Time for a change.
I reckon that yesterday’s post about spring was a fairly good one. That’s a good way to go out.
No.
I’m not leaving. I’m just a little tired of photographing nature when I’m not even a nature photographer. I suppose it shows. Real nature photographers go places. Even if they stayed around here, they’d head out to the swamps, to the gulf, to the bayous that aren’t in the city.
Me?
I don’t even know the difference between most flowers. You know me. I describe flowers as a pink one, a yellow one, a blue flower. I make pictures on dog walks.
But, I am a fairly good street shooter being born and bred as a photojournalist. And, I don’t mean the kind of pictures that pass for street photography these days. You know the ones. Pictures taken from far across the street. Pictures taken of people from behind. Pictures taken of the street. All are fine if they are done for a reason.
But, most of the pictures I see on Facebook or Instagram are not done for a reason. They are made by people who are scared of other people. People who just “got” a camera and out the door they go. They declare their work to be street photography because they don’t know what else to call it. Or, themselves.
Why can’t they just say, “I’m a photographer and these are my pictures.”
I’ve just called myself a street photographer. Sort of. I wander the streets and photograph what I see. In my town. My city. If that makes me a street photographer, so be it. I don’t really care. I take pictures. For myself. For my clients. For my agencies. For you.
The pictures I make for myself are usually the ones I like best. That’s what you are going to see here. At least until the end of April. Maybe longer. Some will be “little” pictures like this one. Others will have a depth to them that makes them a “bigger” picture. We’ll see.
This picture. I started this little portfolio with beads on a fence because it says New Orleans. Even though most beads are thrown for Mardi Gras and a couple of other seasonal events like St. Patrick’s Day and so on, the beads don’t just disappear. They can’t. They are everywhere. These beads are fairly new. They haven’t faded yet, to the dull silvery-gray color that is the base of all plastic beads. With our extreme weather they will. I’m not sure how much experimenting I’ll do with this collection. As I said, these are more about photojournalism than not. The rules — well, my rules — say that you can’t do what I did with yesterday’s flower and call it street photography.
Anyway.
Enjoy the new collection of pictures.
STORYTELLER 
You know, for a street photographer you’re a damned good nature photographer. And portrait photographer, too.
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Jenny, that’s very kind. I started out as a newspaper and wire service photographer. You had to make a good picture of everything. That shows up today I suppose. Besides, I have a certain kind of drive… no bad pictures in public. Trust me, I make plenty of bad pictures.
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Hello Mr. Ray,
As always, your message (and honesty) is appreciated. In this world of Instagram, everyone and their pet dog is an artist of a photographer it seems…
I enjoy all the images you share – street photography, portraits, nature & creative images. Not saying it to be polite, because even someone with much less experience and appreciate the skill behind each image. There is a process and logic behind the post-processing. (as opposed to using the filter app on the iPhone and believing that’s real art) Well, this is just my opinion 🙂
My copy of the first Harry Bosch thriller arrived yesterday. 85 pages in as of now, and I am “hooked.” I will tell you how it goes 🙂
Best wishes,
Takami
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Thank you. I hope i was as strident as all of that. Besides, without my pet dog where would I be? 🙂
Actually, I learned something important with yesterday’s post, which you’ve seen and today’s post which you have not yet seen. Even though my phone has a 12mp camera, the difference between its quality and my mirrorless bodies is like night and day. All you have to do is look at that took picture, where the image is enlarged and cropped and you see it in the blink of an eye. People who only take pictures with their phones have no idea what they are missing.
85 pages? You’re way more disciplined then I am. I try to limit myself to 50 pages per day. But with Bosch I read 200 pages and wonder what happened to the day. Sheesh.
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“…Even though my phone has a 12mp camera, the difference between its quality and my mirrorless bodies is like night and day. All you have to do is look at that took picture, where the image is enlarged and cropped and you see it in the blink of an eye. People who only take pictures with their phones have no idea what they are missing.” Yes, it is as you say! And call me old-fashioned, as much as I enjoy seeing quality work on a large monitor, seeing them in-print on quality paper truly enhances the experience. (And that is something we can’t do with iPhone photos 😉 )
I am currently at page 246 of the Bosch novel. I have used up my lunch time and sleeping time… 🙂
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I agree about printing. I’ve long said the a picture isn’t a photograph unless it’s been printed on paper. These days, I make small books out of my best work of the year.
I told you about Bosch. An old friend did to me what I just did to you. 🙃
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