Now and Then

     One of the questions people ask me when they discover I enjoy photography is "What do you like to photograph?"  Macro photographs?  Portrait?  Landscape?  I always hem and haw when I answer that... oh you know, I like closeups and I take pictures of my siblings, and kids are adorable...  My photographic style, much like my taste in music and, okay, the rest of my life, seems to be varied.
     I love capturing the beauty of the Earth, both in landscape and in macro.  Every day God gives us a painting spread out across the entire sky or just close up on a single flower petal.  Water slowly dripping off of a frozen waterfall as spring thaws out the ice.  The mountains, stretched out behind the water.  I love taking pictures of that sort of view!
     Some of my favorite people subjects are those who are new to the idea of a camera - young kids. Kids don't realize what I'm doing, so they just act natural in their cute kiddy way.  There's no "I'm not photogenic" excuses or camera nerves.  When the kids are fascinated by the sound the camera makes, or the many buttons they can push, it results in poking and blurs and curiosity photos.  Children are curious!  I love it.  Or, if the kids have started to realize when big people hide behind a small black box those big people can show them a picture of themselves, then they tend to play peekaboo or some similar game - also cute.
     That's a general idea of what I like to take pictures of.  Now, if I really want to make photography a serious hobby (or even a career?) part of my goal is to get my pictures noticed.  Think back to the pictures that you love the most, or the ones that have made the most impact on society.  Is your favorite photograph the one of your family in matching outfits sitting in a row smiling, or is it the spontaneous one your sister took at the beach where you're everyone's laughing and legitimately happy?  Okay, maybe that sounds cheesy, but my point is the photos we love the most are the ones where real life was happening and so the ones we have memories associated with.  Yes, your cat is pretty, but she's prettier when you're playing with her.  Similarly, the photos that most affect society are not the gorgeous mountaintop views or the classic family photo but the photos capturing something that happened, be it exciting or horrendous.  Think of photos from the Vietnam war or West Berlin.  Almost anyone can think of some photo from those two historical occasions, places.  Now, that flower is gorgeous, but then you'll choose you and your brother playing, then people will want to see pictures of people and memories and life happening.
     That's what I love capturing, what it's my goal to capture.  Life.  Laughter.  Mourning.  Tedium.  Work.  Friendship.  That's part of why I take pictures of small children - they're full of life.  Even if that life is crying because the vacuum cleaner was taken away from them.  But their smiles aren't plastered, their eyes aren't dull - they're vibrant!  It's gorgeous!  I want to have pictures of me and my friends, all dressed up, taking turns with the camera, making faces.  The photos in my photo album should contain my family, me and Mom, my Dad tickling me, my annoying (but loved) siblings.  Life is a word that encompasses a lot; I guess I should keep my camera handy at all times.