December 2009

The World Through A Viewfinder
December 3, 2009:
Somewhere between my senior year of high school and college, when I first started getting really serious about photography, my Dad gave me some photographic words of wisdom. He said, "Timbo, learn to look at the world through a viewfinder."

It was a few years later that Frankfort State-Journal photographer Rob Carr elbowed me in the ribs and said, "Don't just stand there...shoot 'em up Webbie!" Rob told me that as he was photographing the hell out of then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, at the capitol in Frankfort, February 1992. Rob's impromptu words of motivation became my mantra, my battle cry, if you will. It was at that moment in time that I decided give up my career as a mediocre writer who couldn't spell, and instead, devote my efforts to becoming a good photographer. Not even a great photographer, just a good one.

As my life as a photographer continues, motivation is no longer a problem. However, I'm constantly going back to Dad's words. I've said it before and I'll say it a hundred times again, photography is about seeing... looking at the world through a viewfinder, reguardless of who manufactured the viewfinder. It's a mentality. It has become a way of life for me. Even if I don't have a camera around my neck, I'm always framing up the world that I see in front of me. I can't drive down the road or look out my office window without passing judgement on the light in front of me. My Dad unknowingly ingrained the art of seeing and reading light in me, long before I was ready to appreciate it.

Us non-techies in the world would be in a lot of trouble without the technology-savvy people in the world. But I hate to see photographers, professional or amateur, get hung up on certain cameras, and especially certain camera brands. Were we not turning out good images back in the days of film? Were we not turning out tack-sharp images in the days before auto-focus? Were we not turning out great photos in the days when Nikon was King, and Canon was simply the step brother. Don't get me wrong, I love a new camera with all the bells and whistles as much as the next shooter, but without my eyes and a creative mind, that camera hanging around my neck is nothing but a glorified paper weight. There is an old poem about photographers that says, "The mind is the toy, not the machine."

Here are a few shots that I've taken lately, that I first saw with my eyes and my mind, and then captured with my camera.


The Equine Center at Asbury College


Don't know what to say about this photo, except I found it very funny.


I've shot the Derby. I've shot Keeneland photos. But I'm finding horse
farm photos to be very humbling.


Portraits at Gray Construction in Lexington


An unguarded moment during portraits at Gray Construction in Lexington


Mane and Light


Muscle and Light


Almost to Mount Vernon


Big South Fork


Self-portrait, Big South Fork Scenic Railway, Stearns, KY


Big South Fork Scenic Railway, Stearns, KY


Saving a drowning limb, Big South Fork Scenic Railway, Stearns, KY


Laying plans for the future with EKU Photographer Chris Radcliffe


I love photographing subjects in shafts of light.
LeAnna Kaiser, Berea College Library


Teaching the photo students at Berea College that an
environmental photo can be found almost anywhere.
You just have to look for it! Photo by Aaron Gilmour


The Central Pharmacy, UK Hospital

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