dagger’s take on things

People ask me, why do I take pictures?

To express myself, I reply. I cannot draw, I lack strong vocabulary to say what I want in the exact nuance and adequately and I only have no lack of imagination. I see a moment of beauty, and I capture it.

But that’s not creation, they argue. You are only saving what someone else has made.

There are many angles to the same scene. Minute changes of perception has impact beyond their size. Lines that bring focus onto your subject, perspective to give depth, and colours to give texture. That is just for the composition. There’s shutter speed to control motion, aperture for depth of feild, both in conjunction for light levels. Finally, there is the actual moment of photography, where a child smiles, a bird takes off, a stray beam hitting the water.

I take pictures to take satisfaction in a job well done.

Reuters and Times’ pictures of the year. I particularly like Times’ #11 and #16. #20 is a story all by itself.