I'M A PIXEL

I’m a PIXEL!

Getting good shots on your smart phone is nice, but how often would you blow one of them up and hang it on your lounge room wall for everyone to see as they enter? The answer is probably not very often. Most people want to be proud of their photographic artwork that, not only shows off their best outfits and profiles, but similarly portrays love, compassion, kindness, and the deeper human characteristics and emotions that surface when composition, balance and correct perspective have been thoughtfully crafted. Getting nice shots is great, but getting spectacular ones is priceless!

Important Emotions

The answer to this is obvious. Whilst the Veronicas (at least) would love this knowledge, their professional non-counterparts are the ones who hold the camera gold straps; pixel par excellence! Not only does the professional photographer know how to manage his/her apparatus without a ‘selfie-stick’, thus projecting perfect lighting that injects mood enhancement, s/he also knows how to identify and freeze life’s most important emotions. They take away the burden of ‘being in a pixel’ for those of us who silently cringe at needing to pose at every second bite of our pizza, or worse, being strapped to FB looking ‘not so hot’ without even knowing about it (in many cases).

While capturing the candid laugh over a spritzer, or the collective ‘pearly whites’ sitting around the table at the local pub can be fun, it takes planning, the right surroundings, a bloody good camera, and a highly creative mind and skillset to capture and solidify relational bonds and unique authenticity that are at the heart of our emotional DNA.

record life

Given that we all have cameras in our pockets and bags, means that we’re all amateur photographers; pictorial journalists, visually diarizing and journaling every living moment. How amazing it is to be able to record and document life to the point of comatising society with endless pictures of lattes; kitty lying on the lounge in fifty different positions, to baby Sarah smearing vegemite all over her high chair.  We live in a world of chords and pixels, mentally microchipped to the point where everything from our ‘last supper’ to road rage is recorded.

Knowing this, some would say ‘where does this leave professional photography?’ Where is the need for the qualified photographer and his/her craft amongst a global sea of electronic constituents? Should the Harry and Veronicas of the world move over to make room for the Max Dupains, past, present and future? Would they be happy sharing spritzers together, much less their shutter speeds, ISO and long exposures?

Social Media Influence

It’s abundantly clear that Veronica is ‘a social media influencer’.  After digging for a few minutes, I find out that not only does she have over 40K fans, she puts most of her pics through Photoshop to make them look as professional as possible. Of course, not all influencers are Photoshop gurus, but with some close scrutiny, I can see that those with abundant followers have much better shots than those without

Can you guess who I am?

It’s Sunday, and the sky is full of blue luminosity with a cotton ball weaving its way into view as it crosses the horizon. I’m sitting outside at a bar in Darling Harbour, breathing in the atmosphere and the laughter between me and my friends while sipping a fluorescent red spritzer.

As Harry, at the next table, takes the last sip of his Peroni, Veronica, his girlfriend, gets out her iPhone to start snapping away. I’m observing Harry and Veronica who have been appendaged to their smart phones for the last two hours. Veronica is obsessed with taking as many selfies and pictures of her Margarita as possible. Given our tables are so close to each other, I start chatting with her and find out that she has over 40 thousand followers on Instagram, which is why she has been taking so many photos