Fond Memories
Family Heirloom
Mt. Timpanogos in Fall
What do these photos have in common???? Keep reading........
Last Tech Talk Tuesday I challenged you to get out of your comfort zone. To repeat: "So in summary, here's my challenge to you photographers who want to improve: get out of your comfort zone and find ways that will force you to be more critical of your own work. Here are a few ideas to get you started: enter a local photo contest, photograph a subject that is totally foreign to you, set up a booth at your county fair and sell your pictures, ask a professional photographer in your area to critique your work, participate in some of the many 'challenges' floating around the photo blogger world, volunteer to take photos of your neighbor's newborn. Make your own list, then choose the one that scares you the most!!! I think your photography will improve!" Today I'll mention another way to improve your photography and make memories at the same time.
The top photo is a lovely china vase my mother called a 'jardiniere.' My great great aunt painted this in 1906. Both my mother and grandmother loved china and china painting, and I have inherited much of their fine china. I have such fond memories of their homes graced with beautiful china, and of watching my mother collect and paint. When I look at these lovely things, I remember her.
So how will my children remember me??? (Hopefully with many fond memories of happy, family times and the knowledge that they are my greatest treasures and blessings, and being their mother was the best, most important, most rewarding 'job' I've ever had.) But how will they remember who I was as a person-my interests, my talents, etc. Since photography has been a big part of my life in later years, I want to give them a part of me to enjoy.
So here is my work in progress. I am going to give each of my children two special photographs. (This is in addition to the numerous family photos I take.) One will be of the temple in which each of them was married, and the other will be one of my favorite landscapes to enjoy in their home. This means I have to come up with 10 special images since I have 5 children.
I will have these photos enlarged to at least 20x24, (sprayed and mounted so they won't be under glass), then nicely framed to match their decor. It's one thing to print out 4x6 prints, but when you commit to a 20x24 print, you are saying, I've taken a photo good enough to warrant the cost of printing and framing, and it is also good enough that someone would actually want to display it! The second and third photos above are my first two photos, that are now enlarged and framed but not given as of yet.
Now, get over being modest, or too critical of your work. I know that your loved ones, be they children or dear friends or relatives, would be honored to have a work of art especially for them from you! Even so, I bet you will think twice about the quality of your photography if you were going to blow it up and give it to someone dear to hang over their sofa!!!
So here's my challenge. You, too, should have big beautiful prints of your work hanging over your sofa and fireplace and above you bed, so if you haven't already done so, choose one of your favorite photos to 'embiggen', (thanks Scott), and frame, then hang it in your home for your family to enjoy. Then, when you are brave enough, give a big and beautifully framed, priceless original work of art to someone you love! And YES, it is priceless and beautiful, because you took the time to share yourself with someone special!!!
