Every year we learn, every year we grow.
So where has my own growth been so far this year? My biggest change, in terms of my photography, has been related to my aperture. I used to consistently shoot with a narrow aperture - I often went to f22 as I endeavoured to have all elements of my subject in focus. Lately I have been shooting at the other end of the spectrum: f3.5 which sees the sharpness dropping off from around the chosen point of focus. Neither approach is preferable to the other - it’s simply an artistic choice and it’s good for us as artists to do things differently now and again.
I was this week photographing a bird of prey flower from my garden. I had waited months for her to open up, There she was and I had to decide how to capture her. When I actually studied her, there were several possibilities, and I realised that if we had a line-up of 10 photographers they would likely each have a unique approach. And indeed I myself selected several areas of focus, each producing a slightly different look, and below you can see my image of choice.
It’s great how our focus on one genre of photography and our subsequent progress can transcend into other areas of our work. I find the personal growth exciting. My son will soon be home for the summer. Just as I have recently been approaching my macro shots somewhat differently, so I want to photograph my son with different lenses and different apertures. I photograph him every time he’s home and he kindly indulges me in this respect! I am really looking forward to seeing how I can create different portraits of him this summer.
As long as we challenge ourselves and we enjoy what we’re doing we will keep growing and that, I find, is very exhilarating!