I visited a friend in the hospital last night and her seven-year-old son was holding his newborn baby brother for the first time.  Another visitor was taking pictures and asked Jack to look up and smile.  I am sure the family photo will be beautiful but what was lost was the look of wonder on Jack’s face as he gazed down on his new best friend.

Photography is wonderful in that it can capture precious moments, especially when photographing people.  The way to take an artistic photo is to focus on the moment in time.  By not disturbing the thoughts or actions of the subject while taking pictures, you could end up with a photo that would be just the right one to use for photo greeting cards announcing the birth of the new baby.

We are lucky to be able to view examples of artistic photography every day at work because our co-worker, Damien, is a talented photographer.  He has produced many artistic photos by capturing the intensity of high school soccer players as they follow the ball into the net, the beauty of a butterfly settled on a flower or the marvel of a bird in flight.  He recently shared his portfolio with me and there is no way to view the digital pictures without seeing the artist at work.  Blocks of melting ice and food coloring became works of art.  In each of these artistic photos, you see the colors floating in the melting ice but also like viewing a Rorschach test you see what is in the mind of the beholder.  My thoughts must have been on wolves that day because in some of the digital photos I could see stalking and howling wolves.

In this age of digital cameras, you can take an artistic photo by focusing on the moment in time before asking the subject to “Smile…look at the camera.”  When taking photos, you can always go for the posed shot after first trying an artistic shot.  That way you have both and may end up with perfect pictures for different situations.  Maybe you’ll capture a photo for your photo Christmas cards or instead create a work of art that can be enlarged and framed to be hung in your home or office.