Raw materials for my art

[katestine]

One of the great things about my life is the eclectic assortment of people and influences in it. Having the thoughts of a Real! Live! Artist! show up in my Twitter feed has made me think a lot about creation. Maybe it's Nayland's own biases and work, but it seems to me that a lot of art these days is derivative, in a not-necessarily bad way. We

Comments

[dglenn]

"He asked what I carry every day, but I still think the right answer is 'my iPhone 4'."

There's a saying among photographers that while debate may rage over the best camera to use to take any given picture, everyone agrees that the worst one to use is the one you left at home on your dresser.

Me, I carry an SLR everywhere. There used to be a lot of people who carried fancy cameras for special photo outings and a point-&-shoot every day, just to have a camera handy when they weren't willing to lug the SLR. Nowadays those folks tend to use an iPhone instead of a dedicated p&s camera. I've heard of journalists shooting with iPhones. Mom's iPhone 4S has more pixels than my DSLR (though I have more control over my SLR).

So yeah, it sounds like your right answer is 'your iPhone 4'.

"I could - and probably should - take a walk around NYC with a camera, as if I were a tourist [...]"Yes, yes you should, even if your "just in case a picture pops up in front of me on a not-dedicated-to-photography" camera remains your iPhone, you should

[bandicoot]

If you carry you iPhone 4, learn to use it to the max, both in taking and editing. Everything you learn will translate to an SLR except the SLR gives you more tools to add.

[gmpe]

Curating photos for books is the hardest part. There isn't room for all the great ones, let alone the good ones. I try to tell a story, even if it is just a directed wander. I aim to capture the essence of the event or location. I've started taking extra shots to use as backgrounds or accents. Occasionally, I'll even catch a shot and say to myself "that'll make a great page in the end of year review book." I'm not a great photographer, but know that I need at least three passes to narrow down photos. I've never regretted making a hard choice to cut one, but have regretted leaving them in. And with kids, I do allow eye candy photos, which have no purpose in telling the story, but which need to be included for awesomeness. :)