. This design is actually a year old which is hard to believe for me personally because I still enjoy it as much as the day it was created nearly a year ago now. I wanted something that would help give my photographs and content a fresh, easy to digest space to live. Something bold and minimal but still functional and unique.

During the process of tweaking things over the last year pixels were nudged around and ideas were refined to the point where I felt things were just right. So now, at last, here we are with version 2 of fiftyfootshadows.

The design features easier access to wallpaper downloads and the terms of use. Below any post with a wallpaper image you will find easy to use download links and a link to the terms of use. I have only had time to go back and tweak about one years worth of older posts to fit the new format of the design but as I have time I will be migrating all older posts to the new format as well. The one drawback to the design that some readers may have to get used to is the simple fact that if you are following along with an RSS reader you will need to simply click through to the site to access these download links. I will look into alternatives to this in the future but for now this is a compromise I needed to make.

Another key feature of the new design is the simple ability to switch between two themes, day and night. I know many readers prefer a darker viewing environment while others, like myself these days, prefer the more open, uplifting spirit that a lighter design can bring which is the default theme for new visitors. Unlike most sites that use a crude background color switcher, I have taken time and effort to create theme specific styles to match both the day and the night versions of the design so either one you choose to use you can rest assured that you are still getting a finely tuned reading experience.

As you see, comments are still in place here on 50ft. I know the current trend in smaller web logs is to leave off comments and rely only on social networking or email for communication with readers I greatly prefer giving you guys a voice here on the site to either let me know how I am doing or share your opinion on an article. I realize the net is full of sarcastic egos that abuse the anonymous nature of comment systems but I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with my readers in the comments both on the positive and negative side of the fence. I have a lot of respect for all of you out there who have shown me support over the years and so I feel its important to let you have your space here as well.

With the dawn of a new design here on 50ft I plan on taking advantage of the fresh mental space and start devoting more time to writing. Over the past few months I have not only been tweaking the design slowly but I have also been stock piling articles and potential wallpaper images to share in order to help me successfully break into a new routine within posting to the site. My goal is to post a new article, review, mix, or feature once a week on Monday or Tuesday. There will be additional posts on off days when I can afford time and discover fun things to post and will also lay into place a public Q&A type category for those with questions about photography so with my answer others can benefit from the advice as well.  I also plan on posting at least one new wallpaper each week as well as something new to the site, guest wallpapers.

I have thought long and hard about the possibility of sharing others work here on the site and have come to the conclusion that it could be fun and be an encouraging way to get readers involved. I have spoken to a couple of readers already about sharing an image to help things get started off right and will be sharing them in the coming week. These images will be invite only for a while until I get settled into the idea but you can rest assured that I will continue to maintain the high standards I set for the site within these images. Guest wallpapers will most likely show up a couple of times each month so as not to dilute the overall experience here on the site and give each post space to breathe. If you do know of someone or think that you have an image that would fit in here on 50ft, feel free to send me a mail. I will do my best to reply to submissions.

This is just the beginning, I have plenty more yet to come and I will introduce new additions as they make their way into reality. These changes are a long time coming and I am overjoyed to see things start to more forward. Next up on my to do list is a photography portfolio site as well as the launch of a store here on 50ft where I will be selling prints, the wallpaper book mentioned a few months back, and other fun things. This and an FAQ page to handle often asked questions.

A million thanks to all of my fantastic readers without which inspire me day in and day out to continue pushing myself as a photographer and as a writer to places I never thought I would reach 10+ years ago when I started sharing like this online.I also must thank my dear friend Dave Jansen who was the mastermind behind the beautiful coding of my design. I will be writing more about his generosity and brilliance in the near future.

Heres to tomorrow.