Random Fav Photes

“ You don’t take a photograph, you make it. –Ansel Adams

I used to just snap and shoot and then print or upload all of the photos I took.  I loved pictures and thought they were all amazing.  One day I somehow got involved with a random group that did random things and this one random lady was arranging herself in some of the most random positions.  She had a camera so I got it that she was taking random photos of apparent random things.

I stared at her so long she must have sensed me there.  At any rate we began a conversation about what she was doing and she enlightened me on her photo taking hobby and how her goal was to take a very normal object and make it into something incredible, beautiful, abnormal and on and on.  She would do this one day a month.  She would pick one thing or one way of doing something and just keep doing it with that same object over and over to achieve 30-40 shots of whatever.  Very interesting thought I.

At the moment I was watching her she was actually photographing a street light.  She had come the night before and taken about 20 night time shots of this one lamp and at this moment she was on her 30th daytime shot.  She had every angle of this lamp on her camera and I was shocked at how different it looked in each picture.

Previously, one of her favorite photos shoots had been in a park and for about 3 hours all she did was set the timer on her camera for 5 or 10 seconds and toss it into the air and obtained some crazy random shots.   She actually played catch with her camera with a kid and they would take turns tossing it back and forth while it multi-burst or time shot things.  She had been doing these things for over 10 years, only for her own pleasure.  This was before blogs were so big and she did not have a social network.  It was just for her own amusement.

This entire concept intrigued me and since that time I have taken some very random shots.  Some that no one but me appreciate.  I have been asked to take down some of my random shots as people do not always feel like I’ve captured their “best”side.  I do love the random candid shots and for this, though I have hundreds, I have included some of my favorites.  Enjoy.

One of my first hikes in Seoul. I took tons of pictures because it seemed so surreal.

Hike in Korea again. Such a versatile place to hike

Korean mask and Venezuelan glass reflections

Hiking in Korea, view from a stream

Venezuela, miranda as a cave woman for halloween

Love it.. Korea after a hike.. first attempt at micro shots. Still love it.

street shot of ecuador looks like a painted city

I love this shot taken in NY in 2010. I feel like there is a story here and I wish I knew it.

Golfing in DC. I was actually at some point to never ask to golf again. I just didn’t get the game and the clicking of my camera was very distracting.

I can’t even remember where I was in Korea.. but I love the footprint trail and the parent (i guess) looking away.

NYC on the piers. Not sure why I love this again probably because it’s black and white and the birds were so close.

DIfferent mountain in Korea. I like this probably because it was one of my first black and white attempts.

One of my favorite NY Times square shots.

Another great mountain hike in Korea

This picture is from FSI.. the school I attended in Virginia and was after most of my class was already off to way far parts of the world. Sort of a sad but happy picture at the same time.

I love this one. It’s in Chacao Venezuela. I had never seen this type of water activity for kids.. made me wish my kids were little still. LOVE IT.

baby with mother in ecuador

Yes, another hike in Korea. The hikes were amazing and such vistas.

This was from a camping trip near DC. I love this shot because she was about 30 feet up but felt like she was a branch above me. It was my new camera with a 10x zoom.

llamas in the streets in colombia

It’s such an average shot, I don’t know why I love it. Maybe because it’s black and white.

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• A 1958 Documentary About the Life and Work of Photographer Ansel Adams (petapixel.com)
• 10 Tips for Landscape Photographers (digital-photography-school.com)
• What You See… Is…What You Get (pixiq.com)
• Dramatic Black & White HD – Updated (theappwhisperer.com)
• photo a day august. week 3, comin’ up! (belovelive.com)

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