the Blur
Ever since I started taking photos, I have loved blur as much as focus. Not that I’m some weird bokeh fetishist, far from it, I just like all thing things lenses can do, and I love being able to take the way I see something and make it visible in the world.
I’m not so much into saving memories, or pausing time, or capturing the decisive moment, unless that is the goal of the shoot. I’m just weirdly obsessed with how things look or could look, or how they feel. Something specific that I don’t have good words for (which is why it works that they are pictures).
Cameras can let you show yourself or someone what you saw and how you saw it, can help you see what you see and what other options there are, and also they are the most fun little boxes I know of. The things each different camera I have used has taught me can’t be explained, but it’s like reading things written by different people - you have a different experience that you get to keep after you’re done reading.
This photo was taken with my new favorite camera, one I hope to have many good times with. It’s a full frame mirrorless camera, so it’s a lot like my favorite DSLR, only smaller and quieter, and it has the added bonus of exposure simulation - Single Lens Reflex (SLR) and Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras let you look through the viewfinder at a mirror that reflects what the camera will “see” through the lens. When you hit the shutter button, the mirror flips out of the way, the image is recorded, and the mirror flips back into place. Many DSLRs have a “live view” option where you can see what the camera sensor is picking up, with just a slight delay. Exposure simulation is like live view with less delay - you see what the sensor is seeing, so you can adjust your exposure elements, and white balance, focus in real time, then shoot your photo. Only it’s better.
I didn’t think it would be a compelling feature, when I heard about it, because I’ve used live view and found it useful but never used it much, but it has been great creatively. I don’t struggle with getting a good exposure generally, I grew up shooting film, and understand how meters measure light, and all of the old school knowledge that is falling away with technology. But what exposure simulation offers me, is the ability to play around with the photo before I take it, and to know when I’ve got it how I want it before I take it, to take it, and then I can play with it more from there! So I take the shot I want, I know I have it, without having to check playback (generally) and then I can just play around and see what else there is to see. It’s helped me think differently about light, and exposure and how and what I want to photograph. Instead of working with the camera to get what I want, I can get what I want then then get more other things that I also want…of course you can do this with any camera, but the fun thing with this camera is you can do it and see it right now, rather than after, if that makes sense. It’s like if you’re playing music, and you play the note, but only get to hear it later…it’s more fun to hear it now, try a different note, then another. It just makes the camera a lot of fun to spend time with.