J’aime les détails is apparently French for “I love details.” Which I do. I don’t actually know French, btw, aside from “répéter s’il vous plaît” and “moi aussi” – I remember that from the six weeks of French I took in 11th grade before dropping public school and becoming homeschooled. I only know this “I love details” phrase in because I am a member of a Flickr group by the same name. I love posting photos to this group because it made me realize how many photos I take are of details rather than of something in its entirety. I usually go in close to show just the particular part of whatever I am photographing. I could give you lots of examples of this (look at this week’s Bokeh Wednesday, for instance) However, I will show you with a couple of photos I took yesterday whilst on my break from work.
I was at Borders looking for a certain book (which they didn’t have in stock. Boo.) On my way back to my car, I noticed something odd about a drain grate in the parking lot. There appeared to be something sort of hay-like wrapped around part of the grate. I grabbed my Pentax K20d with 50mm/2 lens and took a couple of shots.
This shot is alright. I liked it because I purposefully included the raised relief of “Memphis” at the bottom.
But, I like this version of the photo better. I got in closer with my camera for a tighter shot. I think it puts more attention on the bit of this grate that I thought was interesting – the grass or hay that was wrapped around the center. That’s what caught my eye in the first place and what I thought should be the more obvious subject of the shot.
So, for any of you would-be photographers out there, I highly suggest shifting your perspective from “the big picture” to the more fine details of whatever you’re shooting. It’s my favorite thing to do, and all you Shoot With Personality, Jrs. out there might like it as well!
