The Way We See It: June 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Kenya 2010: Thinking of Africa

I began “The Way We See It” nearly two years ago to the day. We were waiting for our flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul International and I was bored. The flight was delayed, so I began to scribble some thoughts about life, travel and photography. I was excited about our trip to Tanzania, and used this nervous energy to begin the blog.

The trip to Tanzania was pre-marital travel dream for us both; and eighteen years after declaring we’d do it, we finally made it happen. For two weeks we were in photographic nirvana; we were on an all day, every day safari. There was so much to see and so little time to take it in. In many ways, our Tanzanian Safari spoiled us. While I still enjoy studying patterns in nature near home and across the United States, nothing could possibly compare to the infinite photographic potential we found in East Africa. At the time, we thought that this trip was a one-shot deal, so we tried to make the most of it.

Fast forward two years...

Northwest Airlines is Delta, Barack Obama is President, and the United States is in the second round of the FIFA World Cup.... funny how life changes.

Yet, some things seem wonderfully familiar. We made it to the plane on time, Minneapolis to Amsterdam. I’m bored, but I’m filled with nervous energy.

Next stop... Kenya. We’re back baby, and I am really excited!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Twenty-Five Tips for Taking Great Photographs

My sister, Jaime Curtis blogs at Prudent Baby.Com (http://www.prudentbaby.com) and has quite a following on her site. Prudent baby is all about engaging families in art, craft, and fun. What’s more, Prudent Baby makes for cool kids with cool parents and encourages its readers to embrace their inner artist.

About two weeks ago, Jaime asked if I’d author a column about making photographs. We decided that I would write ten tips supported by ten images. As I got rolling on this reflective process, I realized that I could not summarize my photographic intentions with ten simple platitudes. I wanted to make these tips relevant to Jaime’s readers and inspire her community to see differently with their cameras.

Tip #1 “It’s about the photographer, not the camera”

This is the tip I offer to every aspiring nature photographer that I meet. While I often fall into the “must have new...” paradigm, I know in my heart that my vision can be expressed on film, with a point and shoot, or with an enthusiasts/consumer digital SLR. Sure new technology is fun and often “better,” however it will not transform poor technique and bad compositions into enjoyable images.

To see the rest of my thoughts about photography and the photographic process follow the link to “25 Tips for Taking Great Photographs” at Prudent Baby.Com.