Do you remember back in the olden days of film cameras? Not everyone had a camera, and those who did, used them sparingly.
I was a bit of a dork, because I had 2 cameras going at a time and kept them in the trunk of my car. One was for color prints, and the other was for either black and white, or slides.
Slides?? Are you kidding me? What useless little items they have become.
But, I digress. Now we are all photographers.
When I carry my camera around Wilsonia, I am recording moments and details of cabins for the purpose of drawing. (Hey Mr. Google, the book will be called The Cabins of Wilsonia). These photos need to have great light, good composition, and visible detail. With my computer, I can straighten out sloping cabins (okay, it was me who was sloping with the camera, but you know what I mean), lighten shadows, darken blown-out highlights, increase contrast, and crop. (I love cropping. It was the best thing about working in a dark room back in the days of film photography.)
If someone has commissioned me to draw their cabin outside of the book project, my photos are much more specifically for documentation. I photograph the cabin from several angles, and pull in the details of each angle with the telephoto lens. I have to photograph things that are hidden behind trees, photograph the tops of the trees, back up, get close, and figure out anything that might be a little hard to understand from a photo. (What a weird chimney base. I wonder why those shingles are different sizes. What’s up with those sagging boards?)
As I walk around Wilsonia to become more familiar with each street and cabin, I continue to see beautiful shots that just wouldn’t translate into pencil drawings. They are simply beautiful – colors, light, things that might make nice paintings.
That’s a weird thought – does this mean that pencil drawings aren’t beautiful?
Nope. Some things look best as color photographs, some as black and white photos, some as pencil drawings, and some as paintings.
Different is just different, not qualitative.
End of lecture. Here is your reward for hanging with me to the end:
P.S. This umbrella is a beautiful green that the camera couldn’t pick up no matter how much I messed with it on the computer. Maybe it would make a nice painting. . .
