But now that I’m back here (eventually), we might as well get down to business. In this week’s news… I’ve been getting some new critique, mainly on the soap-bubble photo and the wire photographer (Note to self: Do start naming your photographs). And sadly, I don’t really know what to make of it, considering how mixed the opinions were. Some liked them with great enthusiasm – even amusement, in the case of “the photographer”, some found them bland, uninspiring, and downright bad. So either I’m smack in the middle of the fuzzy line between sublime and ridiculous, or one “side of the fence” is biased – “which one?” being the million dollar question here. Which brings us to a bit of a dilemma. Although I can’t help but agree with some of the points made (on “soap-bubbles”, for instance – too much noise, the bubbles should have been actual bubbles, instead of light trails), I wouldn’t go so far as to name either of the two photos “pointless”, and they have been named so. But then again, I would be the very definition of “biased” in this situation, so I suppose I’ll just have to wait for the scales to tip in one direction or the other.

And now, having concluded this week’s equivalent of handing over one’s report card to one’s parents, I’ll proceed to the “In other news” section.
So in other news…

A couple of days ago I received my first actual post comment. Which – being proof that some are kind enough to stop and read for a second, and not just hit the StumbleUpon button again – naturally caused a most childishly giddy reaction in yours truly. Reaction that I will refrain from describing, for the sake of my dignity.

Also in other news, I’ve been spending the little spare time I’ve had lately, on designing some stickers to promote this place. Once I’ve come up with a draft I’m happy with, I’ll shamelessly resort to sticking these around town – hopefully, not so shamelessly that it’ll be called vandalizing public property. I should find some charitable and morally impeccable soul to drag around with me, just for the occasional reality check. But more on that in next week’s “other news”.

And last, but simply not least, I have just yesterday received a darling little present that I’m really excited about, in the shape and size of an ant farm. Which can only mean that over the course of the following couple of weeks or so, one will have the opportunity to observe a dorky little person with a big camera around her neck, going around chasing ants and slapping “home-brewed” stickers on ant hills. Twist my arm hard enough and I might even let you know how that turned out.

And we now return to our regularly scheduled program. Today’s happens to include critique report for Sunrise. It was generally well liked, mostly due to the colors and the framing, and basically the only thing people seemed to find wrong with it (or at least would comment on) was its lack of sharpness. And now the more I look at it, the more I tend to agree.

Someone once told me – and I’m starting to think this is the best photography advice I’ve ever received – that the final result is all that counts. No one cares if I had to do a somersault or stand on my head to take a particular photo and nobody is going to cut me any slack if it’s still a bad photo.

So far from it that I’m saying this as an excuse rather than a simple explanation, but no, I didn’t have a tripod and it was also a little too chilly for comfort. It’s actually quite a funny story – I did technically own one, only it was a present and I wasn’t going to receive it until a couple of days later. C’est la vie… There’s always the next photo.

Anyway, despite the generally positive critique, none of those who commented were overly vocal about it, which confirms my original suspicion that my Sunrise falls within the category of “close, but no cigar”. I suppose that’s a critique in itself and a very constructive one at that.

Note to self:

Dear Catalina,

Next time you decide to bump up the contrast to insane levels and discover the “masterpiece” looks good, do make sure your monitor is calibrated – the same goes for color balance. Next piece of advice – everybody becomes annoyed when you stop every 2 minutes to get “just the right shot”. That’s not going to change, so you might as well have something to show for it – try several angles and frames, wider, tighter, portrait, landscape, so on and so forth.

Best wishes,
Catalina

P.S. Next time you drop by, do remember to add thumbnails for the photos.

You would think I’d be able to figure out things like these on my own. Apparently, I need to be taken by the hand and given the nickle tour over and over until I get it right. C’est la vie…

Oh, and Catalina, honey… water the damn plant once a year, will you?