Conveying a Message: Packed to the MAX
A photo should convey some sort of message, mood, story, or feeling from the photographer. Last weekend was Portland’s annual Rose Festival and our family attended a nighttime parade in downtown Portland. Following the event I was standing at one end of a packed light rail train and snapped this image, hopefully conveying the feeling of the crowded, bustling evening ride.
Why Flickr, Part One
Over the past year or so, I have been using the social photo-sharing site Flickr as one of the main avenues for my photography on the web. Why Flickr? Why would I use a hosted service when I could host the photos on my own site? There are a variety of reasons, but the big ones can be summed up in one word: community. In a series of posts, I will explain some of Flickr’s features and reasons why I think the site is definitely worth my time (and the $25/year for a pro account).
Future posts will dive into more detail on some of Flickr’s features as well as provide tips, tricks, and tools to make the most of the Flickr experience, but first let’s talk a bit about community. The Flickr photography community shares a love of photography, and allows one to easily share their photos with the world while making it easy to engage in sharing and communications with others with common photography interests
Photos can easily be added to various topic groups for pretty much any topic imaginable. There are groups for locations, techniques, camera models, colors, objects, hobbies, portraits, and so on. You can comment on any photo or mark it as a favorite. Photos can be grouped into sets of related images.
By using the contacts feature, you can note those users you want to follow, and Flickr makes it easy to see a quick update of what your contacts have uploaded recently.
Flickr isn’t just photo storage, it’s photo sharing, and the community aspects can be a powerful tool for a photographer to get feedback on their work and improve the quality of their images. Stay tuned for coming posts that share more detail of how to best use Flickr.
The Most Important Thing
As I look at the various topics I have in mind for Photoschooled, I’d like to offer a variety of information, tips, tricks, and lessons learned. But to kick it all off, I want to explicitly state what should be obvious:
Take photos. Lots of them.
Taking photos (nearly) every day, instead of only on special photography trips, is probably the number one thing I have done to improve my skill. Practice might not always make perfect, but it usually leads to improvement. Why aren’t you taking more photos? What might be a barrier to photography?
- Impractical Photo Gear: When my only camera was my DSLR (and assorted lenses) it wasn’t always convenient to lug around my photo backpack so that I could easily take photos. I purchased a relatively inexpensive, yet decent quality, point-and-shoot digital camera that I try to carry with me everywhere. You can’t take a photo if you don’t have a camera.
- No Time: Even when you’re not explicitly making time, you can take photos. Have a few minutes at a bus stop? Look around. Waiting for a friend or co-worker to meet you somewhere? Look around. Taking your garbage can out to the curb? Look around. Going out to eat? Look ar… well, you get the idea.
- Routine Locations: If you’re tired of shooting the same things, try a bit of variety. Spend your lunch hour walking in a direction you haven’t explored. A lot of interesting things are often located just out of sight of your normal routine.
There’s an old photojournalism adage that states the most important thing in photography is “f/8 and be there” — you can’t take a photo unless you’re there with a camera. Be there, have your camera, and take more photos.
