Now that I’ve started hanging out on more and more blogs, I’m a little jealous of the photography skills on some of them. Everyone has artistic lighting and interesting compositions. Adam’s a great photographer, I love seeing his point of view. I’ve taken several photography classes in my time, so I’m used to this feeling. Students in my classes would have technically brilliant photos with some complicated angles happening, like a skateboarder sailing over their head. Mine would be the one with dust marks from the negative and it would be slightly out of focus, and it would be a picture of 2 guys whitewashing a wall. I’m almost strictly a documentarian when I take a picture. Usually I see someone doing something interesting and I want to catalog the moment to use later in a painting or project. Sometimes I stumble onto an incredible picture, but it’s usually entirely accidental. So that’s my approach. Point the camera and hope for the best. Nothing fancy, just telling it like It Is. Unfortunately, sometimes It Is out of focus.

Here’s an example. Adam and I went on a safari in South Africa a couple years ago. Amazing experience, lots of photo opportunities, the coolest thing I have ever done. Here is an Adam picture:

It’s like a page out of National Geographic. I can practically hear Marlin Perkins in my head. Great color, great moment. Here’s a Jackie picture:

More like, “Look how close we are to that elephant!” But I like my style, too, don’t get me wrong. My pictures tell a different story, sometimes a very entertaining story. This one is like the punchline to a joke. What does an elephant do when a truck full of tourists gets in its way? Anything it wants.

Bottom line is, I could try to get artsy with my pictures. I did tonight with my S’Mores Pie, and only one of them was remotely usable. I’ll stick to what I know.