Ollie & Junebug: Photography 101 March 14, 2008

I love photography.  Taking pictures.  Viewing other people’s work.  I would take pictures 24 hours a day if I could.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to devote much time to it so far.  I also have never taken classes in photography, so my skills are still amateurish.  Hubby got me a new camera for Christmas and I wanted to experiment with it when I went to New Orleans recently, but that took getting brave.

 

I always wanted to take portraits.  Pictures of people doing the things they do every day or showing who they are.  But, I’ve always found it hard to invade a person’s space like that.  The new camera gives me a little more distance because of its zoom, but still, it’s hard to get close enough to someone and start snapping away.  It’s also hard to find people who can deal with that without really losing the whole thing you’re trying to capture.

 

The other part of it, I suppose, is that when you’re taking pictures, more people notice you.  More people pay attention to you taking pictures of something/someone.  I’ve never liked that!  If I were invisible, I’d have a much more extensive collection of photographs by now! 🙂

 

Anyway, I was in New Orleans, and decided to get brave.  I went off on my own and walked the streets and just took pictures, ignoring the self-consciousness that I felt.  The great thing was that New Orleans has all these wonderful street performers and artists and tarot card readers and fortune tellers.  And, well, they’re used to getting their pictures by strangers, which helped me be even braver. 

 

Here is my favorite one that I snapped while I was there of a tarot card reader who’d been doing readings in Jackson Square since the 60’s:

 

 

He was doing a reading so he’s looking down, but I just love his white beard and dark hair and winter hat.  Anyway, I don’t usually share my photography, but I figured if I was to share it with anyone, it should be fellow craftsters!  Afterall, craftsters rock!

 

Btw- New Orleans still needs help!  It seems like no one is paying attention any more and there are still WAY TOO MANY of tents set up under highways because people don’t have homes.  Here’s one of my favorite organizations in case you can help: Musicians’ Village.