It Is Not The Camera. It Is Vision.

Yesterday I was finishing up projects around the house and saw my new picture frame sitting the floor in my closet. While I worked, I started thinking about photos that would look good in this oval frame. I bounced between the idea of a clean letter “C” or an aged looking photo. My mind started visualizing an older part of town that has rusty factories, fences, peeling paint, and overgrown weeds. I thought it could be a potential photo location for this frame or at least give me some new stock images and prints.

With my camera slung over my shoulder, I jumped on my Vespa and headed out while the rest of my family took naps. In my head the shot called for limited dept-of-field (DOF), so I put the 50mm f/1.4 on the camera and my 85mm f/1.8 in top-case of my Vespa. As I drove the streets around the factories, I came across this particular fence and set off weeds that really grabbed my attention.

I struggled with a series of apertures and settings on my 5D, but really wasn’t getting the look I wanted. It didn’t feel like the image I envisioned in my head. I packed up with several shots I liked, but  was a bit disappointed.  I had a scene I really liked, but wasn’t able to capture the image in my head. As I strapped my helmet on, I got a call from my dad saying that he was on his way to my house. Just before I put the phone in my pocket and headed to meet him, I decided to grab a few shots with my iPhone to use on my iPhonelomo site. I looked at the screen and realized that this was the image I had been trying to achieve. After snapping it, I used PicGrunger to give it a vintage feeling and Photogene to slightly crop and enhance the levels. I may not use it for the frame, but I was able to walk away achieving the vision that I had set out to capture. Many thanks to David DuChemin for publishing great e-books that have helped me refocus and get beyond the gear and shoot with vision.

Before & After Editing.