Photography for the People

This is a post about my photography, but first, allow me to talk a moment about creativity and individualism, at least as they apply to me. Your indulgence is appreciated.

Since I was roughly eight-years-old, the urge took me that I wanted to do what other creative types had done. If I read a good story, it would inspire me to write one of my own. If I enjoyed a smashing comic book, I'd go and make my own comic book adventures. A trip to an art gallery, or a perusal of a book about art, would jump-start the desire to draw my own pictures (and frame them). And, when I'd view a well-taken photograph, I'd want to take my own photos.

The aforementioned cause & effect could, I suppose, be labeled as creativity of a sort. Plenty of people read books, comics, look at art and enjoy photographs, but most are content to simply consume such things, and do not have the desire (as did I) to do engage in those activities. Is this, then, a form of individualism? I think it might be. It's not enough for me to say, "That's nice," and go on about my day. I often think to myself, "That's nice, and I want to do my own version of it." Call it inspiration, creativity, or individualism, but I've been doing it now for nearly three decades. It brings me pleasure.

Now, about the photography, in particular. There's an app on the iPhone called Instagram. It allows one to post photos to it, and use the built-in filters to improve the look of the photographs. I've been using it for several months now, and have grown to quite enjoy it. I don't pretend to be a professional photographer, and it's unlikely that anyone would mistake me for one. But it's fun. And I try to do the best I can, by using different types of filter apps, using different subjects (nature, structures and people), and generally attempting to produce some quality stuff.

Working with Instagram has helped me be more creative, and introduced me to a wonderful community of people from all over the world, who share their photographs on the iPhone app. Some of the photos are obviously professional-grade, but most are not. And that's fine. Photographs are meant to capture something -- whether that be an artistic vision, the stunningly simple beauty of nature, a posed model, or a fun moment between friends. Crap photographs exist, yes, but I think that a fairly all-encompassing view of what constitutes good photography shouldn't necessarily be limited to the perfect and professional.

Sometimes, good photography can be for the average joe (or jane), who just want to be individually creative. For that purpose, something like Instagram works well. I don't pretend to take amazing pictures. I know my limits. There are other things that impress me, and that I'd love to have the talent to do. Great architecture and design is, alas, far beyond my scope. But darn it if I can write a half-way decent story, sketch a drawing, and take a cool photograph. At least, I try to.