Monthly Archives: September 2019

What makes us photographers happy?       

Posted by enmanscamera on

Today four of us sat in my shop drinking coffee and talking about photography. The subjects were constantly moving and jumping without hesitation from topic to topic.

I mentioned the soon to be introduced Nikon D6, Brian talked about a problem he had with a flash at his last wedding, Drew was talking about some lens to camera adaptors he was looking for and Bob mentioned that he lusted after the Nikon mirrorless cameras two tourists were using and of course, lots of talk about each of our latest photography outings. The topics rose and drifted off as our discussions wandered on.

After Bob and Brian left, Drew stayed to help me change batteries in the cameras I will be taking to the big used camera sale in Vancouver next week and I thought about how much I enjoyed the banter.

With regards to my feelings I’ll repost this article I wrote back in 2016.

A person on the radio said there are 12 states of happiness. What they are, or how “happiness” is determined and defined is beyond me, but I did find a short article that said to be happy people need to “anticipate with pleasure, savour the moment, express happiness, and reflect on happy memories”.

I doubt one will find any studies on the “states of happiness” for photographers. So while readers are now thinking about what makes them happy I’m going to delve into that mysterious state.

Is it happiness about things like camera equipment, or about the circumstances such as creating a good photograph? Most photographers are devastated when they receive a poor review on a picture, so I guess there is lots of ego involved in our happiness.

I know that sitting around with other photographers talking about photography is just plain blissful for me.

I don’t know any social scientists that I can call up, and I haven’t discussed happiness with any philosophers. However, I have always felt that we photographers have a culture of our own. There are those who might argue that opinion, but I am absolutely convinced that it is so. I constantly interact with other photographers in online forums, blogs, or talk to them personally, and photographers are always ready and willing to tell me when they are happy or not.

Some are actually more interested in the technology of photography then the actual process of making pictures. I recall a guy that was happiest when he found a problem with a piece of photography equipment. He delighted in making test after test to find if a particular camera matched what the manufacturer or other photographers claimed. I’m disappointed when something doesn’t work as described, but this fellow would actually be down right cheery.

I knew a phtographer that spent his spare time wandering back roads. He’d show up at my shop with a grin as wide as all outdoors and stick his ipad or iPhone on the counter for me to scroll through and happily describe how he photographed that hawk on the wire, the owl on a fence post or that eagle fishing on the river bank. What made him happy weren’t his pictures as much as his process of making pictures.

I know photographers that are continually changing equipment. Not because they find problems with what they own, or because their equipment is limiting, but because they read something, or talked to someone, about a new addition from their manufacturer of choice, and can’t live with out it. They excitedly talk about how wonderful that new piece of equipment is. I know their choices don’t always serve a practical need and are more emotional, but they make it easy for me, and anyone else they talk to, to observe how darned happy they are with their new camera, or lens, and with, for that matter, everything they own.

This exciting medium has many levels and outlets to make one happy. There are portrait photographers, wildlife photographers, scenic and landscape photographers, sports photographers, baby photographers, pet photographers, those that specialize in plant or bird photography and, of course, many more, each with differing sets of skills, and, to my mind, their own states of happiness.

I don’t know if photographers have twelve states of happiness, or only the four I found in that short article, but I will say that I meet lots of people that are happy to be doing photography, and being involved with it in their own, very personal, way.

Hey photographers, care to comment on what makes ya happy?

Photographing the seafront

Posted by enmanscamera on

 

Last week I wrote about photographing the waterfalls at Whatcom Park. I also mentioned that Jo and I took some time after spending most of the day at the park to visit the waterfront.

When one lives in the British Columbia’s dry mountainous interior a trip to the ocean is always stimulating. Sure we have a big wide river where I live, but there are no large ocean going ships, big fishing boats or air that smells of saltwater. Oh, and Jo doesn’t get to spend time wandering the beach looking for seashells.

The coast along the large city of Bellingham is well built up with marinas, people packed piers and buildings of all sorts that makes it perfect for someone meandering with a camera that wants to experience the city’s seafront.

We drove around a lot trying to find places on the map. Some of the streets began with one name and suddenly change to another, and Google maps seemed to be for another planet. However, my “car-rule” is to always stop when something looks like it should be photographed. The driving isn’t as important as the picture.

I used my 24-70mm for everything and Jo stayed with the 28-300mm. There is always the temptation to carry every lens you own, but I think it’s best and easier when one is visiting a new place to stick with just one lens.

When we arrived we chanced on an area that was in the process of being redone. There are old brick buildings and some tall metal structures that look like they must have been for some kind of storage still standing, but it was obvious that the large area was under some kind of massive renovation.

I met a fellow from Idaho who told me that part of the coast park renovation will include a bicycle park and some of the old brick buildings will be for retail and some for art. He walked with me as I photographed a sailboat moored near some buildings, the remnants of a pier and a strange giant metal ball that he said was once a storage tank that is now a sculpture called the Acid Ball.

After leaving the waterfalls we eventually found the long metal pier that extends along Bellingham Bay that was packed with photo opportunities. Men and women with long poles catching crabs, kids jumping off it into the ocean, boats of all kinds, people that I’ll bet were from all over the world, and also, to Jo’s delight, a small sandy beach to hunt seashells.

It is fun visiting places with the goal in mind to take photographs. I suppose now days most people have their tiny cell phones to grab memories with, but in my opinion, having a DSLR with different focal length lenses, a tripod, and an assortment of filters and the knowledge serious photographers have to have to use all that equipment is a prescription to get creative.

Bellingham was a grand photographic adventure that I might just repeat some day. That park was an exciting find and photographing the coast was a pleasant way to spend our last afternoon and night in that busy city.