Its About "Art"

I went to the Houston Art Car Parade this past weekend. I brought all my DSLR camera gear with me to Houston but when I woke up Saturday morning, I decided I didn’t want to bother with carrying my camera. So, with a little hesitance, I left my DSLR behind and just took my iphone as my only camera. I just wanted to enjoy the event, and fully experience the vehicles rather than focusing all my attention on photographing the vehicles.

Sometimes “photographing an event” can be quite different from “experiencing an event.” I just wanted to experience it and have fun. (Maybe it is because I take so many photos that, for me, NOT taking photographs can be my chance to just enjoy and relax.)

Therefore, everything I post here are just my iphone snapshots. The purpose of the post is not about my photography of the event. Rather, I wanted to talk about the experience, and a few insights gained.

I 100% believe it is important for all artists to observe and explore various forms of art, not just “their” art. Photographers should study painting, sculpting, music, dance, etc. Take the time to SEE how other artists pursue the expression of their art.

One thing I also believe about photography is that we need to learn the technical stuff only to open the door to our creativity, but do NOT stay stuck in the technical stuff. You will find all sorts of websites that will tell you to buy they highest quality gear, cameras with the biggest number of megapixels etc. and they’ll obsess about the technical aspects as if that is what makes good art. While the tools you choose are indeed important, that is not the whole story. You can go out and by a super sharp $2000 lens and yes your photos may end up being a bit sharper, but that does not mean your images will necessarily any be better artistically.

I urge you to liberate yourself and think more broadly about your photography as ART, and open your mind and eyes to ways you might challenge yourself artistically to express your art in new and fun ways.

I will soon be offering a totally different type of photography class…

This class will help you photograph the world differently, with new eyes, and new means of expression, and challenge you to put into practice what you learn and discover in class and then come back and share your art with the group. Plus you will have a chance to see what the other artist/photographers came up with.

If you want to get better at photography, learn the technical fundamentals but absolutely do not stop there. That can get boring after a while! Also learn to be proficient at tools like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but then take the next step! Challenge yourself artistically.

Let me know if you’d be interested in participating in this new class, and I will announce more details soon. You can contact me using my website contact form, or if you know my email address, just send me an email, or post a comment at the bottom of this blog post.

Now, back to the Art Car Parade…

Here are some of my iphone snapshots from the art car parade. I loved the wild and crazy things people did to their cars, or their vision that went beyond just modifying a car, and instead create a whole new type of vehicle. It was a lot of fun, and I found myself inspired and entertained for several hours.

Could you imagine driving this through downtown Austin?

Some pretty wild designs:

This one, I really liked!

And then there was this van completely covered in old cameras.

Another wild vehicle.

What do you do if your hobby is model railroading, and you decide to enter the Art Car Parade? Mount your model railroad on top of your car, of course.