There is a photography axiom that your favorite camera should be the one that currently is in your hand. The same can be said for the decision on what to photograph. If you prefer landscapes, do you just put down your camera until you are around landscapes that justify a picture. Maybe, but you would be missing a lot of good photographs.
You would also be missing the Zen of photography. For me, the taking of a photograph is more than just snapping a picture or even acquiring a great image. It’s the process that takes me out of the world that I usually inhabit. A world centered around such things as responsibility and logic. A world where the aesthetic is not ignored, but where it is not paramount. In the world of photography, the aesthetic, with its emphasis on color, shape, light and tone, is all that matters. My real world is about reality. My photography world is about emotion.
Yesterday morning, I really needed to break out of the world of reality. It was raining and gloomy. The world of reality had everybody confined in place, thousands dying with more predicted to come this week, and a narcissist as our leader who proves every day that you can walk and talk even if you do not have a functional brain or something that may pass for a soul.
When the rain subsided, I decided to grab my camera and see what there was to photograph. I do not live in a neighborhood that has a multitude of photographic subjects. What there is usually to photograph was obscured by bad weather. What I did find that was interesting were flowers. Rain brought out the depth, color and highlights, even when I possessed the photo in black and white.
Below is my favorite picture. I just love the depth of the photograph. It reminds me of a creature that attempted to suck in and destroy the Starship Enterprise.
For the sake of comparison I have included a color photograph. It’s a good picture, but I really prefer the black and white. The problem with taking flower pictures is that there are millions of them. We also see beautiful flowers every day. So it’s hard to create something new. The color photograph suffers from these limitations.
There is one other benefit from taking flower pictures after rain.The droplets can lead to fun results.When I saw the below picture in my viewfinder I almost giggled.It was like the flower was calling out to me; demanding that it not be ignored.I, of course, obliged.
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