It's mine.

As some of you may have noticed, I have an interest in photography. It all started with the birth of Dylan. I wanted to document his every breath, every tiny movement that this little human being made. I wanted a way to preserve these moments forever. The problem I always ended up having, was that in an entire roll of film, I would have (maybe) one or two keepers. You see, I only had a crappy little 35mm Kodak. It never stopped me from clicking away. I bought my very first (and so far only) digital camera last January.

Obviously I like taking pictures of my kids. Okay, it borders on obsession. I attempt to take the momentous occasions that need documenting- first haircuts, first days of school, and so on. More than that, I am mostly concerned in taking pictures that truly speak of their character. I want someone to look at the picture and instantly understand that very moment, who they are, and understand what's going on. I like to capture both joyous and unfortunate times. I try to take pictures when they are unaware of my presence. They're better when they're raw. Since I have the camera on the all the time, it's easy to do that. When I get "the" picture, I feel like I've made it mine. It was my moment, from my eye, and I can then share it with others, or keep it all to myself forever.

I may take classes at our local college in photography, because I feel constricted. I don't know how to use my camera. I bought a Canon Power Shot A95, and only use two or three of the billion settings it has. I think that if I know more about the camera, design, lighting, composition, and the more technical aspects of photography, I would be able to do so much more. I mean, I think even photography 101 could take me so much further. I don't even know how to edit my pictures after they're taken. I don't know how I feel about that either. It would feel a bit strange for me to fix up a photo and say that I took it.

I have been spending some time looking through Flickr, and am completely impressed with many of the pictures there. I have added the link below, and invite all of you to take a look at the pictures that Flickr has decided have "interestingness" (their word, not mine). Some pictures are obviously taken by professionals, whose technical perfection gets in the way of a potentially good picture. There are also some pictures taken by novices who probably took the picture by accident. Some are simply amazing. In any case, they are really interesting pictures which is the whole point- "interestingness," remember? So, here's your click of the day.