So for the bulk of August, I took my daughter West, and I learned some things about myself and how I relate to photography. We went all over the place, Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, up Pike's Peak and into the mountains at Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw Mount Rushmore and stayed a week in Breckenridge, Colorado. And I took like, three pictures of note.
I used to think landscape photography was easy, until I learned that I was no good at it. I thought 'Well, its gorgeous and it comes pre-lit, how hard can this be?'. Apparently there's more to it, and as of now, I don't know what that is. I get the foreground, middleground, background rules, and I know that I have to wait for the right light. I get the nitty gritty technique stuff, but I'm not sure I have the personality for it. I found myself running on rocks with my daughter and chasing her up hills and throwing her into swimming pools way more than I found myself behind a camera. Of the two things I love, photography and her, its clear to me who wins out. Also, I firmly believe that memories are best created with our eyes, recording on our brains and wouldn't sacrifice the ability to do that by having my camera in front of my face. I think that since I'm a professional photographer, the pressure I feel to make 'good' work anytime I snap a photo keeps me from truly enjoying landscape photography, because I'd rather be in a place than photograph it.
Or maybe this is smoke and rationalization because I suck at it. Either way, here're a few images, with possibly more to come.
