More Inspirations

This feels like a strange topic for a post. Deep down I really don't know why I reach for a camera. Maybe I just feel a need to play with light, color, tone, and form. Maybe it's because I can't really draw or paint (at least not well, I've been known to waste a bit of paint and paper here and there). Maybe it's because I like the technical challenge of putting what is "out there" in a picture in way that makes sense.

Even though I can't articulate why I want to use the camera, I can write a bit about what makes me want to create something, with anything.

I have already mentioned music, and the images it draws in my head.

Another thing I do is seek out images to see. It doesn't matter to me if they are in the form of photographs, drawings, paintings, television, movies, or video games. One source I've latched onto lately is getting large books of paintings and photographs from the library.

I recently checked out 1001 Paintings you must see before you die. Its a great book to check out of the library. It has a nice overview of many paintings. I can't recommend it for purchase because the images are reproduced tiny. Perhaps the book is meant to encourage you to seek out the originals, but that is impractical as they are scattered throughout the world!

I found two paintings interesting enough to seek out more works from the artist. The first artist that interested me was Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun. The other is Tamara de Lempicka. I am not sure exactly why I found their paintings interesting. I just did. I want to see more of them.

So what do I do with all these images I see? I think they all just rumble about in my brain, entice me to photograph, and maybe they appeal to my subconscious and help me find that certain special something in the subjects I find before my lens.

There are no images here, please follow the Wiki links for this posts images. I will have another post this week full of my own stuff. (This is partly caused by a snafu that posted this before I wanted it to. Note to self, don't push return when adding labels to a post.)

(Sorry for those on RSS readers, you are going to see this twice probably!)