Firstly, a belated Happy New Year. I have been neglecting this blog for two reasons. Well, three. One is my business is keeping me very busy, which is good news I guess these days, and the other two reasons are of course my girls – aka my first job as mom. Winter brings with it snow, floods and colds. And yet, I love the crisp mornings, the sparkly frost on the roads, the fact that when I breath, I can see the air swirl right in front of my eyes. Doesn’t happen very often in Malaysia!
There is a fourth reason, and that is that I’ve been trying to think of something completely different for this blog instead of just a place where I just put my pictures because I already have a website I update regularly with new pics, Facebook, and Flickr, which are all linked to my social networking stuff like Twitter, Plurk and Friendfeed.
So instead, here’s my proposal: a site where I talk about the other things a portrait photographer does besides knowing apertures and shutter speeds, exposure compensations and Photoshop. I will still, of course, talk a little bit about these things, but there are SO many superb sites out there – many of which I frequent myself – that it’s just silly to make another one.
So what will I blog about then, if not all that technical goodness? For one, face and pose coaching is something that I find very little info about, and that’s something I’d like to log my experiences about. Another will be about my photowalks, and about strangers I meet daily, people I photograph, their stories. Perhaps another area would be photographer rights, which is something really in flux now because there are few clear laws and rules, and they all differ in different countries. What is the law regarding taking pictures of children at play? Of people looking out the windows of their houses? Of people kissing on the street? A busker playing a violin at Pike Place? Aside from securing a model release before being able publish these photos, should you, in the first place, press that button, without breaking an obscure law? More importantly, how do you get around these little obstacles without getting arrested, AND being able to do your job?
I guess you could call it the human aspect of photography, literally. I take pictures of people, so the very least I can do is find out more about these fascinating creatures.
Stay tuned!
