We wish you Peace and Harmony in the coming year and thank you for your continued support of MacroFine Photography. We'll be taking a two week break to enjoy the holiday season with friends and family, and will be back with new blog posts after the holidays.
The best of Holiday Wishes to you and yours. Thank you for visiting.
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Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “No, really, I’ll be careful with it. Really, I will.” — Every Kid On The Planet So, your middle-schooler wants to take up photography… SUPER! Couldn’t be better! Photography is a great growth tool:
I’ve got good news… and bad. First, the good. We’re digital now so you won’t need to buy endless rolls of film. The bad? You still need to buy your Kiddo a good First Real Camera. Hey, more good news! You don’t need to go overboard here. Kiddo is at the bottom of the learning curve, no need to overwhelm ‘em. There are plenty of good, affordable entry level choices out there. Before you delve too deeply into this, consider your child’s personality and temperament. Is Kiddo an active, get-out-there-and-just-do-it type? Or maybe a bit more of a brainiac; more inclined to want to know how things work? Is your child into Facebook and Twitter, always wanting to be ‘social’ and sharing? These sorts of assessments will guide your equipment choices. In any case, first you will want to ignite in your child a keen interest in the end result. That being the idea of photography, of reproducing — or creating — images that tell stories or carry emotions. Your child will need a tool to help them achieve this without a ton of… eeuuwww… work. As they develop a keen interest in becoming a Photographer, so will they develop an interest in how to become one; and an interest in more capable equipment. Now I admit, I am no Equipment Guru, so I need to defer to the experts here. There are a bazillion internet sources for you to research this. But let me get you started with a good article from Adorama’s newsletter. Figure out where Kiddo sits on the equipment issue and you’ll be steps ahead in finding age- and personality-appropriate cameras. A side note here concerning what focus (yes, pun intended) Kiddo’s photography will take. Encourage your budding photographer to shoot anything and everything. To carry the camera everywhere. To try shooting architecture, portraits, animals, plants, textures, mechanical, food, bugs, stars, fireworks, motion, sports, landscapes, pets, close-up, far-away, cityscapes, countrysides, still life, studio set-ups, storms, clouds… and yes, even Selfies; there is something to be learned from every shot taken. Soon Kiddo will start to discover a photographic preference developing (yes, intended, again!) and will start to hone the skills to excel at that chosen endeavor. Thank You for visiting, — Chris P.s. So, which camera did you choose? Why? Where did you purchase it? How’s Kiddo doing with it? What genre of photography is Kiddo homing in on? Is Kiddo famous, yet? Go crazy in the comments and let’s compare notes. Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings Kathy Lawler, Guest Blogger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Art should be dynamic… in more ways than just one. I grew up the mountains of Southern California and my mother had a picture of the ocean over our mantle. My mom was questioned about this image a lot; no one could understand why she wouldn’t have a mountain scene in our home. My mother patiently explained to visitors that she could look out the window and see trees and mountains anytime she wanted. But she couldn’t see the ocean. Growing up with a rule-breaker gave me a different slant on life — to say the least — and it is no wonder that I am now always mixing up our Art in our home. We are avid collectors of Art. We have been doing Art Fairs for over 30 years and have amazing work that we enjoy, not only because we know the artist, but also because we appreciate all the love, hours, and creativity that went into each and every piece. It is not surprising that we have more work than we can display at one time. So we came up with a simple solution . . . We change out our art as the seasons change, or sometimes just to make a room feel new again, or to make room for a new piece we have just purchased. And it’s getting to be that time again in our household. This time around we are working with the upcoming change in seasons and are choosing to create a feeling of warmth with our art, since we are moving into the cooler months of the year. We took photos of the before and after so you can see how very small changes have created a whole new feeling in the same space and made the room feel ready for a long winter’s night. This is the current summer version of the space where we wanted to escape the summer heat and to feel cool and calm. The image, Reptile Ice, cools the viewer right down. Reptile Ice is a macro shot of Ice on Glass. We added a blue pillow on the sofa and a few pieces of artwork on the end table, including a ceramic vase and a beautiful blue blown glass piece, also adding to the cool and comfortable feeling. This next image shows the same space with a few different pieces. We traded out our cool feel to create a cozy space to relax and feel warm on a cool fall/winter night. As you can see, we removed the blue pillow and added another beige pillow to accent the fabulous image shown, Nature’s Fireworks, and the two additional pieces titled Traces. We traded out the ceramic piece and glass vase for a ceramic dish with pine cones and a crazy arrangement of fabric flowers, both of which compliment the images we choose to hang here. When the crazy cold starts, I will add a cozy throw to the mix for cuddling up on the sofa with a good book.
It is amazing how a few elements can change everything and make your home feel fresh and new. Wait until you see what we have planned for spring! Of course, that will be after Christmas and all the magic that season brings! Thank You for visiting, — Kathy Lawler, guest blogger P.s. Do you change up your home from time to time? Rearrange the furniture? Do you rotate your decor pieces? Do you have summer things and winter things that you switch out? Maybe sofa throws or throw pillows? Tell us all about it and we'll compare strategies! |
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About Chris
I am a Virginia-based photographer and gather my images while hiking in parks and natural areas here at home and in the locations I travel to. I also love to visit arboretums and botanic gardens to find unusual and exotic subjects. Archives
March 2017
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