Thankyou for your effort, Jim. Indeed, I would echo those same observations. Looking backward over 35 years, most of these shots are unposed, random snapshots, with very simple equipment. As with learning a foreign language, you can acquire new ideas later in life, but not without an accent. The biggest challenge for most of us (certainly me) is to avoid copying the ideas of others. You see a technique used, and later catch yourself attempting to reproduce something you have seen before. The very human trap is to repeat the same mistakes consistently over many years. Truely original work is rare, often grossly underappreciated. I lurk here watching for those people. Most of us, myself included, make better critics than artists. ;>). As an aside, here's an interesting article I found this week: http://www.photo.net/mjohnston/column15/
Dave, Thanks for your comments in the forums. Having looked through your portfolio I've found it hard to pic out a pic that stands out in some way. I noted a comment you'd made regarding 'lack of creativity' and I think this is certainly where your photography is letting you down. Most of your shots look a little snapped rather than created. This pic however has some feeling. It gives the impression of scale, temperature plus the flare actually adds (IMO) in this case. I don't know what to offer but perhaps try gettng in much closer to some subjects to show of the main focus of the pic. Try filling the frame with less and concentrate on cropping in an more dramatic style. I'll have to re-look opver your portfolio now after these comments to check they are correct. Thanks again for your support in the forums, it's always appreciated.
I think you've captured the grandness of the mountain in this shot. I like the added perpective of the climber and I like the lens flare in this as well. Nicely done.
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