Photos: Unedited

My new thing: bare-bones photography.  I've been challenging myself to take photos and use only the settings on the camera to alter the effects.  If the picture doesn't turn out, it doesn't turn out -- no Photoshop allowed.   In some ways, it's refreshing.  In others, frustrating.  But I think making a few arbitrary rules like this will help me to become a better photographer now, when I have the time to mess around endlessly.  A few selections below -- perhaps editing could make these better, but here they are, as is:

Most of these were taken not from our house, but from the home of a family friend, where we spent yesterday evening at a fourth-of-July picnic.  The one at the very top was taken from our moving car; I desperately wanted to stop and take more photos of these beautiful, startlingly yellow fields, but impatient kids who have probably spent far too much time in the car recently made that somewhat impossible.  Maybe I'll be able to sneak away and take a few more photos at this spot some other day....

My Creative Space

 For the past week, my creative space has been primarily in my head -- lots of ideas and lots of living and soaking up experiences. However, one thing that's more concrete and creatively satisfying has been figuring out my 5+ year-old digital camera a bit more.  For the longest time I've been convinced that if I bought a new camera, all of my photography woes would be solved.  I subscribe to the Etsy newsletter (though I have yet to set up my Etsy shop....) and again and again I've read about studying one's camera (and camera manual) and learning to take better photos.  Well, through much much experimentation, I finally feel as though my old camera and I are getting to know one another a bit better.  I'm even growing rather attached.  You could say we're becoming friends. 

This evening I took a walk through the meadow behind our home here as the sun set and a thunderstorm gathered; along the walk (which ends in my great-grandfather's apple orchard) I also took a few photos.  I'm getting to the point of liking the photos my camera and I take even without any editing (aside from a little cropping.)  Huge progress!  And fun to boot.   I won't be replacing this camera anytime soon.  Isn't it satisfying to learn to work with what you've got rather than rush out and buy the latest new-fangled thing?  I feel like I get this reminder all the time: everything I need, I already have.

Check out many other creative spaces here, on Kootoyoo.  Always a pleasure.....