Light is to photographs what water is to a garden. Without it you have no photograph, as anyone who's tried to coerce a picture out of a low light situation knows.
It seems we can work with the light or against it. Jefra Starr Lynn
light defines shape and form. Without it you have no picture
Almost 5 years ago. Taking pictures of the kids for Miss M's birth announcement. Had read some photo blogs about natural light, putting people by an open window, It was April and because of the cold weather, we had to shoot inside. We took all kinds of pictures and conbimations that day and it wasn't until I got home and downloaded my SD card, that I understand what they had been talking about. It was a picture of the boys, dressed in their big brother finest and that light falling on them by that window - I immediately fell in love with natural light. It would take a bit more trial and error to know that I never wanted to be a studio photographer and only now do it when forced. Natural light all the way for me, baby.
Now. take it one step farther. Natural light is all around us. In Real Life. If you pay close attention, you can see it all around you. In a different form. A Light of a different sort. I realized that this morning that the Natural Light draws me in. It is the Shiny that I chase. My perception is we all chase Shiny but it looks different to each of us. Shiny can be a negative or positive, we get to choose what we chase and that choice determines whether it is good or bad for us. Can Natural Light be bad? I think not. Natural Dark, definitely but not Light. By nature, dark prefer to stay hidden and loves the cover of invisible. I lived in Natural Dark for the first 20 years of my life and I can tell you, the two are like apples and oranges. Imagine trying to take a photo in Natural Dark?
One of my choices for the year was to start taking more photo journalist type photos. Emotions, laughter, tears, the non-documentary photos. I am still documenting my family's photos - I want the kids to see everything about their lives but I am also going for the Love, the Natural Light, if you will. So far, it has been a wonderful year.
