Allentown Halloween Parade

It was cold, but what a fun time. The parade started at 2pm and went on for a few hours. There were marching bands, clowns, hummers,Shriners in mini cars and ya, one of the bands played "Thriller". Its a Halloween tradition,right?
I'm not used to photographing an 'event'. Its a different feel to it. With landscape or still life, you adjust for the light and composition. With a moving subject/subjects, you need to act more like a ninja to capture a different kind of shot. It forces you to think differently. You have to be more spontaneous. Its good practice and improves your skill, even if you dont think you got any good shots. You tried and did your best with what you knew at that moment. Skill comes with practice.Lots of it. And hey, everybody makes mistakes.
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”"

Silence the critic

I visited Ironton Rail Trail in Whitehall Township a few days ago. There is much to see along the bike/walk/jog paths. As I walked along the path, my critic immediately started. "Theres nothing here. You wont be able to capture that scene. You need a wide angle lens,not the one you brought. You photograph people, not landscapes." The perfect traveling companion. Such has been the creative journey. But on my journey, I remember all the creative influence I've gotten from reading different inspirational blogs http://www.zarias.com/, http://strobist.blogspot.com/, and http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/, just to name a few. Its not your equipment that matters. The most expensive cameras can yield a 'snapshot' while the simplest pocket size camera can transform a scene into an incredible thing of beauty. Its what you bring to photography that will show up in your work. Thats what I believe. So I started taking more photos. I just saw something and took a picture. I composed what I thought was interesting. The critic chimed in"thats not good. Why did you do that?" But I kept shooting. Why? Because I'm learning there are two voices inside..the critic and that other guy who first picked up the camera and said "lets go have fun". I believe that as you grow with photography, your photography grows with you.