on Photography .

Ever since I got to the end of my recognition series, I've been thinking about things I want to write about. I often have a lot of ideas that pass through as I go through my day, and usually I write these down but today I just forgot. My mind wandered and my thoughts scattered themselves, as if acorns in leaves, and I just drew blanks as I looked at the draft I was trying to finish. And so what I normally do, is to just start writing. And just like that, boom: idea.

I think that pictures are amazing. Until photography, memories were all you had to treasure those parts of your life that were absolutely extraordinary. Even more amazing is the ability to absolutely freeze a moment in time. To keep it there, in its perfection, save for the aging effect that happens as the white paper turns to yellow and image loses its vivid hues. The thing I love most is how you not only capture a scene, a person or a view. You capture emotion. You capture feelings. You capture a forlorn look in your subject's eye, or carefree laughter. You can see joy, compassion, understanding and love. You can see trust. You can see hurt. How is it that a frozen a moment, a fleeting instance in time, can hold so much? Is a picture really worth a thousand words? Absolutely not. It's worth hundreds of thousands.

But was the art of imagery-enriched writing lost with the advent of cameras? Perhaps not. After all, before cameras you could have yourself put into a painting. Albeit more expensive and much more time-consuming, painting maybe started the movement. And look, now here we are dropping thousands on new equipment, lenses and the like. Just like old times, eh?

Photography has and is still becoming an art - frame rates, lighting, it is a talent that involves capturing that which already exists, but is not noticed. And then bringing that focal point to life, pushing your viewers to see something a certain way. Though I am no expert on the field, so for those of you out there who are, perhaps you'd like to chime in now...

I don't consider myself a photographer. I don't own a DSLR or any other type of nice camera. In fact ever since my swan dived into the beach, I don't own any camera. It's one of those many things I dip my feet into. Architects are often described as being very mediocre at a seriously broad spectrum of things. They have an idea of structure, but can't do the math. They can draw, but they are not artistic perfectionists (just architectural perfectionists -____-). They can place things and organize program in a building, but they surely aren't interior designers either. And so here I am, already filling the mold before I'm even involved in my field. Wanting to do photography, music, a band, weightlifting, biking, blogging, writing letters and more (speaking of which... ahh, I'll mention it at the end). I'm quickly realizing you can't possibly fit it all in. Not in the way you want to. But I refuse to believe that and I still try.

Back to photography. If you do such a thing for a living, bravo to you. Your creative knowledge and expertise shines through in everything you post (seriously). Maybe it's because I'm so detail-oriented, but I find myself able to catch little nuances here and there. Not well, but occasionally, yes. I suppose at the end of the day, starting is as easy as picking up a camera and pressing the same little button located on the upper right corner. The flash illuminates, the shutter closes, and you've got yourself a jumping-off point.

Pitcha-Snappin' .

My friend Andrew recently let me borrow his super like Nikon camera for my trip to North Carolina. This shit is the real deal. You look through the lens to snap photos, not on a screen. You can adjust just about anything you can think up (though I just left the thing on Auto because I'm a noob and a half when it comes to that stuff) and the lens... oh my goodness the lens. You could be forever away, and zoom in on someone's face and see all the details! Wild. It makes me really want one...

But let's be real; when it comes to that, who honestly has a spare couple grand lying around for a camera? I like photography and I think I have a pretty good eye for good composition and taking the photographic opportunities when they present themselves. I suppose I'll just have to add it to the ever-growing wish list.

For those of you that have those super nice cameras, what is your position on them? (This is also kinda specifically directed at Sarah, because you just got yours recently.) Was all that money worth it? Do you find yourself taking more pictures than usual? Is it always fun and cool to learn new things? I'd consider spending the money, but would just want to make sure it was worth my while. After all, the thing sure does get awful heavy hanging around your neck all day.

Capturing Moments .

I would not consider myself a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I can appreciate carefully set photos with good composition and extraordinary lighting. If I had had my way, I would have bought a nice camera and taken a couple of photography classes while at Clemson. Alas nice cameras cost way too much money, and I simply never had the room in my schedule for a photography class without burying myself in semester credits. The other day Stephanie over at An Organized Mess (My Life) posted this link on Twitter. What an amazing number of moments, captured by photography.

photography .

In a limited world, I think that photography is the only thing that is absolutely and truly limitless. There will never be a lack of subject matter, there will never be the same exact shot, there will never be the same opportunity for a photo that you have right this second. In the same way that no two snowflakes are the same, no single photo will ever be exactly the same.

I am no expert at Photoshop and probably never will be. It's on my list of things to really work to get better at, because with the architectural world moving ever steadily towards sole photorealistic renderings it is imperative that I learn how to be able to digitally replicate at least some of the things seen in real life in a photorealistic rendering. Believe me it's not easy, and some of my friends are absolute masters at it... One of the problems is that I don't really enjoy the rendering process. It is a tedious, time-consuming process where little normally unnoticeable  tweaks make the difference between pure shit and pure gold. BUT. And that's a big but, photography is completely different.

busy, busy!

So yeah, I've got lots of things on my plate for right now. Where does the list begin? I'm excited for life and all that it brings, but often it feels like there's just no time for anything (that goes for blogging too, and I know I'm occasionally behind on writing these!) Time management skills are really gonna have to kick in for this semester -- here's the list just off the top of my head of what I need to do...