The Creative Minds Coach

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Happy World Photography Day!

The day isn’t over but I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge World Photography Day. I have a few mentions…

  1. As I prepare for an online conference this coming weekend, I participated in a webinar in which some well-respected photographers shared what photography means to them. I loved the variety of responses and each was unique to their owner’s experiences. It made me think about what photography means to me. I’m still formulating that but, for now, it means capturing the moments that inspire me whether in nature, with my family or other. It’s a powerful medium for sure!
  2. Since December, I’ve felt compelled to share this journey with others and have been on a couple of photography podcast episodes. More on that later but I share because the most recent one was released today. Feel free to listen if you’re so inclined. https://www.mattpaynephotography.com/page/f-stop-collaborate-and-listen/ Please forgive my “newness” but hopefully my enthusiasm makes up for it!
  3. I share my first image taken after making this “impossible” goal. My family road-tripped to Utah for Christmas and I scoped out an interesting place for a sunrise shoot at Mesa Verde National Park. I used a new-to-me lens, had dust on my sensor and was freezing cold! I had almost no idea what I was doing but I absolutely enjoyed myself!! It’s not a good image in my opinion but to me it represents growth from each time I pick up my camera and deliberately press that shutter button.

So, what does photography mean to YOU?

-Brie

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Is this a “good” photo?

My answer is maybe. What makes a “good” image anyway?

The boring stuff first:
Since beginning this journey last December, one of the important things I have been and am still learning is how to manage my images. My camera is a Sony a7riii which has the capacity to shoot images up to 42 megapixels. I take advantage of that and shoot in RAW format with the highest amount of data I can get. So, my images are quite large and can get even larger (can be multiple GB) after post-processing. I knew we didn’t have enough digital storage space so I bought a couple of portable hard drives which I could use with different computers and would be easier to travel with. Figuring out technology is NOT where I want to spend my time but it seems inevitable when I am using a digital camera and multiple computers. It’s odd to spend so much time outdoors capturing nature and then so much time glued to a computer screen to bring those images to life and manage them.

Well, I set these drives up so I always backup my images to both of them. My husband has since informed me that they aren’t very stable and now I’m totally freaked out that I’m going to lose everything. For a photographer, this data represents hours, days and years of hard work so we don’t want to lose anything!!! I have read horror stories and don’t want to be in one of them.

The not so boring part:
I’m writing all this because we are going to transfer my “keeper” images to long term storage in our family data storage service but I’m supposed to cull through everything first. So, my questions today are: how do I decide what to keep and which images to toss? How do I know when I have a good image? Am I even experienced to know if I have good images? What if the images I think are good are actually terrible?? I keep thinking that I would love for a more experienced photographer to look through all my work and help me decide. But, what good would that do? That person wasn’t there when I pressed the shutter button. They wouldn’t have been there when I saw a scene and felt that longing in my soul to take the memory with me. They won’t be there with me when I do my best to edit an image with that feeling in mind. Ultimately, I’m the one that has to make the decision. For now, I’ll be ditching images that I definitely have multiples of as well as the REALLY terrible ones. I’ll be keeping most of them so I don’t make the mistake of getting rid of something before I feel more sure of my decisions. This photography adventure is giving me the opportunity to look at my thoughts more deeply and testing my ability to manage them along with my emotions. Do I think that photo is good? Meh. I can do better but it’s a reminder of a familiar place Taylor and I hike to. Maybe one day I’ll capture it with better conditions.

As I move through this journey, to help me formulate what I think is “good art”, I’ve also been studying images from lots of different artists and photographers to see what speaks to me. I’m so thankful and overwhelmed that there is so much out there! When I narrow down my favorites I’ll make sure to share them in a future post.

Please share your favorite artists and why you enjoy their art! Next up: podcasts!

Brie

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Unknown Texas creek

Does nature love you back??

Do you spend time outdoors? Do you hike or backpack, climb or camp? Do you own a camera or a smartphone that you bring along?? How do you interact with nature when you’re out in it??

I find myself spending more time outdoors lately with and without my camera. Sometimes with only my phone in hand. Before I get too deep into my journey, I would be remiss if I didn’t do a post about my pledge to put nature first and not photography when I’m outdoors enjoying myself.

While listening to an episode of a podcast I enjoy (https://www.mattpaynephotography.com/page/f-stop-collaborate-and-listen/), the host, Matt Payne, talked about our responsibility to the nature that we love so much. He, along with some other nature photographers, started an alliance to promote responsible nature photography. Here are the 7 Nature First Principles:

THE NATURE FIRST PRINCIPLES

  1. Prioritize the well-being of nature over photography.
  2. Educate yourself about the places you photograph.
  3. Reflect on the possible impact of your actions.
  4. Use discretion if sharing locations.
  5. Know and follow rules and regulations.
  6. Always follow Leave No Trace principles and strive to leave places better than you found them.
  7. Actively promote and educate others about these principles

I love the feeling I get when I watch the sun rise over a local creek, or take in the view from a beautiful vista or admire a field of multicolored wildflowers. I would hate for their beauty to be diminished or disappear altogether. I have pledged to abide by these 7 principles as I photograph and be a good steward over the nature I enjoy. For those of you that spend time outdoors with any type of camera and that love these things too, I invite you to read about this movement and take the pledge if you feel so inclined. Read more about it here: https://www.naturefirstphotography.org.

So, you love nature but are you caring for it in a way that it loves you back?? Thanks in advance for making it awesome for my next visit!

More to come on the above-mentioned podcast……

Brie

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An adult daughter makes a awesome hiking buddy!!!

What am I doing?!

In spring of 2019 my husband introduced my to the idea of life coaching. I was super resistant at first but as I listened to some podcasts from https://thelifecoachschool.com/podcasts/ I began to see how this could change my thinking and my life. And wow! I have done so much work on managing my thoughts and emotions and am pushing myself in ways I never thought possible. I enrolled in Brooke’s Scholars program and started working on the monthly “themes”. Then, in December, the theme was “Creating the Impossible in 2020” and we were challenged to create an impossible goal. Check out this episode for what this kind of work looks like: https://thelifecoachschool.com/podcast/253/. As I pondered what MY impossible goal could look like, I knew I didn’t want it to be about money or work and it needed to be well-defined. Since I was a kid I have loved the idea of being a photographer and have made half-hearted attempts to make good images but never made specific goals or sought out instruction. I KNEW I had to finally make a photography goal and put in the effort to make it happen. So, I decided to have an exhibition of 10 of my best images in my home for friends, family and anyone that wants to come in early 2021. What makes this impossible? Well, I didn’t even know how to work the settings on my camera! So, there is no way I could have 10 images at the moment to show. It’s taking so much failure and is stretching me in ways I never thought possible.

I had the feeling that I should start a blog back in January but I put that thought aside and totally regret it! This is my attempt to backtrack a little and catalogue my journey this year. I will mention that I don’t consider myself a good writer but I do hope to improve through this practice. My plan for this blog is to write about what I am currently doing as well as going backward to remember what I have learned up until now. There are some exciting things to share!! Feel free to ask questions and comment with encouragement!! I will also say that, while you will see images, I will be keeping my best ones for my exhibition. Don’t worry, I’m figuring out how to make this virtual so everyone can enjoy!

Keep failing!

-Brie