Inspiration & Revelations

Lately, I have been trying to inspire myself. I have found myself slipp
ing into that nasty habit we all can fall into at times: dreaming without acting. I have been doing a lot of research on photography, but guess what I haven't been doing much of...you guessed it. So, I've vowed to take my camera EVERYWHERE. Now your probably thinking, "Matt, you can't take it EVERYWHERE." To that I say, you're right. There are some parts of my day that nobody would ever want to photograph...especially not me. To quote The Princess Bride, "Let me explain, no no there is too much, let me sum up." I am rearranging my priorities in life (after spouse and child, of course). Getting out to practice the art and inspire my creative spirit needs to take precedent before many of the things I've spent my time doing (mainly dishes). Thus ends Revelation #1.

Revelation #2: You can practice the art of photographing people, WITHOUT A CAMERA! Here's the deal. This gig is probably 30% technical and 70% connecting with your subject. (Don't hold me to those percentages, I'm not a statistician.) I wrote a note on my hand today to help...us lowly computer drones need that sometimes. It said simply, "Make people smile." As photographers, I have come to realize that THIS is our job. Not simply snapping the shutter. We need to observe, connect with, and draw out the personality and characteristics of the people whom we are photographing. I tried this today, and not only did I get several more smiles than usual, my day was astonishingly better and I left work in a good mood, despite a ho-hum day.

I realize this is probably not a a particularly revealing revelation to you, but hey I'm a little slow. Not to mention it is very easy for us to know something, yet fall into our same comfortable trends. I encourage you to break the cycle and generate some smiles!

And yes...I know none of these pictures have anything to do with smiles. These are just some shots I took tonight and was pleased with. (Hey I can do that, its my blog!)