Eureka Moments with Photography

Eureka moments, I have had a few more through taking a picture again and again and fiding that golden shot or one that strikes a chord with me. Seeing the picture through the small LCD screen of my Nikon Coolpix S210 point and shoot camera has not always been easy. Since my first Eureka moment with the Julia Caesar Tablet in Israel, it has been stuck in my mind to take the picture anyway.

Photography for me is more than just taking a photograph, its a way of spreading the joy of nature, the passion for the world I live in and connecting with others, a way to hear their stories, to interact, to engage and who knows what else may happen. I may indeed only pass through this world/place only once and in taking that one photo brightens someone else's life, gives them hope, then as the saying goes, the picture (really has spoken) more than words.

What Inspires me to take a photograph? Hmm .. good question. The beauty and power of Nature, the wondrous sights in the places I live, an evocative feeling, when I see something that draws me in, encourages me to take its photo or even if I have a painting project on the go. Like my paintings its my love of the dramatic, the joy of seeing someone else's creative process - whether that is in a building, a piece of art or even in child's play and also something that just makes me smile. Also other photographer's and Artist inspire me to push myself further, one of my favourite photographers is Ken Duncan, he uses his photography to inspire others with inspirational quotes on some of his pictures, whilst at the same time sharing his incredible knowledge through courses to those who want to learn more.

The most valuable lesson I heard, whilst on a swim with the dolphin's trip was ... "of course you can be so busy trying to get the perfect shot that you miss the real beauty and joy of the moment. You forget to watch and just enjoy." It reminded me of one of my Philosophies - to stop rushing here and there, to really see,  feel,  hear, smell, taste and savour the moment, we often forget this and it takes someone else to remind us to be present. That memory remains imprinted on your mind and heart for a very long time and in my photography I try to capture that essence - the thought/emotional provoking memory.

In photography you capture a moment in time, some of my favourite captured moments with a Nikon Coolpix camera are those taken one year at The Australian Open, Melbourne, Victoria and being able to capture reasonably well, some amazing tennis poses, specially as the camera isn't an SLR camera, just a simple point and shoot one. Here's some of my favourites:-

Note how the player doesn't have any feet on the ground

Fully stretched and ready to run

He looks like he may fall over as he serves

Look how far down his back the Racquet goes as he serves

So even with a standard, simple point and shoot camera you can get some amazing shots, just take lots, being digital you don't have to develop them all before you find a good one. I love happy accidents too one of my favourite photo's when I first arrived in Melbourne, Australia was one I took whilst waiting in the car during a rainstorm.

When enlarged the water droplets look like they are just sitting on the photograph

This was taken through the car windscreen of a palm tree - with a manual camera you would either focus on the Palm tree or the water droplets. The Nikon Coolpix had options to set to macro or micro (Landscscape or close up), I chose the micro version to highlight the water droplets on the window screen and to blur the Palm tree. At the time I had no idea how great this one was till I printed it out in Large format and saw the 3D effect of the water droplets.

One of my other happier moments again with water was on a trip to Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. I took a walk along a stretch of Coastline by The Nobbies, the day was wet n' wild and the sea was crashing on the rocks below, capturing that 'smack' can be tricky and capturing a dramatic 'smack' without getting hypothermia is even trickier, nonetheless it was achieved.

Sea Spray near The Nobbies, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia

I have recently entered this photo in the Ted's Camera Competition along with other photo's, I have been back to the Nobbies a few times but never been able to recapture this amazing photo. So it really does go to demonstrate right time, right place, right conditions and take when given the opportunity, first time every time and shoot, shoot, shoot. You never know you too may get a Eureka moment.

Of course some of the most difficult to see shots are those taken towards the Sun over water, the glare makes it difficult to assess the quality of your shot on a LCD screen of most standard Digital cameras, nevertheless, just go for it and shoot. Here are some of my Sun/Water shots :-

Whilst not over water I just love the shards of sunlight
This was actually taken from a moving car, on the road between  Cowes and The Nobbies,
Phillip Island, Victoria

Sunset on St Kilda Beach, Victoria, Australia
Here I used the dusk setting on Nikon Coolpix S210 to cut out some of the glare and sharpen the picture

St Kilda Beach, Victoria, Australia.
On this shot I used the warmer setting of sunset and covered the lens with my  transition lens glasses as an extra filter
shows some colour spectrum on the sun shards

Similar photo to the one above, same sunset setting no transition lens glasses in front of lens

Same photo as the previous ones, this time on dusk setting, no transition lens glasses in front of the camera lens

You can see from the three photo's taken on St Kilda Beach, that using different settings can change the view, depth, tone of a photo without the use of even a photoshop software program. Also adding in something like transition lens glasses over the camera lens, it acts like the traditional Filters. The settings on the Nikon Coolpix S210 camera such as sunset or dusk/dawn settings also are like the traditional filters - adding more red tones to a picture on the sunset setting or more blue tones on the dusk/dawn setting. The aperture of the camera lens is also increased or decreased according to these settings to.

Why are settings so important on a digital camera, well in the traditional manual camera's you would have different kit to create same effect - wide lens, zoom lens, standard lens, filters, flash, even convex and concave lens filters - adding or adjusting these extra kit pieces would alter the effect of the shot taken. Now digital cameras, simple point and shoot, give everyone the opportunity to take shots as close to using a manual camera with extra kit.

I learnt what each one did by playing around with them and taking the same shot over and over, working out which one was best for each situation - hey it's digital I can do that now and not worry about developing costs. The camera manuals will tell you so much but really the only way to learn, is to take shot after shot and ask yourself, when you see them - How could I improve that shot? Have a little jotter pad with you so you know how you took a particular photo, what date, weather conditions etc, its a great learning tool.

 Next blog will look at having fun with creativity photography ....