Thursday, December 10, 2009

Seeing the World with a Painter's Eye

My husband, Stu, has always been 'into' photography. The first time I met him, he had two cameras around his neck (and a girl on each arm, but that's not at all relevant to this post!).

Stu has a natural eye for photography. I've always been impressed with his instinct for framing a photograph, for capturing a moment, and with his eye for composition. I've tried to learn from him, but as the years pass, I've come to realize that he's got some sort of innate photography sense that I don't possess.

That's probably one of the reasons that I don't take many photos when I'm traveling. I find myself wandering about wide-eyed, drinking in all that I can see, and not wanting to have to think about how and what I should be photographing. Which is totally opposite Stu's approach- he always has a camera at hand, and seems to be able to instantaneously spot and click the perfect photo, no stress involved.

After traveling to London and Paris, and having no photos
from those trips, I was determined to take pictures on my latest trip. I took all the standard tourist photos- the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, beaches and koalas and kangaroos. Taking photos in New Zealand was easy: the scenery was so gorgeous that snapping away was a no-brainer.

Somewhere in New Zealand, I found myself thinking how painterly the scenery was starting to look, and I found myself focusing my photography on things I would like to paint. Suddenly, picture taking became much easier- and much more pleasurable.

I thought I'd share some of those photographs. Maybe one day, I'll post pics of paintings that incorporate elements from some of these photos. What I'd most like to do is to go back to New Zealand with an easel....

From New Zealand:









As inspirational as I found New Zealand, it was at the nature sanctuary my cousin took me to in Florida that I came across the most 'paint ready' scenes (the last two photos were taken on St. Martin):






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