6,423.
That’s the number of photos inside the “Pictures—2013” folder on my hard drive. That number probably doesn’t include a few hundred more that haven’t migrated from my phone, or the hundreds (thousands?) that I deleted when I imported them from the camera. (For the moment, let’s ignore the fact that I haven’t printed any of these. We’ll save that topic for another blog post.)
Regardless of the actual number, it’s a staggering amount of photos. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have taken anywhere close to that many pictures. Digital cameras make it possible for us to take as many pictures as we want, and opened the playing field of photography.
Social media and today’s smartphones (many with a resolution that is as good—if not better—than many high-end cameras) have taken photography even further into the mainstream. We are documenting our lives and tomorrow’s history at the rate of more than 55 million new photos a day (and that’s only on Instagram).
How many of us know what we’re doing when we take a picture? What makes a great photo? Do we think about light, composition, background? Do we care?
Photography is all about the light. My goal for this blog is to share what I know and what I learn about finding that light and taking better pictures. I’ll cover topics for all photographers, whether you shoot with a smartphone or an SLR. I’ll also share any interesting articles or news pieces on photography that I come across.
Please let me know what topics you’d like me to cover.
Let’s find the light together.
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