Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1. Sony A6400
When I was in high school my parents gave me their old Canon film camera. It was one they’d had for years, but my mom was moving into the digital age. I loved the adaptability and flexibility of a manual camera–figuring out shutter speeds and apertures and framing (and in a much less forgiving world where every photo actually had a cost). I took a couple photography classes, and loved those too. Then, like most of us, I gravitated toward the much simpler, smaller digital cameras and eventually the iphone. Make no mistake, those little cyber shots and phones are pocket dynamite. But I missed the creativity and possibilities of a real camera. I saw the quality of photos friends of mine were getting and how much they enjoyed photography as a creative hobby. Then, lo and behold, this year my wife surprised me with the Sony A6400 for my birthday (bought off one of those photographer friends–it’s good to have enablers). Getting back in the photography saddle has been so fun, and I have been learning/re-learning so much. I don’t know enough about cameras to know this one rates in comparison to the myriad other options out there. But I have enjoyed it and am just scratching the surface of what all it can do.
2. Photography
“You just see the world a little bit different.” My friend Tony, who is a brilliant photographer, said this when we first started talking about my interest in shooting. He was talking about all the contrasts and shapes and lights and seemingly mundane or boring things you notice when you have a camera that you’d otherwise miss. He was right. The world, be it your own kitchen or the bright lights of a city, gains all sorts of breadth and depth and interest when you see it through the possibilities of a camera. And I’ve discovered that this is different than the temptation to record and curate everything the way we do with our phones, that temptation that pulls us away from being present and presents everything as a highlight reel through a filter. That inclination is unplugged, detached, inhuman. The joy of photography isn’t in curation, but in capturing. It’s in trying stuff and seeing if it works and in improving. There’s always room for improvement. And there practically infinite interesting subjects. It’s as if God made a wildly varied and interesting world.
3. Nashville: A Photographic Journey Through Music City by Tony Shepherd
You likely noticed that photography is a bit of a theme in this post. But the theme behind the theme is my man, Tony Shepherd. I serve as a pastor alongside him at Immanuel Church. He is a great friend. And as previously mentioned, he is a brilliant photographer. He can shoot just about anything, but his specialty is street photography and last year he put out a book of his work focusing on Nashville. It is a mere sampling of his prodigious and excellent creativity. Check it out.
