photo by me

I went to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

It was amazing.

I almost started crying. I was so touched by so many of the images and by his words. Incredible. Absolutely incredible.

He photographed people. In fact, his people shots are absolutely amazing. One image of Georgia O’Keefe blew me away. The way he captured her personality was so real that I could practically hear her laughing through the photograph. He made me want to know her even more.

But this is the thing that really touched me. I have had comments on my photographs that have sometimes struck me as the viewer not understanding what I was trying to do. Some of the things Adams did are the very things that I do. Some of his results were very similar to the results I get. And yet, by fellow photobloggers, they are considered flaws in the photography.

I think that what the exhibit taught me is that I want to be true to myself. If I do post-processing in Photoshop or PaintShopPro or shoot at a different angle or try something that is a bit off compared to others, I’m okay with that. If I’m not happy with what I’m doing and if I’m just trying to please everyone else so that I’ll fit in with the crowd, what good is that going to do for me? I’d be miserable.

When people I admire (online and/or off) tell me that they like something, that is when I’m truly touched. For instance, recently the graphic design manager in my department told me that I had a good eye and she liked some of my work. She even used one of my photographs in an advertisement for a paper she helps with. That really made me smile. Or when my boss, who has a degree in photography, says that she likes my photographs and wants to go out shooting with me (we are going out to the Petrified Forest on Saturday – with Willow), I’m wowed by that.

This is beyond family. These are people who don’t have to say they like my work but do.

Ansel Adams loved my part of the world, much as I do. He took photographs of some of the very same things that I’ve shot, myself.

He was a photographer that beat his own drum.

If there is nothing else that I take from that excursion, it is that. I can beat my own drum and be proud of that.