687 (one more photo for now)

"Outside Looking In"

I have been looking at a lot of photographs recently. In books and my own and some originals by others. Photography. I will be part of a group show having to do with FotoFocus in October. I will give you more details later. Suffice it to say I have been taking photos too.

I have been having trouble using cameras. Almost all of my lenses are manual focus. All except one are prime lenses meaning they are one focal length and do not zoom. Most of my equipment is old. Not complaining I actually like it better. Until now. It is getting harder and harder to focus a lens or spend any time looking through a viewfinder of any sort. That is why a lot of my favorites are toys and/or pinhole cameras. No focusing or f/stops involved. I do enjoy feeling my way into a photograph more than looking my way into a photograph. It's personal. We all have our favorite ways to do things. I am happy that we are all different. The photos I am trying to take right now want to be well composed and sharply focused. I am working on it. I'll keep working on it.

The above photo was taken at a time when I would carefully choose depth of field and focus for each and every image. Really good lenses are nice for that. Medium to large format photography is especially good for that look. This was taken with a wide open lens and selective focusing. I did a lot of it. Eventually I was taking photos that other people considered out of focus. Which of course did not stop me. I liked what I was doing just fine. I still find them to be quite beautiful.

Always feel free to do it your own way.