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Kris Griffiths

My better photos, 2004-2014  

31/5/2015

5 Comments

 
Namib sandboarder (c) Kris Griffiths
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst" (Henri Cartier-Bresson)  

​As I've not blogged for a while I thought I'd curate some of my favourite pictures taken over the past 10 years since first becoming interested in amateur photography, something compelled initially by working in journalism as to take your own decent-standard pics and not rely on stock images is always an asset. 

Even without the professional compulsion though I'd still have been drawn to the artform having been worn down over the years by the deluge of badly-composed snaps forming the bulk of Facebook/Instagram landfill, often seeing galleries of 100 samey shots of a single weekend away or, in extreme cases, a night out. It progressively pushed me down the quality not quantity route, always whittling pics down to the best ones, hoping others will too.

Which leads back to the opening quote: from the thousands of photos taken on the only two digital cameras I've owned since 2004 - a £70 Kodak compact & a Canon EOS - only a handful are truly good, frameable images. I've never been on a course nor read any books, just took tips on the basics from a couple of friends who had done and a few jobbing snappers met in the line of the duty: rule of thirds, depth of field, patterns & lines, etc. And in constantly beholding pros' work, whether in articles or exhibitions, it all eventually becomes clear.

It was fun to look in hindsight at my earliest snaps, taken with no aforethought of exposure or aperture values, often using those £5 disposables from Boots - most were immediately binned but a fair few still passed muster sheerly through unwittingly decent composition and often luck with light sources. Spontaneity always good too; no rules-ruminating.

I think the essence of Cartier-Bresson's quote isn't its literal meaning but that, as in most pursuits, you will always improve. I've hardly ever used Photoshop, not on the below images anyway, which were edited only with the software that came with the cameras, to tweak levels and sometimes sharpness. Only the kit lens used with the Canon, no filters and all hand-held - don't think I'll ever make it to the tripod stage.     



KODAK COMPACT, 2004-2011
Austrian Alps, 2004
Austrian Alps, 2007
Pembroke Castle, 2008
Ginza, Tokyo, 2009
Angkor Wat, 2009
Sydney Opera House, 2009
Santa Monica beach, 2009
Statue of Liberty, 2009
Namib Desert, 2010
Walvis Bay, Namibia, 2010
Marrakech, Morocco, 2011
Essaouira beach, 2011


MATE'S UNSPECIFIED SLR, 2004-2006
Quinten Hann, Ealing Snooker Club, 2004
Coniston Water, 2006
Atop Old Man of Coniston, 2006
Coniston graveyard, 2006


CANON EOS DSLR, 2007-2014    
Boulogne Cathedral
Amiens square
Amiens Zoo
Glastonbury Tor
Bishop's Palace, Wells
Vicars' Close, Wells
Namib Desert sandboarding
mate Sam at Great British Beer Festival
Bordeaux square
Bordeaux Grand Theatre
Tortoise, Shepreth Wildlife Park
Iguana, Shepreth Wildlife Park
Tarbert
back to Lake District
Grenoble
Wrest Park
Mutare, Zimbabwe
Hwange wildebeest, Zimbabwe
Tommy Scott of Space, Islington Academy
Barrington Court
Stourhead
Barcelona
Holasovice, Czech Republic
Ripon Cathedral
Having gone through this final lot of Canon DSLR shots it seems my favourite ones of all of them were taken in the last 12 months, which certainly backs up the improvement through experience theory. Will post them in a separate blog piece.



See also: travel blog post on best travel photos at Proper Mileage

5 Comments
chris
2/7/2015 02:15:53 am

You do have a good eye and composition is great. Now to switch it to manual and a whole new world awaits.😉

Reply
Kris G
2/7/2015 06:41:51 am

I have manualised with a couple. The results never seem worth all the fiddling though. Don't think I have the patience.

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24/10/2020 05:11:00 am

This scenery is really something you can call the miracle of nature. Nature is such a beautiful thing that can make your heart lighter and can relieve your mind. Thinks of this valley as a tourist spot because of its breath taking beauty and its charm.

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Kayla W link
23/12/2020 05:32:20 pm

Thanks ffor a great read

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20/1/2021 10:27:56 pm

I wouldn't agree with you, if you call it amateur photography I don't think this is amateur photography at all, but it seems to be the work of an expert photographer.

Reply



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