From the moment I arrived in the spring of 1999, I did everything I could to ensure that I would be able to photograph peonies for the rest of my life. I knew that I wanted to capture their beauty and perfection for the ages that I had them in my life.
But once my camera batteries ran out, I was forced to do my best to take my camera on a date (which is the way to do it when you don’t have a boyfriend). The first year I spent shooting peonies I was still not able to capture any at all. Then, in 2002, I discovered the magic of Photoshop.
I was a fool. I was unable to capture even the smallest bit of beauty in my photos. And I knew it wasn’t just my fault. I was so focused on the perfection of my images that I forgot about the pain of the subject and what they were really going through. I was like a man with one leg who walks into a bar and asks for a beer, then proceeds to tell everyone who sits down that he is going to walk to the bar with his broken leg.
This is the same problem I see with photography. The most beautiful photo I’ve ever taken is actually a picture of the man I am dating. He is so good. I can’t figure out why I am always having to choose between a smile and being happy. And I haven’t been happy a good while. To me, photos of the people we love is a beautiful thing. It shows us who they are and how much we love them. It’s the most beautiful thing there is.
Sometimes its the most beautiful things that make us look terrible.
I think if it were me, I would put the photo on my website. I think that would actually show people who like me that I love them. Even though some people are shy and would rather not be in pictures with me, I am not afraid of who I am or what I look like. It is what is in these photos that makes me happy.
Of course, this is the most obvious type of self-awareness. If you don’t like your photo, you don’t like your life. A few years ago, one of my friends was working as a photographer for a fashion company. They were having a party, and her dad was there, and she was trying to get photos of her dad. When she asked him why he was there, he said that he had come because she had asked him to.
The photo I am talking about here is really a little bit of a double edged sword. It’s a beautiful, warm, and happy photo of your dad, but if you don’t like the photo, you can’t take it home. There are many websites out there that can take your photos, but they are all pretty much the same. They are all photoshopped and sometimes not very nice.
The problem with photo-splicing is that the photos you get are of the same person twice. They are not really photoshopped because they have the same exact image. They have the same exact look and texture. So if you get two copies of the same photo of your dad, you are only getting one of him. Thats the problem. If you want to save the photo, you have to take it home and either photograph it yourself or ask someone else to do it.
In a way, it is like the old saying “If you want it to be right, do it yourself”. That is exactly what we are doing at Peonies Photography. We photoshop our photos so you are getting the exact same images that we get and we are only getting the ones that we like and that we think you will like.