Capturing Life In A Snapshot...Storytelling Through A Single Photo or A Curated Collection
I typically take a lot of photos when I travel. I have over 39,000 quality digital images in my photo collection (and that's after weeding out the rejects and duplicates). Viewing them all at 4 seconds per image would take over 43 hours.
My newest project is to learn how to tell a story with a single well-chosen photo or a small number of only the best images. Then, by adding a few written words, I’ve been amazed at how much a single photo can tell and how a small number of photos can relate to a little snippet of our lives that can be shared in only a few minutes.
The following eight blogs are attempts to capture a piece of life in a snapshot.
Stay tuned. Up next:
A Passion To Travel
Preparing for the Next Adventure
Between trips I’ve found it useful to hone my photo skills and practice using my cameras. There is nothing worse than having a photo opportunity present itself and then fumbling with camera equipment to get the settings right, only to have the subject disappear or the lighting change. Or worse yet, taking the picture with the wrong settings and getting something different than you want or a totally unusable picture.
A good photo course keeps me out shooting between trips providing both practice and new skills. I recently completed a great online course through an organization called BPSOP (www.bpsop.com). It was “UNDERSTANDING EXPOSURE AND YOUR DSLR”.
I’ve always wanted to learn how to take silhouettes and this course helped me set up my camera and use the position of the sun correctly. The result of the course assignment was this photo of a statue at a local horse park early one morning.
Two weeks later Sandy and I were in St Thomas. Here’s a photo I never would have taken before this course.
Sunrise and sunset now have a different place in my photo repertoire. “
Australia: After Dark Excursions
On more than one trip I’ve taken, there have been after dark excursions. This makes perfect sense…much wildlife sleeps during the day and lives a very full life between sunset and sunrise. It was no different in Australia. One night, we all climbed into the utility vehicle with our cameras to capture those elusive shots.
Our driver negotiated dirt roads with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand operating a high-powered searchlight, looking for a photo op. I don’t think his eyes were on the road, it was as if the vehicle knew the route and all he had to do was control the speed.
It was almost surreal. There they were…wombats, possums and wallabies. They froze when the spotlight singled them out.
As nocturnal creatures, they often have very large eyes, so startled looks were the norm. I found myself thinking, “How intrusive we are! It would be like seeing a face peering in my window.”
Australia: Hunting for Lunch
It was the last day on our trip to Australia and my wife and I found ourselves on an excursion to learn about a day in the life of an aborigine. At the northern end of the island in March it was summer. The temperature was a scorching 99 degrees Fahrenheit along with a soggy 99 percent humidity. We were dropped off and told to take off our shoes and socks because we’d be wading through the mangroves. I hoisted my ten thousand pounds of camera equipment onto my shoulder and we were off!
It wasn’t long before I was regretting the decision to bring the camera equipment. Even the water we were wading through felt like it was 99 degrees. We finally arrived at a beach and there was a cluster of spears stuck in the sand. Our guide told us to grab a spear and prepare for lessons in catching our lunch!
He placed a coconut at a distance and demonstrated proper spear throwing technique. Then it was our turn. One by one, we failed. Our guide on the other hand, successfully speared the coconut three times. Things weren’t looking good for lunch.
Finally, one of our group speared a large crab! Lunch was looking up. We also found some mollusks and other edibles which our guide used to cook up a meager feast for our dining pleasure. Because of our poor hunting and spearing skills, there wasn’t much. We were saved by the foresight of our tour director who arranged for a hamburger stop on the way back to the hotel!
What did I learn from this excursion? I learned that hunting for my food is not my unique ability. The Luckiest Guy in the World should stick to his strengths – finding great eateries!
Valuable Insights
I just got back from my trip to Australia where I experienced lots of new and different things. I’ve been reliving the trip while I sort through my photos and prepare to post them, and I’ve realized that once again I met many interesting people on my journey and I never fail to learn something new. I’m reminded of a couple I met on my trip to Antarctica.
Imagine dreaming of traveling to Antarctica to explore the wildlife, see the ice formations and sense first-hand a continent so vast and wild that few people will ever know it in person. Now imagine this couple finally getting to the big moment, the moment when it is possible to step off a sailing vessel and onto terra firma – Antarctica -- and just a short walk over a not-so-big hill is a rookery of wild penguins. Yet, the couple does not come off the boat. They remain on-board.
Why? The couple does not have the physical strength to walk over the hill to see the penguins. They simply waited too long to go after their dream journey. They were so caught up in saving up some arbitrary amount for retirement that they delayed having fun and now they physically can’t participate fully in the experience.
On the other hand, I walk up the hill, photograph the penguins, and enjoy the rich pleasure that watching them can give a spectator. Back on the boat I share my photos with the couple who never left the boat. The photos thrill them, yet there is an underlying sadness that this journey came a little too late in life for them to fully enjoy.
Don’t be that person. Plan. Do. Go. Make sure you carve out the time, the resources, and fulfill your dreams wherever they may take you. I am The Luckiest Guy In The World. Read my story about the Penguins and the Hill here: http://www.theluckiestguyintheworld.com/p/the-penguins-and-the-hill