Was just sitting here doing some editing when my mind wandered as it often does. I should see someone about that. But anyway, I thought to myself each picture I take is really a picture of what my eye saw and then pictured into a viewfinder and focal length of the lens. Then another picture as I crop before snapping the picture.
No sunset this evening.
Photo by Mike Hartley
Then I get home and crop the picture into a new picture. Now this is where it gets interesting. This picture sometimes just sits in a drawer of undeveloped film or now days on a flash disk or hard drive. Sometimes the picture gets lucky. It makes it to a social media site or email. Or best of all, someone prints it out and it becomes a physical entity.
And the special path it travels from there is what I cherish. I enjoy sending my kids pictures of them or their pets or family gatherings. But their choice is always an electronic method. A physical print is special to me though. Probably because I come from a different generation. To me having a picture I cherish in my wallet is special. Having a family shot in my office cube is more important that wallpaper on my screens. They get turned off, a photo in a frame next to my desk is always there.
Pictures on my office walls are so much more enjoyable to look at than a rotating picture frame. When I’m gone my family probably won’t go through all the images on my computers. But they will look at and keep many of the images on my walls. At least I hope so.
A picture that a friend says “can I get a print of that also” is so rewarding. Any picture that gets attention is getting love. If I can get an image that someone wanted, that is a very gratifying day. When I see it in their home or behind their bar or on their office desk, to me its saying I was fortunate enough to create/capture an important moment for them.
So I feel like I’ve been rewarded by all the photos my parents took in their lives. It is nice to look back and see the places they went. The way life was when they were growing up.
I just hope I can make images that people love or like or just want to hang in their desk. Or the occasional like here and there.
