Big smile

What is more important….a picture that puts a smile on somebody else's face... or a picture that puts a smile on the maker’s face ?
Whenever I’m out in nature I try to be open minded and let my senses guide me on what I point my camera at. Not to say that I don’t have subjects in mind of course, but you simply can not force nature. So I “follow my nose” and see where it takes me.

Over the years I have noticed that what’s important to me changed. When I just started to photograph I wanted to improve my skills, and unconsciously was out to take pictures that other people liked. So I tried my utmost to shoot landscapes with great compositions and/or light and portraits of insects with nicely blurred background etc.
But over the year’s I’m finding out that I still want to make nice pictures, but it is most important that I like them. So I’m more and more concentrating on subjects for which I’ve personally developed a passion, and I don’t simply just want to take good pictures but also learn more about these subject themselves. Therefore I can appreciate a “simple” straight picture as much as a photographically great shot. Just as long as there is a story or a memory inside the picture for me.
​The 2 pictures in this blog put a big smile on my face.

Long-eared owl- Nikon D7200, 500mm, F 5.6, ISO 200

The picture of the 4 long-eared owls resting together clearly shows their way of getting thru the winter as a group..also making it much easier to find a partner at the end of the winter. Their expression is very inviting....you would almost want to join them for a bit of sleeping and basking in the sun.

Comma Butterfly - Nikon D7200, 70-200 mm, F 4, ISO 100

And the picture of the Comma Butterfly….definitely not a great picture but the first butterfly sighting of the year just makes me hungry for more.
What puts a smile on your face ??

Text and potos are copyright protected by Gerard Jordan