Downtown Bellingham
I have found that I love portrait photography more than anything. Don't get me wrong - I still have a place in my heart for landscape photography. I think I just find people so incredibly interesting. And I think I've also discovered something about myself and my photography - I need some sort of subject for me to enjoy taking the photograph.
I love posing someone or finding an interesting angle of their face. Faces tell stories. They show emotion.
Michael needed to get an oil change, and we were trying to figure out what to do with our day, so we decided to take a walk around Downtown Bellingham while we waited for his car to be finished. I wanted to have a go at city photography, so I brought my camera along. It took me almost a half an hour to finally find some sort of inspiration.
That was when I realized two things:
1. City photography is actually pretty difficult. Maybe I don't quite have the artistic eye for street photography, or maybe I just need something really interesting to photograph. Maybe you have to find all the unique nooks and crannies of a city to make it interesting. Maybe I need more practice. Then again, maybe I'm just not a city girl.
2. I need some sort of subject in my photos. As we were walking around, I ended up realizing that I need something in particular to photograph. I was glad I had Michael and Atticus with me as potential models, but If i tried to take a photo of anything else, I needed some sort of subject I could hone in on. Leaves, a light, a glass, a clock - something important in the photo. Otherwise I felt that it was too busy to even snap a picture.
The more I look back on this second thought, I realize that maybe I need some sort of story to go with my photograph. I need a subject for me to think it's interesting. A couple showing their affection for one another. A guy sitting alone at a coffee shop enjoying the view. An empty coffee cup left at a table.
My little adventure to try out city photography made me realize that I want to be a story teller with my photographs. I want to show the emotions felt and the colors and have the viewer experience it for themselves.
