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May 17, 2010

I Love Trees Even (or Especially) When They are Not in a Forest

At my last writing group, I shared several photos from my "Tree Portraits" set because I had no writing to share (which has been the case ever since I expanded my creative interests to include more than just creative writing).

I was thinking about this expansion of mine, after our meeting, and I realized that most of the people in this writing group have branched out in their creative endeavors more and more as they've grown older. . . or maybe they have been juggling more than one creative pursuit all along, and I rarely noticed or paid enough attention (D. and W. are both musicians as well as writers; K. became a book editor as well as a writer; S. is a fantastically creative chef; M.A. still focuses primarily on writing but she has gone from teeny tiny mini essays to working on a novel; E. has become a grade school teacher). I was so damn tunnel visioned. I sort of wish I had branched out a lot sooner, been more of a Renaissance Woman. But no point in going down that retrospective wish list, now is there? 

One thing I'm learning from my writing group members is that they prefer not to know if I have "manipulated" a photo, ie. by using layering or texturing techniques. If I reveal that I have "played around" with a photo, they are more likely to not care as much for it. But if I don't reveal it, they are more likely to like it.

I think it's similar to the way that I like knowing if a movie is based on a true story or not. Often I will like it much better if I know (or believe) that's it's true, though I think this happens more often if the movie isn't all that well made. If it's well made, I don't care as much whether it's true or not.

We can be such picky creatures, with all our private, subjective rules and regulations, which all add up to mostly chaos in the end, I think. But that's okay. I have nothing against chaos per se. It just depends upon the circumstances.


Posted at 10:57 AM in Urban Trees |

Tags: photography

Comments

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Ansel Adams "worked" his photos ~ I was surprised and a bit disappointed to learn this. But really, it's art, not realism that we are seeking. Righto? I really like when your photographs look like paintings.

Posted by: mary ann stein | May 17, 2010 at 01:42 PM

That slide show thingy is way cool. I agree with MA. Anyone with a digital camera can take a semi decent shot these days. The stuff you do is art. Will we see you this fall on the list of Open Studios?

Posted by: Ms. K | May 18, 2010 at 07:02 AM

Reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask you.........

Is the little Icon you have for my.third.eye. on Flickr a "manipulation" of the spatulas in your kitchen? I have always been intrigued by it...

Jill

Posted by: Jill | May 18, 2010 at 11:22 AM

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