Gadgets, Geeks, and Art

I must admit I lean a little more on the side of the "next best thing". That being said, I thoroughly enjoy when I have moments of spontaneity in shooting some abstract thought or scene that strikes me. Over at Scott Kelby's blog, Laurie Excell dad a tremendous guest blog on the artist in each of us (click here). Personally my artistic eye sees the whole picture in it's final product before I take the shot. The camera comes to my eye and the image is verified before I squeeze the shutter. Not saying that each shot is a keeper, not by a long shot. What it is saying is the moment I squeeze the trigger my expectation is this could be a keeper. The image above for instance is one that I saw when I was walking back to the car. I needed a different lens for it to work and I knew that given the lighting, Photoshop would be employed in post production to reproduce the image that my eye saw at that moment.

My brother-in-law is a true digital artists. He slices and dices images to assemble them into some of the most bazare images that look so fantastic it blows you away. The image to the right is one that Bill won the Best of Year for Alteration of Reality category for the Chicago Area Camera Club Association. Clearly when he looks at the world, there is a very different thought process that goes on than that of myself.

Neither of us are machine gun shooters, but see something that our mind identifies as a possibility and we set, aim, and shoot for the best possible image we can get in camera.

So where is this all going. No where it hasn't been for years of artistic freedom. To allow the artist to capture, develop, process, and present there work is a cornerstone of expression. Many people would like to censor certain aspects of artistic expression but this is a very slippery slope to go down. I am convinced we are far better off as a people to maintain the freedoms, and perpetuate a stigma rather than having an all powerful government board decide what is proper or not. The first amendment is a two edged sword but its the "First" amendment for a reason.

Take care all, I get to go home tomorrow so I will be posting form home unless I really get distracted. It may end up being "No Blog Thursday".

Cya for now... Doug