If there is no struggle, there is no progress. - Frederick Douglass

 

 

 

 

I recently read in a photo blog that it was important to look back on your progress to see how you have changed as a photographer.  So I dug around little; and this is what I found. On the left is a photo that I took a few weeks ago, and on the right is the first senior session that I took back in 2009.  It's kind of funny to see how a person can progress through taking pictures even over a few years. Each one different in their own way, and each one representing a solidified moment that someone will remember for many more years. I look back on my progress and have to chuckle, because even though I still may not be where I would like to be, I still have along way to go.  Each step that I have taken I have learned some little piece of something along the way.

 

  

 

First trip to Crystal Bridges

 

 

 

Took my first trip to Crystal Bridges awhile back, and I must say that I was rather impressed.  If you are not from the NWA area, and have a chance to go, I would suggest that you at least go in and take a peek. There are a few of the displays that charge a fee, but for the most part it's free.

*And on a side note for photographers, it's a great place to shoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time moves in one direction, memory in another.-
William Gibson

 

 

I was recently back in my hometown for the Christams break, and I came across an old box of all of my high school and college stuff.  Most of it was old pictures, newspaper clippings, and that ratty old year book that everyone would sign.  Then you look at all of the signatures and markings of numerous people, and you think to yourself; "who is the world was that?"  So that got me thinking of all of the pictures that I have taken over the past several years, and all that I had went through to get those pictures. The ones I remebered the most were not the ones that I had spent hours setting up, or the ones where I was trying to get the brighest smile. The ones that I remembered the most were that were quick and painless.

 

Each and every one of these pictures were taken with just a simple point-and-shoot camera.  There was no long fancy lens, no backdrop, or no bright boomstand. My point here is that all of the pictures where someone would say "I hate my hair", or "That's not my good side", are usually the pictures that you remember the most.  Some of the greatest pictures that I can remember are the ones that nobody ever planned. 

So remember that the next time that you take a picture, and then look at it.  What would be your reaction looking at the same picture 10 years into the future.