Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like. – David Alan Harvey

I find that when I look back through my work, the best photos are the ones that follow that maxim. It’s easy enough to say but it’s tricky to put into practice. So often I get caught up in the technical details: do I have a strong diagonal?, am I exposing on the right subect? where is my focal point again? But when I slow down and stop — I have an opportunity to be intentional about what’s inside my frame.

I can think about, or maybe ponder would be a better word, why I’m doing this. Why am I about to snap the shutter on this scene? There must be something beyond “because it’s in front of me.” If there isn’t, then it’s time to move on. Or it’s an invitation to think, or feel, deeper.

I love working with my Lensbaby because, by it’s very nature, it invites me to slow down and feel deeper about the why of the photo. The awesome Lensbaby blur is so strongly impressionistic that it seems to me that the lens itself wants to get an impression of the scene — to feel it rather than report it.

I’ve been wanting to get my Lenbaby work into a portfolio. I am hopeful of doing that here and adding it to a page. Look for it soon!