The Meaning of Photography

In the past year, I’ve gone back to my Zen of photography, where I find serenity and a connection with nature. Bird and wildlife photography has been my muse and it never fails me.

Nature has been healing for me, and the joy and simplicity of observing bird behavior and seeing them live their lives as they do helps me calm the mind.

While at Nickerson Beach this summer, the thought of “Taking Pictures” rather than “Creating Images” came to mind. Bird photography has always been wonderful, especially when you have a good idea of how to capture unique scenes.

But then I realized with my bird photography, most of the work has been involved with “Taking Pictures.”

“Taking Pictures” to me now means that I am capturing things as I see them. This is notably different than “Creating Images” when one begins to study the light and work the light to your advantage.

The last evening we were on the beach, we had a lovely and colorful sunset. It was that color that attracted me. Quickly noticing that the Common terns were flying through a specific section between the ocean and the rookery, I took my position with the idea of backlighting the bird with the sun and color behind her/him.

It took quite a few tries to get close to an image that I was happy with - they were fast little buggers after all.

And so this idea of “Taking Pictures” versus “Creating Images” has taken ahold in my thoughts and in the next few posts, I’ll discuss what The Meaning of Photography means to me with this perspective.

If you’d like to receive notice for when the next blog post is posted, please Subscribe below. Thank you!