Tribolum.com Making Light of Things

I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. There aren’t many things I’m good at. At least I don’t think so. I’ve played basketball all my life, but a trip to the Rec center reminds me how far behind the curve I am. Until recently, academic endeavours have never captured my attention, and I always came home taking home one of the top five spots from behind.

If anything, rebels win the popularity polls right? Well I didn’t get that either. I was the one who sort of blended into the background, surfacing only when the teacher wanted to cane me for not (ever) doing my homework.

I guess photography in some form or another has always been a part of my life. When I was young I’d borrow my Dad’s old Leica, walked out to the patio late at night and set things on fire in a little cookie tin. Small things - crumpled balls of paper, sometimes plastic bags - in an attempt to capture various colours of flame on film.

Over the past year, I’ve grown proud of my photolog and the little snippets of my life contained within. An initially bold step was to license the photos under the Creative Commons license, which meant giving up the tight rein Copyright law provided. A second step was taken today.

I’ve begun to write simple tutorials for post-processing digital photographs in Adobe Photoshop, something which I’ve wanted to do for some time, but was hesitant. Honestly, I was half-afraid that everyone’s photos will eventually look like mine, and I’d lose whatever edge I had by giving away the little pointers which I had worked so hard to acquire by experience. I’d be mediocre again; just one in the crowd.

But it would be hyprocrisy to support the intentions of the Creative Commons, which is one of enriching the culture of humankind, and hold back now. A friend whom I’ve not spoken to for years told me today, “I don’t think there’s such a thing as too much good photography”.

So here’s my first tutorial, an answer to a question asked by Kristen about decolouring coloured photographs.

I’m doing this because I realised that your memories are every bit as important and beautiful as mine.