Welcome to our new home! We Outsider Artists are excited to have this new forum to share our art and our thoughts with you. We were proud of our Outsider Artists website but we all agreed that a blog could represent us in a more meaningful way. I think it will allow for a more interactive experience. We all welcome your comments and invite you to sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t already.
I have been driving myself crazy with what to write about for my initial post on our new blog. The problem was not a lack of ideas – it was an overabundance of ideas!! I decided to start by writing about my decades long passion for photography. I love to take pictures and I love to use my own photographs in my art.
I first started taking pictures when I was in third grade. My parents gave me a little brownie box camera when we took a family trip to Washington D.C. I remember being very careful about what I would photograph because there were only about twelve photos on a roll of film and I wanted to get the White House, the wax museum, Washington Monument, etc. I had to make sure each shot was perfect as there were no second chances. It is kind of funny to look at those ancient fuzzy black and white pictures now but I remember that experience so fondly. Imperfect as the pictures are, looking at them takes me right back to that time.
After all of these years taking photos, there are several guidelines that I tend to follow when taking pictures.
First and foremost, if in doubt as to whether to take the photo or not, TAKE IT. I have often regretted the pictures I didn’t take but I have never regretted the ones that I took. (Hah! At least not since I don’t have to pay to develop film!) If I decide I don’t like the photo in question, digital photography makes it painless to delete it at any point. I suggest waiting awhile before deleting a photo as you might just see it with new eyes the next time you look at it. If the lighting is a problem, most basic photo programs make it a breeze to hit a button to lighten the shadows, increase contrast or other basic operations to enhance the quality of your image. I have taken pictures in ridiculously low light and obscenely blinding light. Few are not salvageable. Many are compelling BECAUSE of the poor lighting or odd element.
Second, don’t take a photograph. Take LOTS of photographs. A shot doesn’t have to be perfect. On the other hand, I have found that it can take 5 or more shots to get a good one. Just keep snapping away. You are more likely to get what you are going for if you don’t just cross your fingers that the one or two shots you took are going to turn out great. You don’t know if the image will be blurry or be recorded on a bad spot on your photo card or if that smile is going to be THE smile – with eyes open – that you have your heart set on. The more photos you take, the better the odds that you will end up with a great picture. Sometimes the one you didn't expect or plan turns out to be a masterpiece.
Photographs of people are usually more interesting and compelling (for me) than pictures of buildings or objects (with an emphasis on “usually”). People are living beings, with fluid expressions, feelings, postures, etc. Photos that include a person tend to be far more appealing to me than a photo of a thing. I figure I can purchase a better picture of the Taj Mahal than I can take myself. Because of that, I will include a person or people or some oddity in the Taj Mahal photo that I take to make it different and more unique. Get up close and personal. If you don’t like that approach, ditch it for what works best for you, but at least give it a couple of tries.
For crying out loud, don’t pass up taking pictures because there is no special occasion. I photograph special occasions, sure, but I also photograph typical ordinary everyday activities, more formal “mood” shots, the utterly mundane and the truly outrageous. I love them all. I sometimes pose a subject but more often I just shoot what’s there with little or no preparation. Some of my favorite shots are just my kids being kids. (Oh – a nod to grandson William who borrowed my camera and got a PERFECT series of eight photos of his little brother Patrick getting his first touchdown! That boy did a better job with those pictures than I could have! In fact, I was so excited that I probably wouldn’t have gotten ANY of that momentous event!)
I love creating all kinds of art. Photography is an art form all on its own, no doubt about it. But BONUS!! When you are crazy for altered art, your own photographs will provide you with images that are uniquely your own.
Here are a couple of altered art cards that I created using my own photos: 
Niece Patty.
Granddaughter Em
In honor of my first post on our new blog, I am now offering a collage sheet with some of my own photographs. I might offer more in the future. Be sure to check out the great collage sheets offered by all of the artists on this site! (You can purchase my new one, below, in the collage sheet section or in my own little section here on this blog.)
Let me leave you with this - Grab your camera and take some pictures!! Take photos when you usually do and take them when you usually wouldn’t. Surprise yourself with your own creativity. See everyday things in a new light.
I hope you have fun exploring our website. Learn about the artists and see the range of work we do. This is a new site for us, so there will be more art added frequently with a new main post every week. We are so pleased you stopped by. We hope you will come again and again.
Deborah Bohm http://deborahbohm.blogspot.com/
http://www.deborahdare.etsy.com/
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