I think I'm getting better as a photographer. I'm relying less on filters
(says the man who took this)
Fig 1
and I'm learning to postprocess images a bit more now
Fig 2
But more importantly, I'm beginning to get a sense of how to become better.
Here's one from yesterday
Fig 3
It's not bad. I cropped Aerislovescats up there from a bigger picture to clear out the clutter in the background, and the result is... acceptable.
Here's the thing.
I'm not proud of it.
See, Aerislovescats posed well for this photo, and as a result it was comparatively easy for me to reach out into the world and pull it onto my sensor at F1.7.
But I had nothing to do with it, because what you don't see in the photo, what I cropped out of the photo, was the photographer who set her up. I don't know if she did this herself, the way that I did here
Fig 4
and here
Fig 5
(I note that I really need to tidy up my outfits before posing.)
or if the photographer arranged her accordingly, or if it was some combination of both.
I like this one better
Fig 6
although, again, I was not involved in arranging HeartsRen for the shot. However, when she posed, I moved around to the outside to capture her through the water (no, it's not shopped in.)
And I like it, because when I look at the image, I had a hand in making it come about beyond just pointing and shooting and cleaning it up.
And now I understand, you see, why certain players jump out from the screen at you, in the shots you see above. Because they reflect a certain belief I have:
Everyone has that potential. And some people-- and these people immediately get swarmed by photographers when they are up and performing-- can call forth this beauty immediately.
Some people, less so.
Fig 7
But everyone can be beautiful, in a way that has nothing to do with fashion and clothes and makeup. All of these help, but there is that something more that turns a person into more than an image, into a real life person that you can catch a fleeting glimpse of in the moment of the shot.
I've been working to capture these moments by stealth.
Fig 8
because the knowkedge you are being observed tends to kill it for a lot of people.
But yesterday I tried something different.
To take the subject, and talk to the subject, and shift and adjust to make something happen.
Fig 9
And it is beautiful.
I think, perhaps, I am beginning to learn what Van Wong means when he says that he doesn't work to capture an image, but that he creates it.
It turns you into something more than a chronicler of things as they happen.
It means that you create something new, something awesome, and something that reflects your vision of the world.
It lets you create beauty.
More and more, I am coming to believe that this, and truth, and kindness, may be the only things that matter. Everything else serves them.
Fig 10
Fig 1: Griangpon Miloto as Riven, League of Legends
Fig 2: ??? as Ryuko Matoi. Kill la Kil
Fig 3: AerislovesCats as Rainbow Dash
Fig 4: Myself as Kyo Kusanagi, album by Chai Boon Hong
Fig 5: Again, album by Kenneth Sim
Unless stated otherwise, all images are from my album of EOY 2014 day 1(full album here)
Fig 6: Quek Qing HeartsRen as.... er, something, not sure.
Fig 7: Myself at a tea party. Album by Grace Zhang
Fig 8: My Street photography album
Fig 9: Michelle Lim and Jennifer Ho. Could be Persona? Not sure.
Fig 10: Devon Woon as.... oh, come on, do I need to explain?
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