I Hope You Enjoy

We don't always have to put ourselves in the picture, sometimes we have to put the picture in ourselves.

I call it ‘getting the big camera out.’ Sometimes planned, sometimes not, but always a compulsion to record…to remember…to discover. Perhaps this is the reason for ever-after fairy tales, for the popularity of epic, world building, or for the fascination of long-ago what-ifs and just-so’s. Imagination. Dreams. Wonder.

When looking through the lens of the big camera, I narrow the scope of the wideworld. I focus on subject and composition. I look for story and character, setting and drama. I want to evoke satisfaction, or peace, a feeling of ‘just right.’

Focal point, depth of field, shutter speed, lighting, these are all pieces, tools to puzzle together while I click away. The big camera creates opportunity for multiple decisions. Opportunity and challenge. ‘Just right’ isn’t the easy way, but it compels me, so I try.

Setting up a website of photographs for other viewers challenges me in much the same way. What do others see in the scenes I’ve chosen to share. Do they see themselves within the setting? Have they become a character in the drama? Are they at peace and satisfied? What experiences and memories do they bring to bear? It’s you I consider. Have all those decisions I’ve made created ‘just right’ for you?

I have a final litmus test for choosing these pieces, and in the end it is personal. Do the pictures stay with me? Do they affect my outlook or my inlook in some way. Have I made a conscious decision to make them, the peace of them, the character, the drama, the satisfaction of them, a permanent part of who I am? Of who I want to be? Of how I want to be?

Personal.

I hope you enjoy.

Janet