Chapter LXXIV: Colorburn

When I was young and stupid (not so long ago), I scoffed at my peers who professed to be avid Photographers, with a capital 'P.' Yeah, whatever, I would silently snort. You're just another kid who thinks he's artistic, but is too lazy to learn how to draw.

In my naive mind, photography was a total cop-out. You just stand there and push a button, and it's over in less than a second. To call photography an art would be an insult to the painters and sculptors who labor for weeks or months over their one-of-a-kind masterpieces.

In fact, I had a very 19th century attitude about art in general. I decried Abstract Expressionism as a cultural tumor (writing an essay to that effect in 11th grade), glorified photorealism (except, ironically, in photographs), and more or less thought that fine art should be time-consuming and unattainable without years of intensive training. Delacroix and Titian were my heroes, Pollack my nemisis, and Ansel Adams was just boring.

But after acquiring a cheap digital camera, and reading a couple books on the subject, I realized that photography is hardly quick and easy, and opening the shutter is only the conclusion of a laborious decision-making process. At the same time, it is also a very immediate experience, choosing which particular second (or 36th of a second) to capture. It this demanding synthesis of planning and spontaneity that makes photography an art form.

And so, in the interest of pushing myself to explore the exciting realm of digital photography, I have started a new photoblog. It is a collaborative effort, and the premise is fairly simple. Every day, we each post one photo to the blog. The catch is, there won't be a traditional caption beneath each image. Instead, we will include some salient bit of the discussion we had about that photograph.

The idea is that I will be instilled with a sense of obligation to keep snapping away and improve as a student of photography*--so as to not let down my coblogger and also to provide a fruitful experience for the random people who stop by.

It is called COLORBURN*. Until I get back to school and my camera, we're both just working through some photos we have piled up on our hard drives, which, in my case, are mostly rather static still-lifes. That will change, rest assured. Keep in mind though, that it will be a daily exercise, so I only expect to produce high resolution and well-composed--but not necessarily stunning--images.

I will, of course, still be posting the occasional riveting observation on the state of the universe here, in this fine venue.

*I would not presume to call myself a photographer.
*Colorburn is a reference to one of the blending modes in Photoshop. I originally reserved the URL as a place to dump art (instead of embedding it into my blog posts) but I never got around to it.