Photography again.....

I've always admired life style photography. Actually I'm not sure it I admired it or want to know how a good photo can make me lust after the items in it for months. I don't drink coffee but I love pictures of coffee shops and any time I come across a good photo of one I dream of sitting in it reading a good book and drinking...hot water! So here's my take on this coffee shop dream.

My dear BF has been a priest at our temple for a little over 1 year now. It is a wonderful gift to take care of the deities, because even though the service may look easy, not just any one is qualified to do it. He was given this chance because he follows certain principles and made vows to his Guru that he upholds to this day. Note: the first two photo's unedited while the last two I used Lightroom to "fix". I usually don't edit my photo's. Not because I think there good with out it...but because I don't like how my edits look. I also usually take photo's outdoors in the day time.

I don't like to us the zoom feature on my camera, I never have. I would much rather get up close and then take the picture. When it comes down to taking a picture of anything that doesn't talk then thats okay. But usually people don't like me or my camera taking pictures of there pores. And I've notices that the with this camera that I have it works better if I stand back and use the zoom as well.

I've been reading Intimate Life by Charlotte Cotton. When I took photo's in the past there wasn't anything I wanted to do more then share my story. Now thought I've noticed that I feel very appriensive to turn the camera towards those more intimate parts of my life. While reading Intimate Life I read the part about the "in-built protection of intimate photography from serious and especially negative art crtiticism".  In one sense this was very encouraging to turn the camera on the more private parts of my everyday life. In another sense I can't fully agree. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what I read but if a photo is "bad" doesn't that still leave it open to critic? Yesterday was hard and super busy. The only time I had to photography was myself and some of my yoga practice.

Honestly I'm surprised I actually took photo's today. I was very anxious and not inspired to even think about looking for photos. This whole practice of taking photo's with out trying to find the story in them is so difficult for me. I think I see pictures in stories and if I'm not trying to capture/tell it them I really don't like my photo's. With that said, these photo's are of my friend doing some service on the roof our temple.

How are you supposed to take a picture of in a spiritual setting and convey the love there? How can show the joy of a child tasting a glimpse of Gods love for them? How do you do that while also hoping the viewer can be openminded? So that even if they don't understand what a Vyasa Puja is they can hopefully be apart of the joy they are viewing.

Happened upon a charity event to save this garden in the evening. I've been here many time in the daylight hours but the but I loved how the lights they used made the place look slightly haunted. It was interesting trying to get my camera to take clear photo's usually they are blurred.

Went for a photo shoot in Central Park. I played model which was fun, but I was inspired to take more photos then the past few days!

Three days in and I already am having major doubts about my ability to produce "good" photo's. I think also its about the amount of time I've been putting towards shooting. And my thought process of why I'm taking the photo's instead of just pointing and shooting. With art I have a hard time with the learning part of it. I just want to get to the "this is good" part. More photo's from this day. Some of my favorite so far. I have been babysitting this sweet boy since has was 4 months old. Its so awesome watching him freely play!

Food photography isn't one of my strengths but my breakfast was plated so nice that I decided to give it a shot! The closer shot is my favorite because who doesn't love a good shot of running olive oil. Though the focus is kind of funky (not sure if this is bad). The second shot is better focus but the tray is slightly slanted which I didn't notice when I was reviewing initially.

Day 1: Fear - do I really have something to say everyday from now until Dec? Can I really take good photos again? Did I ever take good photos? This photo doesn't represent any of my fears, and I have much more then the few I've listed, but instead of choosing a photo that I was trying to make things happen I tried to get out a my head a bit. This is one of the first things I see when I wake up quickly followed by Instagram. I'm way to attached to social media, and I can't tell the time unless it's displayed digitally.