I've always admired photographers. I'm not one. So I think it's neat when they do stuff like make things fuzzy in the background and make their kids' faces really focused. Or they do that thing where they take a picture while someone's throwing a kid in the air and it comes out clear and not all smeared like mine do. But the thing I'm most intrigued by is how they like to focus on something like a teacup or a chair or some other inanimate object. In theory, that sounds boring. But my photography friends like Lori and Ellen do that kind of thing all the time and they post it on their blog and I get all emotional. I think Lori posted a picture of her fencepost one time and I looked at it for a good 1-2 minutes. Who cares about a fencepost? Why did I care about that fencepost? It wasn't even my fencepost! But it was so pretty and I thought about deep things while I looked at it.
So, I tried that this week. It snowed and the kids were in the backyard. My husband asked me to take some pictures of them but I was like, "Ok, but first I need to take a picture of something that's not a person. Like our mailbox. Because that's what real photographers do."
And when I looked at the picture of my mailbox, I felt nothing. All I thought was, "We get letters and bills out of that thing each day. Oh, and also there's snow on it." I thought waaaay less things about my own mailbox picture than I did about Lori's fencepost.
Dear photography friends, my respect for you went up a billion percent after my mailbox fiasco. You are really good at what you do. And I'm going to go back to taking pictures of human beings.
OK, first of all I like your mailbox photo.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, for the one billionth time--Christy, you are hilarious!!! You have a gift for putting your thoughts and memories down in words-- in a way that draws us in and makes us feel like we are caught up in that moment with you (in your head or in the actual place)!
i think your mailbox photo is awesome! really!
ReplyDeleteassuming i am the ellen to which you refer, i'm honored to be in a category with lori. and i'm laughing. because on our snow day, i too, was looking for some inanimate object that a real photographer would take a picture of. i think i snapped a shot of the steeple on campus here.
you're a funny girl.
I saw a post on Craig's facebook page that he is going to host a photography workshop! I think we should sign up! I would have liked to be a photographer. Think about all the joyous occasions they capture.
ReplyDeleteI love you, funny BF.
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