I like all holidays, but I think Thanksgiving may be my favorite. I like turkey, football, and family. This time last year I was trying to explain aperture and shutter-speed to my cousin in references to depth of field. This year I saw lots and lots of family and even went to a wedding (covered by 3 photographers I may add).

This time I brought along some lighting with me (nothing fancy), and I was telling my cousin about off camera flash. By telling, I really mean telling, as it was unsolicited conversation; but thankfully my family puts up with my foibles. My uncle bill observed that my lighting setup was going to distribute an uneven amount of light on the background. He was right; and I wasn't really "seeing" my whole frame. It reminded me that I need to keep my eyes open and not get cocky. I got some fun shots outdoors - mostly headshots.

The next day, we went to Midtown Photo in Middletown, CT., on the recommendation of a clerk from Hunt's SBI Photo. Black Friday and the place was pretty dead. It was toward the end of the day, and the local Chamber of Commerce was set up across the street giving free horse and carriage rides. Inside I found an interesting mix of old and new, a mid size independent camera shop. I had hoped to find some hidden treasures (a 21mm f4 nikkor non-ai, or an 85mm 1.4 ais). Instead I was greeted by some good conversation from a couple of wedding photographers (one of whom was a clerk at the shop). After poking around I found some Technidol on sale and the clerk gave me a roll of Kodak Technical Pan 120 to go along with it (a couple of years out of date, but I'm sure it's good). At the end of day I got 50% off of the already reduced price - which basically means I paid 5 bucks for a couple of containers of technidol and a freebie roll of 120. Ah... this is why I like small shops.

I looked at the most recent prints from one of the photographers and we discussed the wedding photography market. They are both based on packages including prints, and their best sellers are in the $3500+ range. As is to be expected, there is some pressure from lower end photographers, and the main problem is differentiation in the eyes of the consumer. They want an "educated" consumer. Food for thought.

The photos were quite good and it struck me that this guy is working at a camera shop and I'm assuming it's not because he loves sales. The pool of photographers is so large that differentiation on a regional scale must be tremendously difficult. His situation made me think: Having been seriously pursuing this craft for the last 20 months, I find that the number one time sucker is the focus on the technical and gear acquisition. I probably spend as much time investigating equipment and techniques as I do actually shooting photographs. The trap is becoming the photographic equivalent of the guy playing "stairway to heaven" in the guitar shop, as opposed to the guy getting his ass beat up on stage playing the open-mic circuit. I have avoided camera clubs for many reasons, although they are very appealing. My image of them is sitting around talking about gear or critiquing images from a narrow perspective. Neither of which appeal to me. On the other hand, looking at the work put out by other people is a tremendous reminder that I am still becoming a jack of all trades and master of few when it comes to photography.

The biggest challenge I face is a lack of education. I need to study more great artwork; and I don't mean photos. I need to study how artists used light, composition, and perspective to tell a story. I never could appreciate it until now; I just don't think I "saw" the shadow of someone's nose until recently. In my own photos I still don't see greatness, nor do I know how to achieve greatness. At the moment I'm putting myself in harms way and coming up with the best work I can. The next challenge for me will be "crafting" images from sketch, to props, to model, to location, and then executing to the highest level. I want world class photos. In the grand scheme of things I have a tremendous amount of learning to do - not just learning, but knowledge development. Really absorbing the concepts until they ooze out of my like a Bill Belichick defense.

On Saturday we attended a wedding that was very beautiful. I have no doubt that the 3 photographers covering the event did an exceptional job. I tried to stay out of the way and snap a few photos from my seat and on the dancefloor. No flash though. My primary purpose was the exploration of the dynamic range characteristics, white balance, focus, and ISO response of the Fuji S5 Pro. At the same time I wanted to capture a few images of people I know.

After it was all over we visited a relative in the hospital and played the images as a slide show. It was pointed out to me that on some of my set-up shots I had an ugly object sticking out of the head of someone. So obvious upon reflection, but I was totally oblivious to it in person. It reminded me, for the second time this weekend, not to get cocky and remember the basics. At the end of the day it is about light, geometry, and subject matter. The rest is superfluous, and the more technology I use to get the results, the more I feel that I am failing in my primary directive of being an excellent photographer.

As I ponder these thoughts, it occurs to me that I should really pretend that Henri Cartier-Bresson was critiquing my images and imagine what he would say. I can already imagine how he may have approached the situation totally differently for artistic reasons. I, on the other hand, had postcard photos in my head. So, take photos to please the masses, or take photos to impress the few? Well, either way taking photos is probably better than my endless scouring of internet archives for obscure observations by people who I have no idea of their credibility talking about equipment that I don't need. Lenses? sure. The newest uber-pixel camera? not necessary. Time to shoot some film on a manual camera with a fixed focus lens and keep it simple.

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a note on the photos: all digital, only slight modifications if any. They aren't here to show the best, they're just representation of some of the concepts I'm writing about or explaining to somebody (like the first image which has somewhat severe off axis light - but oddly does fit a 3 dimensional interpretation of the rule of thirds (3 degrees of distance, and 2 dimension 1/3rds composition). If they are thought provoking, that is great.