OU Photography Course
Just because I’m not busy or overstretched enough already I’ve recently chosen to enrol on a digital photography course at the OU. I’ve attempted the first assignment tonight - spending an hour exploring the images on www.flickr.com looking for images that I find interesting for some reason.
What an extraordinary website! I’m amazed by the beauty of many of the images - there are some truly extraordinary photographers in this world capturing the essence of their subjects. It’s not hard to see why people from some cultures believe that photography captures a little of their soul - a good photograph certainly appears to.
I’m now meant to think about why I’m attracted by the images I’ve bookmarked in flickr and consider the ways each image might be improved. To be honest I’m not sure I’m learning a great deal about photography in this exercise, but I’m certainly discovering what types of photography I’m interested in. I seem to have a strong preference for natural images - landscapes, seascapes, animals and plants, very close up (macro) images of flowers and insects and the like. I also seem to like industrial landscapes - powerstations and windfarms, as well as entertainment landscapes - fairgrounds, cinemas, etc. What I don’t seem to like are photos of people - except close-ups of wizened, wrinkled, interesting faces. Faces with character and honesty I suppose. Most of the photos of people on flickr seem to be contrived in some way. I might recognise them as technically excellent images, but they don’t interest me at all.