Almost there

I've done quite a bit of scanning and post-production work, despite only getting one roll of film in at Pridefest. I think I like random crowd pictures as much, if not more, than the action going on in front of me.

See? This is actually one of my better shots of the day.

Speaking of the post-processing, lately I've developed a system of gradients, layering and blurring to get the look I want. I don't use actions or plug-ins, and it's really inspired by nothing save for the way photos look when they're faded and shoeboxed for several years. I bring this up because of the recent blogging drama (out of respect for both parties, I will not name names), I'm already rethinking this "look" as it might be derivative of someone else. I assure you it's not -- at least not intentionally -- and no one has the monopoly on the vignette tool or a couple multi-colored gradients, but I've been there before, where someone's ideas were a little too close to mine; too close for comfort, in fact, that it made me a little paranoid. The truth is, there is very little out there that is truly original.

Ideas may not be original, but voices are.

What did Picasso say? Oh yeah: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

Not that I would ever consider myself an artist, great or otherwise.

Granted, I've been taking pictures long before I had a blog, or computer even. I would probably be pretty pissed if someone suggested I borrowed someone's style. Years ago, before I even had a website, someone who knew very little about me made a catty remark about my photographic prowess, among other things. Ouch. Now that hurt. What I should have done was reply "Yes, thank you. I am pretty good at this because I work damn hard at it." But I let it go because really, it wasn't worth the minute it took to write that sentence. Sometimes it's better not to fight back.

That being said, I'm going to make a few changes around here. I want this blogging hobby of mine to be fun again. Too often I write what I think Jane Average Blog Reader wants to read rather than what I really want. (Yesterday's post came close though, and believe me, wasn't without the thought of "Ooh, I'm getting a little too political here.") I'm not Jane Average Blog Reader, or even Jane Average thirty-something woman, so why would I want to write for her? I'm pretty sure she doesn't exist.