Photograph

Her photograph had faded
over the years, its corners
bent, the once off-white border
discolored from finger-oil.

Over time she slipped inside
a plastic sleeve; her visage
turning softer, her smile
faraway yet forgiving.

To be sure no words matched
the strength of her photograph,
her haunting thoughts
filling my dreams.

january two thousand twelve
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
january 18 2012

I came across J Matthew Waters‘ poem via a word game I play on twitter. His poem Photograph resonated with me because as a portrait photographer I try to make portraits that will fill peoples dreams.

I love photography, whether I do it for myself or for my lovely customers.

Photography; like this blog is evolving.

Digital photography has changed the way we think as professionals. Every now and again I will post some thoughts about photography.

MAKE IT LAST! FINISH THE JOB!

As a photographer I photograph families, and family events such as weddings. It is job full of love and happiness. It saddens me when I hear of customers who choose their wedding or portrait photographer based price alone. There are many so-called professionals in our industry who we call back-yarders or “shoot and burners”. You know them; they provide their customers with a disk of files for a family portrait or wedding and nothing else. Yes! As a customer it is great to have the disk to keep. However, I feel as professionals we should finish the job. Create something for our clients that will last a lifetime; something tangible, something crafted with expertise and love!

Photography is so accessible these days and that is a wonderful thing! Digital cameras are relatively cheap and very easy to use. As a photographer who started with film photography and printing in a darkroom I now use digital cameras now that can produce digital files that can be printed to wall size.

I love the industry but have seen a huge change since the advent of the digital camera, the computer and the internet. In the past photographers had a certain mystique; producing amazing prints in the darkroom and customers having to wait to see their proofs. There was a sense of anticipation. Maybe I am showing my age but I worry whether there is any romance in what much of us are doing these days. There is certainly no romance in just saving files onto a dvd. As professionals we need to recapture the mystique produce beautiful prints, books, albums that separates us from our customer base, something which is becoming increasingly difficult. We need to continually learn better camera skills, better photoshop practices abut also educate our customers and the public how important it is to have a print of their family event and not just a dvd that may get scratched, lost or corrupted. In the end our customers will have a beautiful keepsake for generations and we will be proud of the art we produced and finished.

Why, you ask? Well, I feel even as domestic photographers it is socially and historically important. We record history and a sense of place, though many of us wouldn’t see it that way, its just a way to make a quick buck. When perusing familial history archives it is the images of people that stand out and tell us a little of who we are and where we came from.

I really worry that in 50 years time there will be a gap in our family history because there are no prints or albums, from this moment in history. The computers and cameras will have been superceded and the images lost! Data management is a huge thing for professionals let alone the mums and dads on the home computers.

Recently, I had a look at my parent’s wedding album. They have been married now for just over 50 years and their album is still in pristine condition. It was wonderful to get it out and have a look at it. In a way it is like a time capsule. Looking at it brought back many memories from the day and I had a good laugh at some of the fashions. However I must say my mum looked amazing in her beautiful lace dress and my dad was pretty handsome in his day! It is stuff like this that brings families together and isn’t that what we want? To move forward in this world we need to look at the past and if there is nothing to reference then what have we got? Memories?

So, I am on a crusade, whether you are photographer running a business, an amateur photographer experimenting or a parent with a camera, to print out those files! Disks don’t last but beautifully printed photographs do!

Click here to see my parent’s wedding album from 1960

MAKE PRINTS – NOT DISKS

Holidays are all about a time to rejuvenate, a time to be with the ones you love and chill out. I have been spending some gorgeous time with my son and dog and also my family and my lovely friends. I feel ready to tackle 2012! Bring it on!

AN ODE TO DAVID PATERSON!

I was asked to speak at the AIPP National Conference which was on around the 23rd October. I have never been to Adelaide but I loved the streets and the openess of the city. It was great to be amongst the best in our industry and I fely very proud to show my exhibition there at the Adelaide hilton and to some of the greats in our industry like David Burnett, David Dare Parker and David Oliver….hey whats with all the Davids?

Anyway, here is a few pics when I was walking to the event from my hotel and back again

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