We Can All Be Photographers Now

These two framed photographs are my own work, developed by CVS and presented in two frames from Ollie's Bargain Outlet.   The entire effort set me back less than twenty bucks.  Affordable cameras, digital imaging and retail photo processing, along with inexpensive standard frames with glass and matts, mean we can all have nice looking original art and photography in our home.  These two pieces were created for our newly painted bedroom, and I am really happy with how they turned out.

This is one of the originals, and is an image of the ceiling in the main chamber of Buffalo City Hall.  Our city's civic building is an architectural and decorative marvel -- and best of all, tours are free.  The camera I used was a Cannon EOS Rebel 5, which I bought on QVC for three hundred bucks.  That was a splurge, but one I think was worth it.  At this point, though, I think anyone with a phone could do respectably well with that.

The images I chose were edited to crop out extraneous space I didn't feel helped the image.  Using the standard photo editing tool in Microsoft, I also applied a filter.  The one I picked was "Mercury," as I wanted the effect of mercury glass, which I felt would fit in better with the grey color scheme of the room.

I took a photography class in high school, back in the 70's.  Photography was an expensive hobby, so it wasn't something I could pursue long term.  When my father was alive, he'd been a professional photographer, so I used his Nikkormat as well as a dark room in our basement.  By the time I had started taking classes, he had been gone for a few years.  Had he survived his cancer, I might have been able to continue with it. 

Modern times have levelled the photography playing field.  We can take our own photos, edit them and print them cheaply through retail or on-line sources.  Matted frames with glass, in standard sizes, can be affordably sourced.  Before the age of digital images and widely available development services, creating your own photography like this was not feasible.  Now that it is, I think we need to take advantage of it and stop buying stock, mass produced images sold by retailers.

This project was super affordable, but the results don't look at all cheap!