EYE FOR THE SHOT

I love taking pictures, and the reason is my kids. They are quick and goofy, and always showing their feelings on their face.

While it's taking me some time to really master my shots, I consider that I have quite a challenging subject to work with. We're not shooting flowers here. To my surprise, I end up falling for the pictures that might be technically lacking.Take this picture for example of Buddy caught in a true silly moment, and full of laughter. The subject is blurred; instead, the background is focused. Maybe the only thing working in this picture is the halo of light bouncing off his red hair. It seems as though this pic would be headed for the recycle bin, but something about the blur captures the movement in the shot. The sharp focus on the fence background further places emphasis on this little boys emotion and actions. The contrast works - at least for me.

And this is when I stop to remember the art that takes place in a photograph. There are countless works of art, photos and not, that will have you scratching your head, for subject, for depth, for class, but art usually always displays some form of visual concept. That's why art is subjective.

So, for this shot, I am an artist. I can pretend that I purposely focused on the background to catch a blurred foreground. I can pretend that the movement and blur was intentional. But this pic is a result of my unprofessional eye still working out the kinks of my shooting style and in trying to find the right shutter-speed for a lightening fast subject. This day resulted in over 700 shots of my kids playing in the backyard.

If anything, this photo reminds me to keep shooting and to never hesitate. The magic shots are where you least expect them to be.

This is my boy, blur and all.