Light Seeker

Instead of lamenting over the lack of light around here in winter, I've been pushing myself to find available light and take those photos.  In doing so, I realized that it's not necessarily the absence of light that's been dragging me down but the inability to comfortably move about freely in my world.  My body doesn't agree with the cold (I know, I know, I've lived here my entire life) and so I avoid being outdoors as much as possible.  And now, there's the snow.  It's deep enough to make traversing through unshoveled walkways difficult.  I have too much time to think now and winter feels suffocating.  We're trapped inside!  I want warmth!  (Confession - there are some days when it's so cold, I want to run (inside, of course) but I don't want to change into my running clothes.)

So where have I found light? I thought I would share in case you too are searching.

During times of the year when the sun is higher, it hits the front of our house in the afternoon and evening.  It's too low now and blocked by trees but there is still light outside so I open up the front door and have the girls sit/stand in the front hall.  I took the following with my Nikon 105mm lens.  I know I'm always babbling on and on over how sharp my Sigma art lens is but this guy is super sharp as well.  My only complaint is that the 105mm isn't as fast as the Sigma art.  It can be slow to focus in low light but I've learned to manually focus and move on.  Still an awesome lens.



The first photo below is the original.  I cropped it to make it more interesting.  See how the detail of her lashes isn't lost in the crop and still sharp.





I've been experimenting with direct light indoors.  We do have some stream through for a short period of time in the mornings.  Direct light can be harsh but I like how it looks here with the shadows.  I took this one with my Sigma Art 50mm.



And my good friend, backlighting.  In the spring/summer, I backlight all the time.  I love that creamy haze it creates.  When I saw the roses sitting in front of the light, I realized that it'd been a looong time since I'd put those backlight skills to work.  (Back to the 105mm.)  



I've been thinking lately about how my photography style has/hasn't changed these past few years.  I feel like I've stayed true to my style of minimal editing.  I'm still a believer of getting it right in the camera.  I often fear getting left behind because I'm not photoshopping overlays.  Ah, photographer problems.  I fell for trends back when I started out and I refuse to do it again.          



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