Hang In There...
The beauty about art is that it's so subjective and we as the viewing public are allowed to come up with our understanding of what it is we're viewing. I remember stepping into The Louvre for the first time, finding myself mesmerized by The Winged Victory of Samothrace or Nike, a marble sculpture which sits atop a staircase displayed in all of its wonder. While others were flocking to see the Mona Lisa, I was standing with pamphlet in hand wondering about the where, how, and why of The Winged Victory of Samothrace.
Now mind you, I did make it to see Mona but it was as though I was seeing a woman, for the first time, whom I'd been speaking with through an AOL chat room for decades. The excitement wasn't there for me nor was the attraction, in essence Mona didn't capture my attention for long. Yeah, no, I've never gone on blind dates through meeting someone online, though I had a buddy many moons ago, marry a young lady he met in a chat room, I had a former roommate fly a chat room gal into town so they could play Star Wars a little closer, and I'll stop identifying chat room meets so as to not get into any more hot water, I know there are some quality meets out there.
The last few months have sparked more of a creative photography impulse within me. We all know that I love landscape and travel photography but the capturing of people is something which I would like to become better at doing, I want more eyes and tones. The earth has over 8 billion humans calling this planet home, not to mention the thousands of aliens who visit on a yearly basis as well, don't @ me, I've seen The Last Starfighter (I kid, I mean...).
I'm often overwhelmed by the amount of people who are experts with everything they touch. IF you go to YouTube, there are millions of influencers and verified accounts who would like you to take their word(s) as gospel. The ability to dissect what is being said by these folks is always vital and to be honest, I find myself skipping past most because there seldom appears to be this honesty or for that matter, human level associated with the coolest hosts. Again, IF you're creating a platform and providing advice and your audience are asking questions yet you choose to remain too cool for school and not respond, SOMEONE HOLD MY CUP OF WATER!
My friend, who is pictured in the image below, sent me a video of a similar image which she had seen on Tik Tok and she said, "Let's do this". The truth be told, we tell each other that we should try different things, often enough, and probably due to my insecurities, things do not get to the finish line, more often than not. Well, there is the fact she's pretty talented with the camera and I don't want to come off looking like a rookie, four years or so into this hobby. I've learned to put my head down, to work through a list of photography programs available to the masses. There are some cool programs out there and also some non robust ones. The beauty of it is these mediums are the canvases by which artists build their work.
After receiving the Tik Tok video from my friend, I took my interests a step further and decided to see if the creator of the image would be human enough to provide some pointers or feedback; yes, yes, I sent him a DM and low and behold he replied rather quickly and provided some pointers.
I'm unsure if anyone has captured an angel either rising or falling but I seem to have stumbled upon one, on a country road. Art is subjective and there's a beauty in that; art is also you, your eyes, hands, voice, ideas, and final product.
There are people who will critique and tell you what's off a smidge or should be adjusted but then you look at the "art" which they're producing and sort of roll your eyes as though to say, "Child pleeeeeease, if you don't sit your non creative self back down, I'll".... SOMEONE HOLD MY CUP OF WATER.
Thanks to the woman in the picture for taking a chance on allowing me to capture you in your element, I hope for continued growth in so many areas of life. A camera, coupled with the right song, sunset, and muse can be powerful.
I'll hang in there and attempt to figure this thing out a bit more.
