Friday, April 9, 2010

It is spring again

Linux, photography and spring. It should be a intoxicating mix. I went out and took a few shots on Easter weekend. I even resorted to flash the family in the house. Ask them, it is rare for me to resort to flash indoors. Easter in the UK was not fantastic weather, so I was not disappointed at having to stay inside for a few hours playing with my workflow. Are you like me? Workflow is just a useful phrase to describe the time I want to play with the computer.

So is it a shoot when I am outside? It is rare. I always intend to take the camera. But the DSLR is HUGE and gets in the way. The point and click is small and gives good shots but even this is a bulk in the pockets. I always have my iPhone but have never been convinced by the camera, in fact little on that particular phone convinces me. When I play golf a camera is inappropriate. When I play rugby is is a liability! At family gatherings the camera is a conversation killer. In the streets the movement towards ensuring our freedom means that cameras carried by humans are social outcasts, yet CCTV is something we overlook.

Yes, as a photographer you are a social outcast, whatever your computer operating system. If we are not careful we restrict our shoots to recording the mundane. Certainly my shots have altered in the last few years. In the past I took town and city architecture, I loved landscapes and I certainly recorded people at events who I did not know. I find that as I get older I make more and more excuses and my photography tends towards the family bore rather than artistic trend setter.

What has this to do with Linux? I sat down and reflected on my Easter efforts, lots of shots of family, eggs and other seasonal things. All recorded well, but without heart. What my photography needed was a well defined workflow, something people tell me is not easy on Linux. I have now mulled this over and decided. It is tosh! Of course workflow on Linux is difficult, it is on Windows and Mac OS. It is not a simple story anywhere and if it is any different than our art will suffer! Yes, there are two things wrong. First I use workflow as an excuse, a flat shoot is blamed on Linux workflow. Then I compound it by using the same workflow to produce technically good pictures but with no heart!

I am guilty of blaming Linux for my lack of artistic flair. It is of course a pathetic worker who blames his tools! There is nothing wrong with my workflow on Linux. My pictures on the other hand are poor. They are poor for two reasons. First, I do not practise enough. Second, I am obsessed with Linux being just as good as any other operating systems. There is, of course, only one cure, more practise.