What Moves Me

What motivates me to be a photographer and create the images I do. I do it for me. I shot what pleases me. I did not always do this, for a time I was a portrait artist and loved what I did. But as time when on I got burned out on it. I got thrown into portrait situations where I did not know the people real well and the photographs showed it. They like what I did but I was not happy with it and the more that happened the more I started get away from photography.

So what is drawing me back? I came across a few images that reminded me why I love photography. In this months Rangefinder I saw images by Mitch Dobrowner that capture the drama of a storm that rolled across the plain states. I live in such a state and have seen many of these formations pass overhead without taking the time to photograph them. If you want to see power there is noting like watching a wall cloud churn over a field or city accompanied by the wind, rain, lighting and thunder. In Mitch’s photographs you could almost feel that just by looking at them. The great detail of the updrafts caught in the clouds, the contrasts in the dark and light clouds, and how he was able to bring that in on one snap of the shutter.

This image reminded me that I wanted to capture that, to convey what I have experienced in my life and how powerful the storm is. I wanted all that in my images so I could share this event with everyone that had and had not shared the same experience. Isn’t that what photography is about, sharing the human experience? Isn’t it what makes a great photograph? The pictures that convey emotion and energy that touches us on some level to the point we can feel what the subject is feeling? If you don’t believe it then look at the real good human drama photographs and say that. Better yet look Mitch’s photo and say you don’t hear the wind blow or feel the dread of something big will drop out of the sky.

So this spring as the weather trends to the storms my goal is to capture all parts of the storm. From the flash of lighting to the wall clouds rolling across the fields. I want to capture that beautiful eerie dread a storm has on the plains folk that draws us outside when we should be taking cover.

Oh I plan to dive to the storm rather than bike. Although I do plan to bike and photograph a lot. I have to satisfy both passions as often as I can.