Every photograph you take is a reflection of you.

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.” ― Ansel Adams

When somebody loves me

When somebody loves me

Let me take a moment to explain this image, it has a little back story. Like everyone else in the known world who likes toys, I enjoyed all three Toy Story movies. But the scene in Toy Story 3 where Jessie sings her song and we see her ‘playing’ with her owner in better times….well, lets just say that image is permanently imprinted on my brain. It was that image, that feeling, that I was thinking about when I created the above photograph.

When you’re taking photographs, slow down, think about what you’re doing, Delve deep into yourself and pull out a memory – it doesn’t matter if that memory is good or bad. Take a picture of that memory with your toys as your muse. Make photographs with intention. Make photographs that are a reflection of you and everything that has gone into making you, you.

If you’re going to go to all the trouble of making photography your passion, your main creative outlet, make that effort mean something. Resist the cheap thrills of insta likes and insta friends. Create work that is meaningful to you and a reflection of you.

I think all the people who have contributed to the blog over the years have that in common. Be it MIke’s robots, Kristina’s stormtroopers or Vesa’s snow scenes of Helsinki Hoth – they all have tremendous personal meaning. It’s that feeling, the personal connections revealed in their photographs, which in my opinion make them so compelling.

I think that guy, Ansel Adams, might have known a thing or two about taking photographs.

~ Shelly

Have you taken a photograph that is a reflection of you? If so, what does it look like?