Taken just yesterday, looking down at Cathedral Rocks near Kiama. 

I have been really enjoying pushing my exposures well past the two minute mark over the last few days.  I have finally figured out how to easily meter and get my preferred exposure on my Fuji camera.  I think this will be stunning at 50 inches square.

I have stopped teaching expose to the right ETTR, now telling people the importance of getting the exposure as close to what you are aiming for visually.  I recently started teaching exposure to my twelve year old son, Cyan.  I just showed him the exposure compensation dial, how to put the camera in aperture priority and move the wheel until it looks right.  It works perfectly every time.  Yes, he knows what happens when you blow the highlights. I go back to my mantra, it’s ok as long as you compose the whites as you would with any other compositional element.

I asked him if he wanted a zoom lens for his birthday, thinking it would be a great gift. He looked me firmly in the eye and said “No dad, you don’t use them, so why should I.”  I had to laugh.   

 I don’t know why we like to make things difficult for ourselves.  Keep it short and simple.   

I look at my camera bag, still too much gear.  I must take some out.   

For years, photography was hard.  Lots of visualisation and learning how to predict how the camera sees with film.  Life is so easy these days.  More effort can go into composition.  Yes, flawless technique is always important, as is post-processing for printing.  

Cathedral Rocks, near Kiama photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2018