Nature, Nurture And A Good Eye

In my college classes we’d always argue ‘nature vs. nurture,’ now that I’m a dad I’d say both. My dad enjoyed photography and got my cousin hooked on it. I’ve been taking pictures since I was five and had my first Brownie. My father bought me my first 35mm upon college graduation. Today my daughter takes pictures like a fiend and she has an eye.

I played violin for six years. I could hear the notes and place my fingers and body in such a way that appropriate sounds would emanate from the instrument. I was never a musician. The musicians in orchestra with me could feel the music; they could mentally arrange the music, they could think in time and move up, down and between scales. My brain never worked that way. It’s like that with any art form. There are people that take vacation photos and pull up Flickr while you are visiting them. That is usually the point that you remember you left your dog in the house without turning on his favorite Pandora station---“and you know what that means!”

My daughter enjoys taking the pictures and she has the eye for it. The technology has changed since I began with my Brownie but the basics remain the same. It helps if you have received the eye to compose a good photo and the family history to frame it in.