My dad had a great photo taken from my bro when he was just jumping a regular distance between two edges and he makes it looks like very far from each other!. And that was with the old cameras that you could not see the pic before the developing process

The best photos end up having a story behind them.

Insofar as practical advice, the strongest images bring together concept, subject, lighting, and timing together. With a portrait, the confidence and social graces of the photographer can put the subject at ease (whether he or she is posing the subject or catching them spontaneously), and controlling the lighting can really set apart art from snapshots. Light (and shadow) is also super important for landscapes, with patience waiting for a time of day or even a particular weather making a huge difference. My last piece of general advice: you have to practice. So, using the camera you have on you (be it phone or dedicated camera system) for spontaneity, and consciously dedicating time to exploring or trips, are both two facets that will sharpen your eye, keep you inspired, and find those special, amazing photos.

I try to take casual photographs in my neighborhood all the time, and I used to work at studios (or with a portrait company that had me travel to different churches), but honestly my most amazing photos came from special trips to exotic places.

As a kid, I had taken some composition and film photography ”camps” in the summer, but what really sparked my enthusiasm was a family RV trip (there was 11 of us) out to southern Utah around the time I was 12 or 13. The special setting had me trying harder, and it helped that everywhere I looked there was something unusual I wanted to show other people. Since others in the family also had cameras (I had a little early-digital point-and-shoot), I spent time looking for different angles or smaller scenes instead of the obvious big, grand visuals (though I took some of those too). The ”Hoodoo” rock spires with a color strongly resembling buffalo sauce yawning overhead, the dry and twisted trees clinging their roots into pebbly slopes, and rainstorms that only occurred in patches that you could watch the grey fingers of the clouds stretch down to shadows and leave behind glistening red rock in the stripes of sunlight gaps behind the progress of the fast clouds.

My family were impressed, and nightly slideshows became a fun routine during this trip, but shortly after we got back I sadly learned the importance of backing up all your digital files.

If I had to pick one picture as my most inspiring, amazing to me that ”I” took it, appealing photo, I would choose a sunset on the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado that I captured on a college class photography trip.


We were instructed to return ”at sundown, ” and faced a sandy field leading to a dauntingly tall ridge of dunes. I had a B&W film Camera for class, and an Olympus DSLR for personal use (because the lenses were smaller and it had a very good dust filter).



Our class spent the afternoon trying to get shots along the way, trying to find angles without footsteps or some interesting shots of this bowl of sand or that silhouette of the dune, and so did I, but I became determined to climb to the peak of the tallest dune I could see. Slow going, because every step would slide back down by a foot, and the shifting sand sapped my energy and strength.


Most of my class got hot and tired, not really perceiving much photographic benefit of getting higher over the beach like valley behind us. So, they turned around and went back, facing this not-too-shabby view (the road is right behind that line of trees at the edge of the dunes).


After two hours of climbing sand, I finally made it to the top, just as ”the golden hour” before sunset was beginning (you can see the richer colors appearing, even though the pictures I’ve shared so far are all unedited, straight from my camera). If I thought the climb was breathless, I found the last bit of air was taken away as the vista opened up to a far grander scale! I said before that I wasn't taking the big, wide landscape shots as a kid, but this was different because I was alone in this huge untouched country. Dunes as large as mine undulated for miles, but before they stretched as far as the eye could see, a backdrop of dramatic mountains sprang up behind them, creating an absolutely staggering sense of scale and a view that made all the little scenes I saw leading up to it feel insignificant. As the golds deepened and the sun lowered, the mountains truly turned purple to the naked eye, an amazing contrast of color, and the smooth waves of sand cast dramatic highlights and shadows.

I want you, dear reader, to be able to see this photo, but since it really is one of my best photos and I don't want to watermark it, please check out this photo on my Instagram @evshrug. I have some other photos from this peak (how could I not?!), but the one I put on my Instagram really is what I consider my most amazing photo.


Two of my other classmates made it, but one only took a couple snapshots with her point&shoot, while the other didn't even bother. They also turned around and left after just a few minutes, which puzzles me do this day. The lighting just kept getting better and better, but I turned around and went back myself while the sky was still rosy, remembering our instructor’s requirement to return before the sun went down. Much MUCH faster going down the sand dunes without taking pictures, hah! The rest of the class was all mad at me because I was the last back and some had been waiting for an hour, but even though we couldn't use digital or color photos as submissions for class, I felt like they missed out on a bucket-list worthy life experience.

And I did leave before sunset was over, here's my last photo before running back down the dune, as proof ;)

kellyannartsalon.com

I have been taking fotos, since I was child. I believe fotos tell a story, taken in an instant. Fotos capture people, places & moments, so as to record time.

As an artist & designer, what I have always loved most about photography is that in an instant you have art to study review & remember time. Most fotos are capturing time well spent or documenting art for viewers to enjoy. Capture moments in your life, so as to reflect back over a lifetime, time well spent...Merci, Kellyann