I zoomed in on my own forms of photo art...
In the past five years my creative endeavors have taken off in ways I never imagined at first. The teaching for me has been to start something that at first I may have no clear idea what I want to do but have one or two themes or ideas. With a minimal of equipment and as many free programs available now on the internet anyone can be a creator of content and take their ideas in new directions. It is a matter of what mode of expression intrigues you and how you want to create what is your own. You will find your own style and swath your own groove by using what thoughts or images in your head fire off your imagination. In my case I'm discovering that I have multiple currents running through me molding into an artistry of my own.
It has taken me quite awhile to stretch and play around in ways I see others don't and it was a result of some rather simple things. What I read and saw around me that was supposed to be the standard for good form in writing, videos or photography seemed technically proficient but fatigued to me. How many ways can you write about social problems, economics and politics without repeating yourself? I took a fiction creative writing class where I found people learning to mock stories that have been written before. What is the point in that? With video editing I learned from a good teacher but through my own inertia didn't stretch myself the way she has and one day I will pick that up again. The electrical impulse that really singed my mind is most photography I see is dry digital reproduction that follows the rules and really how many ways can you photograph the Grand Canyon? For some reason photography struck my visionary synapses as something I wanted to remake for myself.
The availability of a good camera on my smartphone allows me to easily take photos without lugging a separate camera around and suits my sense of minimalism twofold. I don't like to carry a lot of stuff around no matter where I go and I'm not enamored of complex equipment in anything. It also enables me to shoot a photo quickly and easily without much fuss or attention from others. I discovered a respected free photo editing program and learned the basics. It didn't take long to get bored with editing pictures that might earn "oohs" and "ahs" but looked like everything else in photo streams.
With no fixed focus in my lens I quit making pictures and started creating photo art. I started playing with a few features on my Android phone camera adding a few apps with the idea that a good photograph still must originate "in the camera" with solid composition. I upload each shot right after I take it over the air and when I get home save them to an external drive and then in current parlance process it. I tend to start with an image and a theme and usually end up with something I hadn't quite envisioned but somehow knew the navigational path. Along my way I have uncovered that I am able to integrate two currents that I've always worked with, the desert and American southwestern colors using processing techniques that bring them together into art that is recognizable as my own creations.
