Guest Blogger - Michael Miville

I love Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream! (Specifically Turkey Hill Mint Chocolate Chip)

I say that as I sit here writing this with a bowl of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup ice cream.

As my ice cream goes, so goes my photography. I’m a wedding and portrait photographer in south central Pennsylvania. I also love shooting my family, landscapes, details of life, animals and just about anything else I feel is interesting or should be made into a moment through my eyes in this short life. I find my style constantly changing along with my subject matter.

The one thing I find as my chocolate and vanilla in photography is the design and composition of my pictures. When I look through a lens, my mind instantly tries to create lines and movement in a single moment, lending emotion and character to my photos. I’ve found that most people need to search for these types of lines and points of interest, where my mind sees and creates them automatically by the time I raise the camera to my eye.

I’ve been working for a magazine for about 11 years now and I noticed that I tend to shoot with a lot of open space. This lends itself well to design and allows for type or other things to be placed in on and around photos. It also creates breathing room in a picture which can leave mystery to the viewer. Negative space as it’s called can also just be a design element that is pleasing to the eye. See the couple below, they only take up about a 1/4 of the picture, the stairs about another 1/4 and then there is a bunch of space below them. However if that space wasn’t there you wouldn’t see the light and shadows leading to the couple and it would take on a completely different design.

I find that I shoot in a loose style, trying to let the moment happen in almost a photojournalistic style. However, I look for things in a scene that can create structure, balance and in some cases ground a photo. The composition of a photo is in most cases as important, if not more important, than the subject itself. I guess this is why I like so many different flavors of photography. It allows me to create different feelings in similar types of situations using the same basic principles.

I have a constant love of photography, but it’s the different flavors that keep me inspired.

What flavor of photography inspires you?

DC Photography Meetup Group

My buddy Mike over at Michael Palmer Photography has put together a photography meetup group for folks who, due to other commitments, can't always make it to photowalks on the weekends. For now it's here in DC, but if you're in the area it's certainly worth checking out.

Check out, The When Everyone Else Is Working Photography Meetup Group - Hope to see you there sometime in the near future!

Tommorow's Guest Blogger...

Tommorow, I'm excited to have Pennsylvania photographer, Mike Miville, as our visiting guest blogger. Mike owns and operates Miville Photography (make sure to check out his site, here) and has a great photography blog as well (which you can find, here.)

Mike and I met at the Cherry Blossom Photowalk a couple weeks ago. His great personality and fantastic photography made him a blast to shoot with - and in my opinion, he's got a great post to share with you. Thanks Mike for sharing with us tomorrow.

Greetings from Alabama

Hello all... Greetings from Gulf Shores, Alabama! We've been down on the gulf coast of Alabama visiting Rose's family this week, but I wanted to post a quick reminder to register for our photowalk this coming weekend. Hope to see you there... And I look forward to sharing more photos with you soon.

All the best, Rob

(Sent from Rob's Cell Phone)

Photowalk: Colonial Williamsburg - Saturday, April 25th

With Spring kicking into full gear, we're looking forward to sharing a Saturday photowalk in historic Colonial Williamsburg with anyone and everyone who wants to join us.

Where: Colonial Williamsburg

When: Saturday, April 25th 2009, 10:00am

Starting Point: Merchant's Square, click on the map below for details.

 

If you are planning on attending, please email me at photowalk@townerjones.com and...

In the tradition of other great photowalks, I've set up a Flickr group where you can share your pictures with fellow photowalkers. I ask that you join the Flickr group (even if you're not going to share pictures) in order to RSVP... just so I can get an idea of who will be there.

You can find the Flickr group here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/tjp-photowalk-williamsburg-2009/

Please feel free to post questions and I'll do my best to answer. Look forward to seeing many folks there!