In the last few weeks, I’ve made a concerted effort to get off the couch and take pictures. It didn’t matter where I went, or what I photographed, but I was tired of reading about photography, reading forum posts and critiquing what others were shooting. I’m not knocking these things, they are truly helpful in becoming a better photographer, but I was only doing these things, and not getting out and shooting. I can spout off the latest gear, the latest rumors of what camera is going to be out in a few months, I can recite what program is best for HDR or how to make time-lapse video, but I hadn’t gone out and done any of these things or tried doing them myself. This had to stop. I had to get out and make my own pictures. I had to start learning from firsthand experience. This was one of those attempts.
When I made the decision to head out to the Tennessee State Fair, I started trying to pre-visualize what I wanted to come home with. I knew there would be color, lights and motion, so I focused on trying to capture that. I knew the best pictures would come either while the sun was setting or when it was completely dark. I wanted to capture the light streaks made by the movement of the rides, which would have been impossible in broad daylight because my shutter speed would have been to fast. I had read countless articles on how to do this, I peered through the exif data on hundreds of similar pictures on Flickr to find a ballpark shutter speed to shoot for, now I was going to go out and try to put that to use.
While I don’t think these are award winning images, I think I met my expectations on what I thought I wanted to capture. I had put to use all the information I had amassed over the last few years of reading and learning and actually made some images I could be proud of. Now I just have to keep pushing myself to get out the door and see what is out there through the lens of my camera.
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