I really enjoy photography a lot, primarily because I believe it’s a medium that lets people express themselves in ways they might otherwise not. A certain angle, lighting choice, or expression can provide insights into a subject that aren’t obvious at first glance.
I feel this phenomenon particularly acutely when I’m taking pictures of Ava. When I’m scrolling through my shots from the CF card in Adobe Bridge, I’m often surprised by the look I’ve captured on her face. These things come and go so quickly sometimes, it’s almost impossible to catch the same smile you see through the viewfinder by the time you release the shutter. But my regret at missing the shot I thought I wanted is usually overcome by my joy at seeing the shot I did get. Like the image here. I have a pretty good idea what the histogram would reveal, but it doesn’t really matter. That contemplative gaze is priceless to me, and it’s not something I remember noticing before I took the picture. It’s one of the reasons I have three backups (one off-site; thanks, Flickr!) of every image I have of Ava. What will I ever do with all those images? I was thinking the other day that Ava’s going to have the most kickass images in school when it comes time for her senior assembly slideshow. Hopefully she won’t choose to include pictures of her doing kegstands or something.
On a related note, I finally figured out how to import images from a network drive onto my AppleTV. Unbeknownst to me, the ATV goes ahead and grabs a random track from your music library when it begins a slideshow, so imagine my surprise when images of Ava started floating across my HDTV to The Cure’s “A Forest.” I mean, could the opening lyrics be any more perfect?
Come closer and see
See into the trees
Find the girl
If you can
Come closer and see
See into the dark
Just follow your eyes
Just follow your eyes
It was one of those, “God, I love Apple” moments. Followed really closely by one of those, “God, I love Ava” moments.