Pittsburgh Winter Day

Welcome to a Pittsburgh winter day.  Nothing out of the ordinary here.  Just some snow being used at a bus stop to hold trash in place.  People waiting for the bus last February 2010 found an excellent use for the snow:  cup holders.  Why not?  They brought some color to a pretty dreary winter day.  I just hope someone was there to pick up the cups once the snow melted and they toppled to the ground.  I like this picture because the yellow cup really popped out at me.  I shot this picture before I learned how to use my digital SLR.  I've made some basic adjustments to the image in Camera Raw and then in Photoshop.  Just some slight exposure fixes and levels adjustments.  I don't know.  I have lots to learn yet as to what looks right.  For now, I just like the randomness of trash and its place in the image.  This accompanies the randomness I have to image editing.

Photography

I'm not sure why I am beginning to explore photography.  There certainly are enough photographers in the world already, and from what I can tell it's not a field that welcomes newcomers with open arms.  But still, I have enjoyed looking at other professional photographers' work for some time now - whether they are artists, commercial photographers, documentarians, photojournalists or wedding photographers.  I cannot draw, paint or sculpt; and I certainly cannot sing and play a musical instrument.  And while creative and non-fiction writing are nagging at me to explore them, too, for now, and for reasons I cannot pinpoint, I have begun to "explore" photography.

Since January of 2010, I have taken a Basic Digital Photography class, Intro to Digital Photography, Intro to Photography (film & darkroom) and am currently taking a course called Photoshop Foundations.  Oh, I've also taken an Intro to Digital class which touched on, among other things, Final Cut Express.  These classes have been taken at a couple of "art" schools in my area.  Have I enjoyed the classes?  No.  But, I think it has something more to do with the "art" scene rather than photography itself.

So, what do I know about photography?  Not much actually.  I seem to just randomly take my camera out and shoot things that appeal to me.  (nature, city, people, objects, whatever)  I'm in the beginning phases:  composition, white balance, aperture settings, shutter speed, ISO, metering and lenses are all challenging enough for me right now.  Haven't taken on lighting yet.  Photoshop is a beast that I have yet to tame (or at least come to believe I will be able to get it one day!  Lynda.com to the rescue.)  Do I understand film and how to develop prints in the darkroom?  Nope - or at least not at any acceptable level.  Tonal range, levels, color balance?  Head is spinning.  But that's okay.  At least its moving.

Not sure at this point in which direction I am seriously headed.  It's either going to be photography for sure, writing and/or digital videos.  Lots to explore.  Feel free to comment on, criticize or commend anything I post.  We'll see how this all develops.

(*As for the image that I've posted here, it's one I took back in July of 2009 while backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia (not too far from Pearisburg).  This was what the trail looked like when we woke up in the morning.  The picture was shot with just a small point-and-shoot.  I like it, though.  The digital SLR is too darn heavy to take backpacking.)