Welcome to TIPsy Tuesday, my weekly posts of Tips to get better shots. Every Tuesday I will post a Tip on topics such as: camera functions, composition, coordinating, post processing and many many more. So if you haven’t as of yet, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed. You don’t want to miss out on this great new series. And if you have ANY questions or suggestions please comment below. I promise I will get back to you, because this series is all about sharing and interaction.
Today’s Tip: Vacation from the Mundane
How time slips away from you when you are knee deep into all of it. Okay, that didn’t EVEN make sense! It has been a few weeks since my TIPsy Tuesday tips. This photographer has been super busy and due to that, just haven’t had the time to devote to the weekly post. Still busy, but I wanted to dive back in so today will be about doing the opposite: Taking a vacation.
Many of us get into our niche and stay the course to the point that we just start going through the motions, not really loving it and feeling more in line with a job than that passionate drive we had to begin with that made us head down this path. Know what I mean? If not … awesome! You are doing something right, but for the rest of us, we need a vacation and no I’m not suggesting you pack your bags and get out of town, unless you really really want to! This is more a vacation from the mundane. We are going to give ourselves an assignment: think outside the box. If your focus is weddings, stay as far away from the theme of weddings. If your niche is children, guess what? No children allowed in those photos! That’s right. We are going to rekindle our love for this art and do so by assigning ourselves a different point of view.
I, recently went to a beautiful public park here in Austin called Mayfield Park. It is a quiet little park that is hidden away. The first time I went it was to photograph the peacocks, especially since it is peacock mating season so lots of pomp and circumstances going on around those grounds. AND lots of opportunities to capture the male peacock with its feathers on full display. On the return to the park, my focus was the beautiful flowers all in bloom in the community gardens; I went with the purpose of Macro photography. I will be the first to admit I am no Macro photographer and after dragging all my equipment over and setting up … yeah, I truly appreciate this art form of Macro work and want to give a big shout out to those that do this … bravo! Will I do it again? Absolutely! You really see the world in such a different way when you get up close and personal.
I challenge all of you to take a step away from your professional realm and pick up the camera for some fun time. What I discovered is I really do love photography, no matter what my subject and my method of photographing is very much weighted in the artistic realm with composition being a large part of my methods. Below is some images from my little outings. I hope you enjoy.
On a side note. One of the fun little assignments I give myself is to see the world in black and white. Not that I did that on this round but have done it through the years. I like to set my camera on monochromatic and walk around taking photos in that setting. What I discover is some images scream black and white while others really need color. You would think a male peacock would fit into the second category. All that beautiful color? But I knew with all the pattern and texture and would be one heck of a black and white. Between the two images, the black and white is by far my favorite. Of course, personal preference. Which one do you like?
Deborah Chetwood is an award winning, published photographer in Austin, TX who specializes in stylized children's, senior's and glamour photography. To find out more about the artist click HERE.
Please visit our other website for information on the Texas Vogue: Contemporary Glamour.
by Deborah Chetwood
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