bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

Here are a few of the photos I've taken. Some of them may be older and done with a cheap point and shoot. The cat with the deer at the window for example. Some were taken when I was still learning to use the camera. Others, particularly the pictures of my motorcycle were taken with my cellphone and others are more like personal favorites than anything else but it will give anyone interested an idea of what I like and what I photograph. Generally speaking I like to take pictures at night. The weird effects that artificial lighting creates on color and tone fascinates me. The odd results I get with mixed lighting sources also fascinates me.

Fire away.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26453594@N02/

bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

Whether or not I have an eye for it is hard to tell. The reason I say that is that for years I have always liked photography and bought books of photo collections and saved images I've seen on the internet on my computer. However, I never felt confident that I had any particular talent for it. Then one day I took several outdoor pictures of my motorcycle at different locations that all turned out nice. I was shocked. I was so excited I started studying up on what "real" camera I should buy. Since I wanted to travel with my camera on my motorcycle I wanted something small but full featured. I choose the Sony A6000. However, that, in itself, didn't really make my pictures any better and the learning curve was really steep for me. I didn't know any techniques, how the camera worked or any of the terminology.

I have one very good plus in my photography interest in that several friends of mine are professional photographers. One is my daughter. The trouble with that is that their interests are much different than mine. My daughter does food and product photography. She rarely shoots outdoors. Another friend has serious credentials but hates post processing and takes a very dim view of my using it. To him all of my pictures are bullshit. He's as nice about it as he can be but he has no advice for someone who uses software. Another one is a professional and does newspapers and regional magazines all over the country but her real focus is on social commentary, street life and oddball characters. I don't do any of that. I also don't do macro photography. So, for the most part their advice to me is usually of a technical nature.

So, that's where I am at. I am till fine tuning my approach but ffor the most part I know what I want and I know what I don't want but I am unsure about how to get the results I want.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Pick any image and look at it critically - how would you improve on it, what choices would you have handled differently, what is it that it lacks that you wish you had thought of when you took the picture or in originally processing the image, etc. At the end of the day, it's your own vision, not someone else's - that matters. You can live all by yourself on an island and still take amazing pictures even though there is no one there to critique your work. The key is does the result address your vision and creative intent. If it doesn't, why not? And what could you change to make it work? Gear, composition, lighting, timing, cropping, etc etc etc.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The fact that you can appreciate others' efforts I would say is a very good indicator that you do have an eye for it. Plus you know what you like and don't like.

It would probably be very revealing to think back to the images that you've saved over the years - that would be another good indicator to show what direction you should be heading in yourself. But this time don't consider yourself incapable of producing the same sort of shot. If you can look at somebody else's work and appreciate what's good about it, that suggests that you have what it takes to produce the same sort of thing yourself. You should have realised by now that the technical stuff doesn't have to be seen as an insurmountable obstacle. Not only that, the technical stuff doesn't even have to be seen as the most important aspect of a good shot.

bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

Gene, Thanks for your thoughts.

I like nighttime photography. When everyone else has gone to bed I'm out there taking pictures. However I don't specialize in city skylines or motion blurred streams of headlights. I like shots of display windows, street lighting, carnivals, anything in neon or anything with mixed lighting sources. As a result there are not a lot of photographers to emulate or books to read on the subject.

Starting this thread has caused me to spend the last few days thing over my situation in great detail. I've come to the conclusion that I am probably on the right track. I jsut don't have a clear path to get myself further down the road to where I want to be. I'm so impatient. I'd like to be further along now, not later.


I've also been resistant to just getting out there and taking pictures believing that taking more and more pictures of the same quality won't help me. I want to know more about what I am doing. After starting this thread I've decided to just jump into the deep end and see if I can teach myself to swim.

I don't mind criticism but I wish I had someone who shares my interests and knows more about it than I do. I think it would be hard for some people to look at some of my photographs and fully understand what it looked liked before I photographed it.

Other than that I think I am on my own.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I loked at your Flickr. You have some really cool shots. Be proud of yourself.

Bob Boner

Make more images.

Join a camera club. Ask the members for critiques.

Make more images. Reading about it is not enough. you will learn more by making more images and analyzing them with other photographers whose work is good.

gessman Loc: Colorado

I had a look at your images on Flickr and I like what you're doing a lot and while I'm in no moral authoritative position to anything beyond my opinion, I think you have something good in what you're doing overall and I would just encourage you to keep going in the direction you're headed and do more because in so doing you will broaden your vision and more fully develop what you want to say with your photography. While this craft is a largely solitary endeavor, I would suggest that you begin to put your work out there, if you haven't, where you can submit it to public opinion as in some online competition sites like https://www.viewbug.com/ and see how your work is accepted. I'll leave it to you to "google" up others. If you haven't, go to https://www.500px.com/ and browse through looking at a lot of different photographers and their work, a group that, with exceptions, are arguably many of the elite advanced photographers online, perhaps among the most trendy and openly competitive group.

Don't hesitate to look at some of the people in 500pix as potential mentors and contact them if you find some you admire and seek out some objective opinions and possibly some pointers. All they can say is no and you might find yourself in a position to wave at them in passing later on, something that's always a morale booster. You might even think of putting up a site on 500pix and see if you can generate some sales. I think that most people online who want to buy photographic art frequent 500pix. They have a great program. They do some marketing, take orders, produce prints, deliver, collect, take a cut, and pay you, taking a huge workload off your back, freeing you to produce more product. At the very least, by opening your inventory to the public you will begin to get a feel for how it's being accepted.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

Very good advice. That is what I did....

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

If you go to viewbug.
Look at the badges,
To find the best of the best on Viewbug.
Look for Viewbug Endorsed and Viewbug Editor.
You will notice that they(those photographers) specialize in one area.

Go to a photographers profile and select the about to look at badges.
Those badges will be first.
They are very hard to get.
an image example
https://www.viewbug.com/photo/63965647
example of kenvin's badges
https://www.viewbug.com/member/kenvinpinardy#/kenvinpinardy/bio
His entire portfolio
https://www.viewbug.com/member/kenvinpinardy

bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

"Thank You" for the nice words. It's encouraging.

bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

If you don't mind I am going to put you on my "Buddies" list. Your comments have been very good and very detailed. I appreciate your efforts.

bkellyusa Loc: Nashville, TN

"Thank You" for your thoughts and the suggestions you made. I appreciate your detailed responses. Thanks for taking your time to respond.

You are the second person to recommend 500pix and viewbug. I've already looked at 500pix and plan to sign up tonight. Viewbug is totally new to me. I am going to look into it tooight.

Are you on either of those sites. If you are let me know how I find you.

I am going to put you on my Buddy List if that is OK with you. I'd like to make an effort to keep up with what you are posting.

Thanks again. Brian

Acountry330 Loc: Dothan,Ala USA

Don't just take pictures for the sake of taking pictures. Try to make everyone excellent. You want succeed on everyone, but you need to try. Practice like you are getting paid and your client is very picky. Happy shooting.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Hey Russ. Good to see you. It's been a spell.