When I was a little girl, my Grandfather bought me a subscription to National Geographic for Kids. I loved it. Every month they would have articles and projects and I just couldn’t wait for the next adventure! One month they sent a very basic pin-hole camera. You know the kind, it’s like a cardboard box with a flap and you have to use a key to turn the film and lift up a flappy thing to expose the film. I was the happiest kid on the block. I had my very first camera. I’d experiment with light by keeping the flap up longer or shorter and seeing how everything turned out. They weren’t too bad actually and that very basic device worked very well. I loved it. So much so my Uncle Albert bought me a Polaroid for my birthday. You can imagine how many of those cartridges I went through!
It was funny that even though I enjoyed photography and found it almost intuitive, I really didn’t take it up. In High School I tended towards the arts that I found challenging and photography was left behind, buried somewhere in my childhood. As an adult, my photography skills were gone. My talent with a point and click went poof! I couldn’t hold a camera without shaking and thought I totally sucked! I could see the photos in my head, I could see what the light would do, but for the life of me, I forgot all the basics I had learned as a child. A few years ago, I took the Basic Photography course at S.A.I.T. A couple of my girlfriends asked me if I wanted to join them. I had this SLR camera and didn’t know what to do with it, so I went. And everything opened up. Suddenly I could get the focuses I wanted, the light would talk to me, and suddenly, I could translate the images in my thoughts onto film.
Huh.
It’s amazing how quickly you can forget a childhood passion only to have it reawakened decades later!
Since that course I don’t want to stop. I’m never without one of my cameras. I’m constantly going on courses, growing and learning and discovering and playing with light. I love shooting flowers and taking natural portraits. Um, by natural portraits I mean that I like taking pictures of people when they’re not posed and catching that easy beauty that everyone has. I discovered a particular affection for wedding photography at one of my friends’ weddings. I love the way the photographs tell the story. If I could photograph for a living, I think I would be the happiest girl in the world. So I took the Wedding Photography course at S.A.I.T. And I was on my way!
We had two photo shoots; one with the softbox flash with poses from a lovely couple who volunteered to pose for us, the other was using natural light in one of the large buildings with the instructor’s son. I confirmed that I have a dislike for posed shots! OMG I hated the ‘studio’ lighting part and I dreaded all the photos that I took when the couple knew I was going to take them. Don’t get me wrong, lots of wonderful photographers can do the studio thing exceptionally well, but I’m not one of them! The best shots I got were when the softbox was off and they didn’t know I was shooting. The nose bump was something she did to him after every shot. I wanted to capture it because it was natural and affectionate and personal to them. I loved the shot. The second photo shoot, the one with natural light, I loved all the shots! My favorites were the ones where my classmates were at the end of a long hall in silhouette and their reflections on the surface of the floor were just gorgeous. I’m wonderful when I’m capturing moments…especially when people forget that I’m there!
Take care
George
My name is Georgina, but my friends call me George...
