Back to Basics: Photo Lesson #1 & Rookie Mistakes

I am by no means a professional photographer. One of my goals for the 2021 is to finally sell a photo of mine — and to print more, too. Until then, I like to consider myself an enthusiast who just so happens to know more than your average geek. But I still can make a mistake from time to time.

My favorite photography quote — and one that I feel is applicable to every aspect of artistic creation — is, “The best camera to use is the one you have with you.” Essentially, “Start where you are,” for photo nerds.

A few weeks ago, on a blisteringly cold & windy day in New York City, I walked across the George Washington Bridge because…well, who doesn’t love a good scenic view, especially one of a river as famous as The Hudson?

After fighting my way through the icy wind to the middle of the bridge, I took out my tough but shy little Fuji X100T, which isn’t weather-sealed. I raised the camera to my watering-eye, framed my composition of the Hudson expanding out into the dark horizon, pressed the shutter, and was expectedly surprised that the camera was holding it’s own in the freezing, misty cold. I then promptly exclaimed, “Oh, f*ck me.”

It’s safe to say that my new favorite photography quote is, “Don’t forget your SD card.”

Thankfully, my Pixel 4a has a helluva camera, itself, so I was still able to walk away from the day with a few decent shots. But the picture from my Fuji, which was recorded to internal memory at a comically low file size, was the one I really wanted. Even though the image is entirely too small to ever blow-up, I’m still happy with how it turned out; I actually admire the grim, grainy, grungy, old-world-y & other-world-y quality of it. I’d just be even happier if it wasn’t only 628 kb.