Photography Website

I've been diligently working on my photography website and it is just about finished. You can view it at Jaime's Gallery. I still have a few photos left to critique and add to the site but the basic outline is completed. I'll keep adding new photos as I finish analyzing my collection.

Over the past week, I've been watching the boxed sets of Charmed while working on my photography webpage and editing some of my photos. In the episode in season 4 about the muses, the muse that the three sisters are trying to save says something very inspiring.... "Art isn't about perfection, its about expression. The key is simply to love it." I think this describes the purpose of my photography. It's the expression of my feelings and emotions. It's how I see the world around me. Hope you enjoy my site!

After I buy a Canon digital slr (hopefully within the next week or so) I plan to really start improving my photographic ability. Outside input will help me be more objective so any comments on my photos will be greatly appreciated, but please be honest in your opinions. I really want to improve my photography skills so all constructive criticism will be appreciated.

To give a glimpse of what my site is about I want to share one of my favorite pics. This photo was taken quite a few years ago but it since it was one of the first images I composed successfully, it is still my favorite even after all the other photographs I have taken since then.
A mockingbird hanging out in an oak tree is not an uncommon occurrence in the country, but this little guy was extremely friendly and let me get incredibly close to him. He was very curious about the camera and posed for a long time while I found the perfect angle for the photo.

I wanted the subject of the image to be simply the bird and his calm curiosity of his surroundings. The diagonal limb of the tree adds a bit of tension to the image. It's almost as if the bird could fly away without any warning. There is slightly more area to the left and top of the image to give the bird somewhere to go in case he does decide to break the tension of the photograph and fly away into the bright summer's sky.

There is nothing in the scene but the bird, the tree, and the sky, so that nothing distracts the viewer from the main subject of the image. The angle of the image is slightly upward further accentuating the fact that the bird's natural setting is detached from ours. He lives his life high above the ground in a tree or flying through the sky and he is only satisfying his curiosity about those living in the world below him before he returns to the sky.

I simplified the image by only capturing the elements familiar to the bird and his natural habitat. The fact that the barn, horses, and collies are only yards away from the tree has no bearing on the image and therefore were carefully avoided when the photograph was taken.

I enjoyed composing this photograph which would not have been possible without the curiosity of this particular mockingbird.