the last two weeks were off weeks for me for volleyball. now that i’m only playing one night a week, i feel that i really need to play a lot better to maximize my playing time. yesterday was a good night. i finally remembered how to play again. i hate it when i forget. =P

but we went 4-0 yesterday, which was a nice, welcome change. it was good to get my hitting back. it was like a lost puppy. slowly, but surely it had found its way back home.

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over the weekend, [url=http://www.bastalaranza.com]geoff[/url] and i were waxing philosophy about photography. it sort of reminded me of what it was about photography that i loved.

i would say that most people are pretty casual when they take pictures. these photographs are generally taken so that they can capture a moment. some people are very specialized in the kind of photography that they do. some focus on landscapes, while others do portraits. i’ve always sort of fell somewhere in the middle. i enjoy landscapes, but i also enjoy photographying people. animate, inanimate objects, abstract, whatever, i’ve probably tried it all.

though capturing the moment is part of my goal, i think that what i strive for when i take photos is to show someone something that they haven’t seen…or to show them something they’ve seen a million times, just not quite the same way i do.

there is a school of photography that is all about the commercial image. the one that is tried and true, and people universally seem to enjoy. i like that look, but i cannot say that that is what i strive for. i’ve shot with more traditional photographers and they know exactly how to shoot something. it’s the shot that has the highest commercial value. it’s a very mainstream perspective and it works quite well.

but that just isn’t me. i think one of the things i enjoy most about photography is that i can share with someone else how i see the world. a lot of the images that i take are about how i interact with the environment that i’m in. so when it comes to photographing people, i feel that i really get a lot more out of it if i get to know the model a little bit.

it’s sort of like capturing how i see them. like i’ve said before, i’ve worked with models who are bold and some that are shy. each shoot varies, the poses aren’t the same because the people aren’t the same. it’s just a matter of me trying to figure out how best to portray them. so far i think that i’ve been reasonably successful, though my friend also told me once, “if you start with a beautiful model, your pictures can’t go too wrong.”

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