During the Wet

The rain here at this time of year can and often does make it seem like one is living in a water fall. Without warning a sluice gate opens and half the South Chins Sea is dumped on Manila with a deafening roar if you are inside and a soaking, even if armed with an umbrella, if outside. Thankfully it is still warm, if it was cold as I once associated with this type of weather it would be intolerable.

Consequently the opportunities to get out and about with my camera have become somewhat restricted, water and camera is not a good mix. This inactivity has given time for reflection and to go through the archives of images from dryer days looking for the gems hidden amongst the dross that were missed when first edited.

The reflection resulted in the following response to a forum discussion about Artistry vs Technology at the Passion for Pixels web site.

Enthusiasm - if I'm not interested/excited about what I am doing why would anyone else be?
Intuition/observation - you've gotta see or feel the pic before you can take it and often for me it is a fleeting moment that requires me to shoot fast without thinking about it. I also take a lot of pics because I am not always sure what it is that has attracted my attention, it might be the light or the composition or the colours or an expression or a situation whatever. Later I can look at the results of the day’s efforts when time is on my side and then decide what works and this maybe anything up to 6 months after the event.
Visual Literacy - Learning what makes a pic hang together and how great artists have broken all the perceived rules and understanding how and why they did. Kinda like training for your intuition and once learned can be forgotten and left up to your intuition to use what it sees fit.
Working knowledge of my tools - I am a PS junkie consequently my camera is a device for capturing initial images to work up with the software. When I was working with brushes, oil paint & canvas I had a camera which I used as an instant drawing device, I guess things haven't changed all that much. I have had a 2M, a 4M and currently have an 8M DSLR each had/has it limitations and its good points but I have been able to make salable works of "art" with all of them. What I like most about my DSLR is that it always tells me when the lens cap is on, the others didn't.

The trolling of the archives resulted in the “Are We having Fun Yet” pic a couple of posts ago and this one of the Café Society a la Greenbelt. Both were taken in much dryer times at the beginning of the year.