This month I want to my very first local camera club meeting. A fellow photographer who works out of my studio, Dana Greenblatt, invited me to join the Main Line Camera Club. When he asked "Are you interested in joining?" I thought for half a second and said "You bet!" I am always excited to meet photographers, talk about our experiences and share our work. Joining the club would also give me some monthly motivation to try out some new techniques and shots. As a member of the club, we get to submit an image for each month meeting, which usually has a theme.  I'm a big fan of using photography assignments or prompts to push myself to think creatively and to try new things.

For January we had photographer Adam Marelli joining the meeting to run a critique of our photos. In the weeks leading up to the meeting we were told to watch this presentaton by Adam to learn about his philosophies and techniques and then apply them to our shot for the month. Watching the video was great - if you're into photography yourself I highly suggest checking it out!  It inspired me in all sort of new ways.

The next day I had some time to work on a shot for my January submission.  I was really thinking about light - about noticing what the light around me was doing and using it it really highlight the subject in my photo. I noticed the way the sun was coming into my window and how it was making patterns on the table. This is what I saw in the moment:

I knew that the difference in brightness between the areas in the sun's light and the areas in the shadows was pretty big. If I could expose my photo so the bright areas looked just right (not too bright), it would make the areas in the shadows, including everything behind the bowl of yarn, look really dark by comparison. I also knew that if I used a long focal length for my lens, and a wide open aperture, I could make the background look big and blurry enough that all the detail in it would disappear. All of that together with the sunlight coming in from the side would make a photo with a simple composition that would really highlight the texture in the yarn and wood table. I envisioned it and picked up my camera. This is how it looked through my lens:

This is one reason I love photography so much - it's magical without any actual magic necessary!

I'm so grateful that you are taking the time to read my monthly newsletter. If you'd like to get in touch with me about photo sessions or photography feel free to send me a note or give me a call anytime. I’m always happy to talk!

With love and light,

Have you ever wondered how photographers see things?