Thursday, August 5, 2010

Golden light

As most of you know I really like photography.  It is a great hobby and often a challenge to capture a scene that is breathtaking to my eye.  Some of the photos on my blog were set up on a tripod with timer but the rest were ones that I shot just standing and looking for something to catch my eye.  And my wife has snapped several of me that she found particularly amusing.  I use a Nikon D90 digital SLR. It's a great camera in my opinion. I carry about 4 lenses with me and also carry along my old Nikon D70 which is old but my first digital camera. I still have a string of old Nikon SLR's from the film days that are in great shape. 

Photography is something that allows me to try to capture the world around me. Some of what I photograph is beautiful and some of it is not beautiful in a conventional sense. I have a fascination with tugboats but they aren't really beautiful to most people.  I like old houses because they seem to be forgotten, yet still have a heart and soul.  And of course, I like to photograph anything to do with the ocean and estuary.

It's hard to describe how it feels to get a shot that you really like. I take lots of photos but sometimes I can't capture what my eye sees. I think that's the challenge of photography. There is so much more to it than just the mechanics--there's feeling and light and all the many nuances that surround you at the moment that you see something you want to capture forever. There aren't many ways to capture those golden moments or that special feeling. It stays in your mind for a while but to have an image of it that will last....well, that's pretty neat.


I still look at those old Kodak black and whites from my childhood. My memory of that time is pretty dim but when I see the photos, I can see things so much better.  I see the little kid who looks a bit tentative but is smiling. I see my beautiful mother and handsome father holding me.  I can't tell whether they are happy or not.  I look closer and see that my mother often looks tired.  My father looks proud but also old because his hair was already completely gray when I was born.  I was the baby born when they were in their early 40's--an unexpected arrival.

I see the progression of images in old photo albums that show me getting taller.  The eyes show a much older kid than what is pictured and the smile is brave, almost resigned.  I have a few photos showing me in full blown happiness--laughing with my cousin in a pool, playing with the dog, riding my horse.  I wish that I could remember each and every one of those days.  But they have all run together for the most part.  I catch glimpses of them through the photos and those trigger some memories that make me smile or make me pensive.  Photos don't capture the feelings but evoke them.

The photos I take today will be the ones that I will look back on in years to come.  I hope that they  will have preserved those things that are important to me so that I can look back and conjure up something magical as time goes by.

17 comments:

  1. my boys love looking back at their pictures growing up...i cant claim to take may that are much good other than the memories they stir...

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  2. Isn't you name really Ansel Adams?

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  3. Your photographs are outstanding Syd.

    I love photography even though I am very new at it. I have recently gotten a Nikon D90 and haven't used it but only a few times, it's very complicated for a beginner such as myself. I did buy the book Nikon D-90 for Dummies :-)

    I look forward to seeing more of your work.

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  4. I love your photos. you are talented. my parents too were the 40's parents, I was unexpected after several years of trying, my only sibling 15 years older than me.

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  5. I love your photos Syd. I feel as if I am there -- that sense of immediacy -- and I can understand you better in relationship to your beautiful landscape.

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  6. I love photographs too. I'm not a great photographer, I have friends who are. In fact my sponsor is quite gifted.

    I love that memories and emotions can be evoked with photos.

    :)

    This one is particularly beautiful.

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  7. I like how you say the older photos don't capture the feelings but they evoke them. I think you are a good photographer judging from the ones you have shared in your posts so you should have some wonderful times ahead looking at the photos you take during this time of your life.

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  8. As a long time ghost reader, I wanted to thank you for you daily insights

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  9. well that shot took my breath.
    awesome job!

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  10. I love old houses, too, Syd. This is a beautiful post.

    Love,

    SB

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  11. I always enjoy your pics. I'd love to be that gifted with a camera!

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  12. my friend who teaches photography at the school of design at one of the universities here took photos of my body as part of my first book. it was interesting being the subject of her camera (at the time, she used a Rolleiflex with a square top-viewfinder)... in AA we say that "we will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." that book project, which i sold to random house with the help of an agent, reminds me of how young and inexperienced and most of all fearful i was as both a parent and writer. i'll always be grateful to my friend for shooting those photographs. i guess i'm also glad i wrote the book... like you, i hope the art we produce shows how we mature and grow. i try to let go of that fear today.

    artistic ability is a gift. you're using yours well.

    thanks, syd. --g

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  13. I think your work shows that you have the eye and soul of an Artist. If retirement doesn't work out, there's always Art....

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  14. Your pictures are beautiful, and I love to look at pictures of the past. The only pictures I don't care too much about were taken in just the last two years when my drinking was at it's worst. However change is occuring and I hope to like the pictures that show a person more at peace...

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  15. reading this makes me want to be a photographer lol... that's a very nice photo

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  16. I love looking back on old photos
    it brings back memories of the distant time and place. With the help of the program I dont have to live in the past though it would be just too painful for me. The program and HP help me to stay in the present.

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Let me know what you think. I like reading what you have to say.