f32 Photography ~ My Heart, My Job, My Chronicle

Story & Photos by Bill Abramson

Maybe you’re expWhat makes us want to take a picture? I believe there are only three motivations for taking a photograph.
Are you driven by your heart?eriencing an emotional moment, a moment of beauty, perhaps a moment of love and passion. If so, your heart obliges you to capture that memory. And, if all works according to plan, recalling your picture later will reward you with emotions approaching those you experienced when the photograph was taken.

A second reason for taking a photograph may be that it’s your job. Perhaps it’s for a newspaper, a magazine, a travel brochure, or an advertising agency. You record it as directed, making certain the picture delivers the required message. And then you move on.

A third reason is to chronicle history. It could be that you were on vacation and felt the need to record the trip. Or maybe it was an important personal event (a birthday, anniversary, graduation, confirmation, birth, etc.) that needed to be documented for the family’s posterity.

The flower photo was taken at the North Carolina Arboretum. I set the camera on ISO100, and shot the flower using a macro lens allowing me to get really close (that helped ensure there weren’t any distractions in the photo). I set the aperture at f7 and let the camera select the speed. Don’t you just love the dewdrops?

The tree roots pictured on page 96 are along the trail to the Craggy View Gardens overlook off the Blue Ridge Parkway. By the way, I almost always try to shoot at ISO100. I used an aperture setting of f6.3. You’ll notice that the background is starting to blur, which accentuates the subject. I find this scene to be so dramatic and, in a way, majestic. At the end of the trail, there is the overlook into the valley. I shot this with a 35mm lens (ISO100 and f22). When I view this shot, I am able to again enjoy the peaceful feeling that I experienced on location.

I like to shoot waterfalls, too. To “stop” the falls, I use a shutter speed of 1/100 second. I love Looking Glass Falls in the Pisgah National Forest and, just 2.5 miles down the road, Sliding Rock.

I hope that these thoughts and photographs inspire you to grab your camera and begin shooting. If you’d like to talk photography, just shoot me an email at w_abramson@verizon.net.

Bill Abramson is a member of the f/32 Photography Group, an organization of photographers who share an appreciation and love of the art. The group meets the second Wednesday of each month at the Reuters Center on the UNCA campus at 6:30 p.m. Find out more at f32nc.com.