{"id":3520,"date":"2015-04-26T15:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T21:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=3520"},"modified":"2015-04-25T16:43:23","modified_gmt":"2015-04-25T22:43:23","slug":"a-druid-with-a-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2015\/04\/a-druid-with-a-camera.html","title":{"rendered":"A Druid With a Camera"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Mendenhall<\/a>
Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Most of the uncredited photos on this blog are mine.\u00a0 Things like book covers and movie posters obviously aren\u2019t.\u00a0 Some were taken by Cathy, my profile shots are professional pictures by Tesa Morin<\/a>, and some were taken when I handed my camera to a friend (most recently Cynthia and Tommy Elf<\/a>) and said \u201chere, shoot a few pictures while I talk.\u201d\u00a0 But the vast majority are mine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always had an interest in photography, but I never took it seriously until I started blogging.\u00a0 Pictures help illustrate what I\u2019m writing about and they quite literally add color to the page.\u00a0 And they\u2019re critical for getting noticed on social media.\u00a0 Necessity is the mother of invention and also of learning \u2013 I\u2019ve learned to be a better photographer because I wanted better pictures for Under the Ancient Oaks.<\/p>\n

Some time ago I wrote on Photography and the Sacred<\/a>.\u00a0 That post explored the question of when you should take pictures of sacred sites and events and when you should keep the camera turned off.\u00a0 Today I\u2019d like to talk about what I\u2019ve learned from photography.<\/p>\n

\"Dinosaur<\/a>
Dinosaur Valley, Glen Rose, Texas<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve learned to see things as they are<\/strong>.\u00a0 I shoot a lot of Nature pictures:\u00a0 trees, flowers, fields, rocks, streams, animals \u2013 you name it, I\u2019ll take a picture of it.\u00a0 If I\u2019m in a new place I\u2019m always thinking \u201cwhat can I use on the blog?\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been many times when I\u2019ve downloaded pictures from my camera and been disappointed:\u00a0 the colors don\u2019t look right, or they\u2019re washed out in the bright sun, or the sky looks bland.\u00a0 I used to think I needed a better camera.\u00a0 But what I\u2019ve found is that the vast majority of the time the camera is capturing the colors exactly as they are in Nature.\u00a0 The colors look bland because they aren\u2019t artificially enhanced like what you see in advertising.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t \u201cperfect\u201d like you see on TV.<\/p>\n

Sometimes what we\u2019re told is \u201cright\u201d isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Nature is beautiful just as it is.<\/p>\n

\"Stonehenge<\/a>
Stonehenge \u2013 2007<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve learned to look at the whole picture<\/strong>.\u00a0 Shoot anything other than a posed shot in front of an artificial background and you\u2019re going to have something in the way.\u00a0 The pictures in A Year at Stonehenge<\/a><\/em> are so good in part because of the skill of photographer James O. Davies and in part because they show the stones in a variety of natural settings.\u00a0 But they\u2019re also good because Davies had access to Stonehenge at times when the public wasn\u2019t allowed in \u2013 there are no people in his photos!\u00a0 Cathy and I went early, but I have no pictures of the circle without other people in them.<\/p>\n

People, other animals, trees \u2013 they get in the way of the \u201cperfect\u201d picture, but they\u2019re part of the whole picture\u2026 and they have as much right to be there as you do.\u00a0 What else is in the whole picture that you don\u2019t see until it gets in your way?<\/p>\n

\"alligator<\/a>I\u2019ve learned the importance of viewpoint<\/strong>.\u00a0 I used this example last year in a post titled Rewilding:\u00a0 Privilege and Reality<\/a>.\u00a0 I took this picture less than 50 feet from the alligator.\u00a0 Pretty dangerous, right?\u00a0 Except here\u2019s what you didn\u2019t see \u2013 I took it from the safety of the boardwalk.\u00a0 The fact that you\u2019re isolated from the alligators doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not dangerous.<\/p>\n

Just like the fact that you\u2019re isolated from fracking or from militarized police doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not dangerous either.<\/p>\n

\"SPI<\/a>I\u2019ve learned how to make things disappear<\/strong>.\u00a0 But it\u2019s an illusion, and it\u2019s a lot of work.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have Photoshop \u2013 it\u2019s too expensive, and it\u2019s available only as a monthly subscription.\u00a0 I use GIMP, which is free, and has most of the same capabilities.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned how to do basic photo editing.<\/p>\n

\"08<\/a>Here\u2019s a\u00a0photo I took at the Mound of the Hostages at Tara in Ireland last year.\u00a0 When I wanted to use it on a flyer I didn\u2019t want the gate in the picture, so I took it out.\u00a0 It was a fairly simple edit, but it still took a bit of work.\u00a0 More complicated edits can take hours of work.<\/p>\n

\"Mound<\/a>And if you go to Ireland and try to go into the Mound, you\u2019ll find the gate is still in your way.<\/p>\n

We can make packaging, old consumer goods, and other trash disappear, but it\u2019s still there.\u00a0 There is no \u201caway\u201d to throw things.<\/p>\n

The stereotypical tourist with a camera is a stereotype for a reason \u2013 it\u2019s easy to get caught up in taking pictures and miss out on experiencing a new place or an event.\u00a0 That\u2019s something I have to be mindful of all the time.\u00a0 But photography has taught me a few things I might not have learned otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"irises<\/a>For camera geeks only<\/strong>.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had several cameras over the years, as photographic technology has advanced.\u00a0 Right now I occasionally use Cathy\u2019s point & shoot and sometimes I use my iPhone (which takes very good pictures if you have enough light), but my main camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i with the 18-55mm kit lens.\u00a0 I also have a 55-250mm for long shots, and an f\/1.8 50mm prime I bought for low light photography.\u00a0 Turns out it\u2019s too long for what I want it for, but when I have the time to set up a shot, it works beautifully.\u00a0 I desperately want a full frame camera with an L-series lens, but right now I have other financial priorities.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stereotypical tourist with a camera is a stereotype for a reason \u2013 it\u2019s easy to get caught up in taking pictures and miss out on experiencing a new place or event. But photography has taught me a few things I might not have learned otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":3529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[672,4,5,115,68,673],"class_list":["post-3520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practice","tag-mound-of-the-hostages","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-photography","tag-stonehenge","tag-tara"],"yoast_head":"\nA Druid With a Camera<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The stereotypical tourist with a camera is a stereotype for a reason \u2013 it\u2019s easy to get caught up in taking pictures and miss out on experiencing a new place or event. 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