My family and I visited New York City yesterday. My husband and sons went to Yankee Stadium to watch Notre Dame play Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. My daughter and I stayed in Manhattan and shopped, went to Central Park, took a carriage ride and went to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. As the day was intended to be a special day with my daughter I did not take one of my “good cameras”. Before we left home, however, I decided that I just couldn’t survive the day without being able to capture “that moment” that we might stumble upon. So, I grabbed our little family point and shoot Sony Cybershot and all 7.2 mega pixels that it has to offer. Of course, there were about 1000 opportunities to capture beautiful moments, but I didn’t have my “real camera” so I relied on the little point and shoot when my daughter allowed me the opportunity.
It actually proved to be quite fun. She wanted me to take pictures of everything! And she found such great pleasure in so many things that we took our time and stopped to shoot despite the fact that I knew I had no control over the light entering the camera or how the images would turn out. I kept thinking to myself that if the images were OK, the saying that I’ve heard so many times; “no wonder you take good pictures, you have a nice camera”, would prove worthless once and for all because taking good pictures is not the act of a camera’s automatic settings. The camera doesn’t control composition. Good composition in addition to knowing how to use a camera’s manual settings to control the light, motion, white balance, etc. that are being captured, are skills necessary to successfully make a good photograph.
So, with all of that said, take a look at what I captured with the little point and shoot camera. More to come over the next couple of days too!
The images below are of Bagdon using spray paint, plaster knives and various other objects to create art. My daughter and I were mesmerized by his work, the process he used and his talent. When I asked if he had been formerly trained in the techniques he was using he explained that he was a former graffiti artist. Simply put, it was really cool!
First Part of the Process
Making Stars
Using Tools to Create Details
The Finished Piece – a little crooked as I was holding my daughter’s hand at all times and taking pictures with just one hand – it can be done!
The “quality” of the images is not great as the resolution is so low. I was happy with the overall outcomes, however. You get the idea of what Bagdon’s creative process was and how he worked without having to look at completely inadequate compositions. You might be thinking, “why didn’t she just use her cell phone”. Well, because I didn’t want to run out of battery. 😉
Robyn Graham Photography 
The story is delivered well with the pictures here … a great job doing it all at once
Wow, I love that artwork and I really like your pictures. Okay, I’m starting to see that they’re not the “professional” manually controlled composition, but they are good! 🙂
You make excellent points. First, of course, about the camera and the photographer. Not that I have a great camera, but we’ve all heard “that is a gorgeous shot – what kind of camera do you use?” … as if the one behind the camera has no skill or artistry.
I also felt your angst about taking the camera and focusing on photos not time with your daughter. Such a struggle, isn’t it? I’m so glad you and your daughter had such a lovely time together and that she wanted you to photograph your experiences!
one particular series, and what an artist
Robyn, these are amazing pictures! What fun you and your daughter must have had watching these creations–and also you holding a camera in one hand and your daughter’s hand in the other–now THAT is a lovely image.
Happy New Year!
Thank you Marylin! It would have been nice to have had someone capture them moment for me! 😉