2 Types of Photographers

I made this statement in a Facebook group and got flamed. I truly have come to the conclusion that there are two main types of photographers. There are creative ones and there are technical ones. Some argued that they are both but I tend to think they are not looking closely enough. Out of the photographers I know, if the person is super creative, they usually don’t bother themselves with the technical side of things. They can do what they do extremely well, but they have no idea about the how or the why.

The thing many creatives have in common is that they look at their gear as tools and care very little about the technical details of what they are using. Many of them know what they need to know to accomplish their particular work, but they just don’t care further than that. They don’t spend their time wondering if lens A is better than Lens B, they are too busy just creating.

I’m the nerd that researches every potential piece of gear to death before buying, making sure that I procure the best possible gear. I waste so much time learning and reading that I don’t even have time to shoot. How unproductive is that? I have made a few decisions lately that I am hoping will get me out shooting more and spending less time reading about it…..or watching YouTube videos as it were. I am making a real effort to spend much less time diving into technical mumbo jumbo and more creating some art.

The image below is actually a very old image but it has been my most popular image. It is Breakwater Park in Kingston long before the renovations that we see today. It isn’t a true monochrome but it’s close and I have decided to pursue this type of thing more. I really appreciate the idea of capturing images with little if any colour. It opens up so much for the viewer.

Foggy Morning

Atmosphere and Grain

This is an image I made some time ago and it lived on my hard drive for a long time. I didn’t see an image in it. Then with some attitude change I began to see something in it but it needed work. I used to restrict myself to conventional aspect ratios for a long time but I’m learning how to let that go and just use what looks best for the photo. I also added the grain on purpose, and I”m loving it!

Autumn Mood

The SS Keewatin moved to Kingston

Kingston has recently gotten another ship to reside at the Great Lakes Museum here in Kingston. I was playing around with my new camera awhile back and made an image of the ship but I wasn’t happy with my shot so made another trip down in similar conditions to perfect the shot. I love this one! It’s a different look than most others would do, but that’s what it’s all about, being different.

Waterfalls Photography

We recently returned from our second trip to Shetland. Awhile back I wrote about comparing an organized photo tour with a self-guided trip and you know what? My original feelings were only reinforced. We really like the idea of setting up a home base and working from there. This flight was our first ever time that our luggage got misplaced. I’m willing to bet it went to Bergen without us as there was a plane from the same airline loading for there when we arrived.

We had to purchase a few things to get us going but the horrendous weather was the real issue. It was so windy and cold we really didn’t have the clothing to do very much. Our luggage caught up to us by day 4 and we were set with our rain gear and some more layers to deal with the low teens temperatures we were experiencing. All things considered, I would rather be in some northern destination than sitting on a Caribbean beach any day.

One of my favourite images came from a hike we did in the rain. There is no bad weather, just poor choices in clothing they say.