"Pencil of Light," from my limited Edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait
Blog Note: Louise is recuperating well from her fall so far and has a great attitude. But we have a long way to go and she is in quite a bit of pain. She doesn't complain much. If you pray, please pray for her.
As I've written many times before, I believe the most important ability in photography, far more important than technical ability, is the ability to notice things. That was a paraphrase of a quote by Elliott Erwitt, who actually said " All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice things."
Oh well. Close enough for government work.
Another favorite quote is by the English essayist Roger Bacon, a quote that the great documentary photographer Dorothea Lange kept posted on her darkroom door: "The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention."
Erwitt also said “It's just seeing - at least the photography I care about. You either see or you don't see. The rest is academic. Anyone can learn how to develop.”
I don't have Erwitt's ability to notice things; in fact I doubt if anyone has ever equaled him in that ability. But I do try to keep my eyes open, and sometimes I score. Another applicable quote (author unknown): "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then."
In the photograph above, which I call "Pencil of Light," the setting sun casts a beam through a narrow gap between two hills and across my neighbor's pasture in McLemore Cove. I noticed it and caught the moment with a Pentax 6x7 camera, 105mm f2.4 Takumar lens, and Fujicrome 100 film. I believe the Pentax 6x7, by the way, gave me the highest percentage of "keepers" of any camera I've ever used.
My son and daughter-in-law have a 60x40-inch print of this photograph hanging in their living room.
(Adapted and re-posted from April 19, 2021.)
Check out my pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/ Looking is free, and you might find something you like.
Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
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