Pure Crap...

You don't know what a crappy photographer you really are until you start going through old photos....those photos that you took before you actually fancied yourself a "photographer".  Before you really thought about the picture you were taking beyond "Oh, that's cool.  I'll snap a photo."

Because I'm trying to get a portfolio of sorts together for my professional website, I decided to look back through the photos I've taken over the past ten years or so.  I mean, people keep telling me that I have a good eye...surely I've had it all along, right?

Well, maybe not.  There are loads of pictures from beautiful locales and yet picture after picture after picture is not usable.  My thoughts are usually something like, "What was I trying to take a picture of there?  That window?  Waaaaay over there, almost too small to see clearly?"  "Hey, that might be a great shot if I wasn't shooting directly into the sun."  "No.  Just no.  That's terrible."

Of course, most of my trips have been with a group, so we rush from place to place, without a lot of time to think about and compose a good photo.  And there are certainly quite a few taken from the window of a moving bus or train--sometimes those turn out, but usually there's a blur or a reflection from the glass.  And it's been very interesting to go back through the pictures and remember each trip.  After all, that's why I took them, right?

I have, however, found some gems, some pictures that I'd forgotten about or didn't really think that much about at the time.   The one below was taken in La Alberca, Spain and I'm in love with it.  So it's definitely been worth all the time I've spend looking.

Taking a stroll in La Alberca, Spain