Small or Big Picture or Somewhere in-between

Aperture is "the opening in the lens". In camera talk, changing your f-stop, will change your focus. When we change our focus, wild and exciting things can happen.

We each have our gift, some can spend hours designing a creative project with dots, other prefer the expanse offered with a large canvas, some like ballads with thought provoking lyrics and their neighbour blasts techno music from his balcony.

Whoever we are, whoever our partner, colleague, fellow runner or yogini might be, we all see the world through our own filters. Our past experiences and the ones we anticipate, colour our worlds. Do you know someone who sees things as black and white/ right or wrong, this person most likely feels safe because of the framework of the rules they have adopted. Do you know someone who brings colour and vibration and joy each time they walk into the room? Take a guess what this person is focusing on! They are not confined by what lies underfoot, they are exuberant about the possibilities.

As a photographer, our aperture is crucial. It will assist us on our focus, it will change our picture, it will change what we see.     

And of course you’re right, we can’t be one specific way all the time, it would be exhausting. And so it is in our photography too, to tell a different story, we sometimes have to change our aperture.

But we do all have our defaults, and we gravitate towards the habit we’ve chosen as our own. We all know someone who is typically quiet and someone who fills the lunchroom with chatter, someone who moves quickly welcoming what is to come and someone who drags their feet literally and figuratively. We also hear laughter in hospital wards and see scowls at what should be a fun event.

Look out and see, focus on the small things and also spread open your arms to embrace what is coming. It is going to happen anyway, push against it or let it wash over you. Go under or ride the wave. Your choice.

For a real lesson on Aperture, grab your camera and attend this event. https://events.calgarypubliclibrary.com/?id=2009l1