Stages of my photographic journey

I thought I would take a departure this week from my typical post.  I’ve spent some time cleaning up my image library and have reflected on my own photographic journey.  I remember starting 8 years ago with my first Jack Graham workshop.  We witnessed the must beautiful sunrise I have ever seen, it was at Rooster Rock.  But my image… well…it sucked. The image you see below is Peter’s.  Mine were not salvageable.  I was very much at the bottom of this curve, struggling with my own technical proficiency – learning to use my camera, filters, cards, remote, Photoshop……  It was all so new.

I have been helping some of my friends on their journeys and it occurred to me that they were moving through similar stages.  I think many people start at the bottom of this chart and work their way up.  There are a fortunate group of people that have a vision and can communicate it in a compelling art form right from the start.  I’m still working my way up.Peter and I spent the next two years on the technical stuff.  We were focused on trying to get consistent, and expected, results every time we snapped the shutter.  To be honest, I still struggle with focus, but more often than not my images are sharp.

I moved into the exploration phase a few years ago.  Everything was still so new and interesting. During that time I completed both my Project 365 and my Project 52 epic sagas.  If I’m honest, I still like trying new things and have a project list of 200+ projects I have yet to try.

I have begun to hone in and refine my personal style.  I consider myself a nature and urban abstract artist.  It first became clear to me when I put together a portfolio of 10 images to share with a reviewer.  They were all abstracts.

I think I am still working my way up to the vision stage.  I spend time looking at others’ works and am always in awe of the way people can capture emotion and feeling in a single frame – especially those images that don’t include people or animals.

Here’s to an epic journey, I look forward to where it takes me.