Photographs – A piece of life at a time
I love photographs. I love being behind the lens and capturing a bit of other people’s activity while they are not ready for the shot. I believe it brings out the beauty in them as they are just being normal without the changes and the poses that we create when we are trying to take a picture – yes before you say it I will, I get a lot of blurry shots but I also get some good ones as well.
Now taking pictures is a wonderful thing and most of us love to be in pictures but some are more comfortable behind the lens than in front of it and now that we all have phones and games and all manner of devices that can take pictures, it is very easy to change roles and enjoy the pleasure of capturing a piece of one’s experience and that of other people.
Prior to the availability of cheap digital cameras, I used the film camera and I remember that after taking enough shots to fill a roll, I hurry to the developer and I drop off the film to pick it up a few days later.
Well, when the shot are eventually processed and printed and I pick them up, I am surprised at how the shot I remembered being so bright and sunny and perfect come out so dull. I persisted with my picture-taking and saw some improvements but then most of the time; it did not come very close to the shot I took. Then I had the opportunity to send my pictures out for development elsewhere and behold, the shots were way too cool for me to have been the one that took them. The sun was the way it should be, the brightness was just like daylight. There was no dullness and then I learnt something new about photography, it does not end with the shot, there is a craft in the development process. If it is done well, the picture is close to what the film captured. If it is not, then you may not like what comes out from the studio.
Now, this is something I was able to articulate better after digital cameras became quite common and I began to read magazines, blogs and books on taking pictures, improving them and printing them. I began to understand the process and I from then appreciated the opportunity software like Photoshop gave to people, the power to bring out your picture the way you envisioned it and shot it is now in your hands.
In future posts, I will look at some of the guys that inspire me and teach me more and more about the process as well as on some of the things I have learnt.
Once in four years –Again
August 12, 2012 by Jide Ajayi • Issues, Life • Tags: life, olympics, sports •
Earlier on this year, I wrote about the small issue of leap years and how often they happen and the many things that people can do when these years come around.
Another once in four years event has just been concluded today that is the Olympics.
This leap year’s version was held at London and it has been a very interesting 3 weeks of watching athletes perform wonders and excel at the various sports they are participating in.
These athletes showed such determination, passion and devotion to excel during their events. As a result, a number of olympic and world records were broken. In the 100 meters men, women marathon and 800 meters men just to mention a few.
While we all associate with the winners, a thought is spared for the losers as you cannot have winners without losers. Some of the losers we dejected while others rejoiced in the privilege participating.
A lot of countries it seems sent out their teams to make up the numbers while others wanted to win and make a point an example of this is the host country Great Britain which finished with the country’s highest medals count on the table.
Some traditional high level performing teams disappointed but some new teams and champions were revealed.
These last 3 weeks have been memorable and exciting with people from all over the world cheering on their teams and other teams participating in events of interest.
One thing I am glad for is that there was no injury which would not heal and there was no accident or incident relating to any athlete while performing. This has allowed us all to enjoy a wonderful and memorable olympics.
This version is over if you are not counting the paralympics. The next version is in Rio in Brazil and that is the next year for next leap year…I can only wonder how the world will be by that time.