Unleashing the artist within

I’m not that creative a person. People think I am, because I play a musical instrument and do crafty things like knit and quilt (well, I used to, anyways). But my relative abilities in those areas stem mostly from the fact that I’m very good at following direction. Creativity requires some originality, and that’s not my strong suit. My strength is carefully following instructions. But anyways, self-deprecation is not what this is about.

This is about the new lens I got for my camera.

Two of the other twin parent blogs that I read, Blogtime in Twin Town and Laura’s Mommy Journal, feature some really nice photos of their kids. Both have also recently extolled the virtues of a fixed lens instead of the zoom that so often comes with the camera. While I find my Nikon D50 was miles ahead of my old point and shoot, I have been particularly frustrated shooting indoors. The aperture on my zoom lens just didn’t open wide enough, and I was forced to choose between the crappy light of a flash (boo) and using a too-slow shutter speed on my wriggling infants (and still have to Photoshop the crap out of the resulting under-lit shots).

And so, with blogger recommendations to back up my hunch that I needed a new lens, I found the inexpensive Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. I’m in love. Two days, and I’ve already taken the best photos yet of my kids.

It’s very true that the tools themselves don’t matter nearly so much as the person using them. Getting this lens has not made me a better photographer, but is allowing me to do what I knew I needed to do: get more light while indoors! I can’t wait to play with it some more, as well as take a photography class and get more suggestions for taking better pictures. But in the meantime, I’ll follow tried and true advice that both of the aforementioned bloggers noted. It might not be new, but it’s no less true: take lots and lots of shots, get close, leave the flash off, and don’t try too hard for the “perfect” shot. Just like everything else in life, it’ll happen when you stop working so hard for it. I’m not a particularly original or creative photographer. But if you follow those instructions (and have the benefit of the cutest subjects, ever), you’re likely to get some better-than-average results.

And thank god for digital photography. Man, this would be expensive if I was going through so much film! Take my little photo shoot from the other day. I easily took 70 shots to end up with maybe five decent ones. If I had to do that on a 32-exposure roll of film… No thanks!

So, without further ado, the first shots with my fancy-schmancy new camera lens. Just imagine what I’ll be able to do when I actually learn how to use it!
[Oh, and a big shout-out to Cheryl for making the super cute hats! Thank you, Cheryl!]