Glow

Untitled, originally uploaded by take 1 for all.

One great thing about flickr is its great diversity of style. Browsing around flickr, I often come across photographers who employ styles completely different from my own. And when I see photos like the one above, by take 1 for all, I'm first moved and second inspired. The warm glow of sunshine from the window above, and the expression of peace on the woman's face set me at ease. I wonder what the story is behind the woman and the photographer, what she's thinking, and also think about all the times I've sat around with my girlfriend, soaking in the warmth under a square of sunshine.

At the same time, I'm inspired because my photos rarely look like this. The cool color temp, purposeful overexposure, haziness, and off-balance composition are all things that I've tried to keep out of my photos, either through my in-camera settings or post-processing on the computer. I have some habits to unlearn. Specifically, what I've learned from this photo, and others, is that I one great way to bring attention to natural light is to shoot into a light source, with your subject backlit, exposing for your subject. Also, I have to let go of the orangy-yellow kodak-style image in my head. Again and again, cooler, bluer photos are the ones catching my attention.

I'm still chasing after a feeling. take 1 for all has captured a bit of it and I feel that he's one of many on flickr that are helping me along my way.

Signals

Understandable, originally uploaded by azMattic.

Ten months ago I decided to take a break from blogging to focus on how I might successfully switch careers after leaving my translation gig in Taiwan to return to my hometown of New York, NY. To make a long story short, I've applied to a few graduate programs and if I'm accepted, I'll be working towards an MFA in Graphic Design starting this fall.

It was a month or so after the last post that I picked out "Understandable" by azMattic. I thought won't it be clever how life right now is giving me conflicting signals, and this photo features a whole mess of signals pointing in different directions? I thought it was poetic back then, and looking at it now I feel that it's still a powerful image. Part of what grabs me is the sense of tension between wire and sky and also how the wires seem to cascade down the image, lending the scene an added sense of scale and distance. The wires remind us of how grounded we are to the earth, to the network of electrical lines and telecommunication fibres that tether us together in the techno-centric modern world.

So on that note, I say hi, again. Welcome to the blog. I hope to update once a week with a new favorite from Flickr. In addition, the tone and structure of subsequent blog posts will likely continue to shift in order to accommodate my persisting shortcomings.