becky high photography blog- covington street

My First Meetup

Last night I attended a meetup organized by Gustavo Fernandez and sponsored by SmugMug. Our speaker was Roberto Valenzuela who is an amazing photographer and offered a ton of helpful information. He discussed how to "see" instead of just look at what you're about to photograph, the different element that will make a beautiful image such as geometric shapes, symmetry, reflections, patterns, balance, color elements and simplicity. Many of these were things I studied as an art major in college. Roberto thinks of the photograph as art and composes it rather than just clicking away and hoping for the best. There is so much thought that goes into setting up each shot, finessing the subject so they look their best and shooting them at the best angle using directional light.
I've got lots to think about and to practice.