I’m excited about the coming April 18^th photo shoot. So excited that I’m posting a few thoughts about what the DITLO Asheville project has taught me.

1) I’ve learned to put fear aside and follow the action.

In my case, I like to make candid photographs of people. When those people don’t know me, it’s a challenge. This event has helped me to get over myself and just make the picture. If you’re trigger-shy when you see an image that happens to be composed of relative strangers, this is a good event for you – it’s the perfect opportunity to put aside some stage fright and click the shutter. It also taught me to follow the action and find events where people are focused on something other than the photographer. During the Spring 2007 shoot, the Environmental Rally at Pack Plaza was one such event, full of photo opportunity. I made several of my favorite pictures in the span of a few minutes there.

2) I’ve learned to follow the light.

Morning and evening light are both flattering. Most of us can admit that much. By shooting throughout an entire day – and not packing it in (entirely) during the noon hours – I’ve learned a lot about how the sun moves through the Asheville sky and what lighting conditions you can find around town. This has benefited me throughout the year. Follow the light. When’s the last time you watched where the sun shines, very specifically, during most of a full day?

3) I’ve learned to get out there and shoot!

Sadly, there have been many days when I leave my camera gear in its bag. Days of good light when other parts of life intervened and I didn’t make any images. But not on April 18^{th (and 19th)}! I really like the challenge and energy that this event brings to the calendar day when it occurs; my camera bag will get a workout on April 18^th, and that is excellent. Kudos to Jason and all the contributors for an event that is just the right amount of challenge.

Sincerely,
Clark

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under lessons learned. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.