Photoed Graphs

Ever since I finally battled back my tendency toward frugality (also known as my cheapness) enough to buy a digital camera about eight months ago, I've been snapping away left and right. It's got me thinking about photography. So, here are some of my photos and some of my thoughts.

I live in a beautiful place, where beautiful things happen, like seeing a moose in the mountains after it's just stopped raining, so all the colors are a bit more contrasted and bold. At times like that, I don't really think twice about snapping a photo, and I don't think most people would either.



But in my attempts to move beyond being just a guy with a camera and become a photographer, or maybe even an artist, I sometimes feel a need to take pictures that not everyone would think to take. Some days, every little thing seems somehow beautiful, and I feel like I need to capture the moment and show it to the world, and everyone will know what a deep-thinking, tormented artist I am. On such days, I end up with stuff like this:



Then, I get distracted trying to find out all the neat little features on my camera, and the next thing you know, you feel like you're getting ready to relieve yourself in the old west:



One great thing is that taking photos has got me noticing a lot more tiny details.


I now ban myself from photographing sunsets and beautiful skies. Whenever a big, beautiful, color-soaked sky comes around, I always find myself scrambling for my camera. The resulting photos are almost an insult to the sunset. My SD card promptly fills up with flashes of orange and silhouetted mountains, but it's like trying to capture the image of a face and showing nothing but the corner of one cheek. I don't have the skills to really show it for what it is, and I end up spending more time messing with the settings on the camera than looking at the display before me.

From now on, I'm just going to watch. It's just too big and grand for me to try to hold onto. Besides, much of the beauty of a sunset is that it brings with it a feeling of closure to a day. Or the way your skin reacts to the cooling air as the sun leaves. No photo can give you that. Even so, here's one anyway:


I also think smashed cars are cool: