Laughing at myself

Today was a slow day because of the snow so I thought it was a great day to tackle some of the more mundane organizational projects I've been wanting to do for a long time. What I didn't realize was how long it had been since I had attempted to do these projects. When I first started over 5 years ago I was diligent about collecting and compiling anything that would help me learn more about photography. So it started with subscribing to every photo magazine out there, then I would rip out articles that taught me something new, they would stay in a big pile until I had time to sort, later I would put those articles into color coded folders by topic ..... that would end up sitting on a shelf. When I got more advanced they moved from folders into a 3 ring binder with tabs preciously placed in sheet protectors. That's why I have to laugh at myself today as I'm going through all these folders and notebooks and looking at the articles. The rapid pace of digital photography and it's associated technology alone has made them outdated - not to mention the fact that some are 3 and 4 years old. I will admit I got a little sentimental remembering those early days and how I had to come up with some system for digesting and organizing all of the new information.

The good news is that as I'm looking through all these articles on color space, resolution, sharpening, pixels, retouching, black and white conversions, tonality and color correction, lighting ratios and I no longer feel overwhelmed - in fact, it makes me realize how very much I focused on the technical aspects of digital photography in those early years. Lately, my focus has shifted more to the artistic side and instead of notebooks on photoshop tutorials - I'm compiling a notebook of images .... images that appeal to me for whatever reason - maybe it's the expression, the camera angle, the colors, the dramatic lighting, the candid nature, and I hope I can learn as much from this notebook as the early ones.

As I move into the next phase of my photography - I have to laugh a little at myself - this is my office and my thoughts in the very messy process of organization ;)