Athens: quick notes on the tutorial

This week was quite insane, and I dined more often on planes than at a table. But somehow I still managed to have my first individual tutorial, very useful. Out of it came a few areas I want to keep in mind and focus on when taking pictures in the next few days. Well, actually we discussed many points, but there is only so much at a time I can think of in addition to manipulating the controls of the camera!

• framing the picture: more attention to what happens at the edges of the frame, conscious decision on what to put in and out and what to crop. I should learn not to be afraid of cropping elements, if this can add visual energy and interest.
• depth of the picture: need to continuously shift amongst background / foreground when composing the picture, to understand how the background can add interest to the action in the foreground rather than clutter it.
• visual energy: it seems that I am not afraid of tilting the camera to follow the action, maybe it would be worth to working on this more consciously and try to create pictures that have more visual energy (at the same time following better the action to really capture at the peak).

In parallel, of course I should continue to work on the technical side, maybe one variable at the time (focusing choosing for example right exposure / shutter / focal length). I should clean the sensor and consider getting a fixed focal lens (which I never owned in my life), possibly a 20 / 24 (35 mm equivalent). Let's see if there is anything in second hand photo shops...
And I should push myself to do more research on the subject. Which of course is a little bit challenging when constantly on the move. But I felt that this first exercise had already made myself interact more with the subjects that I usually do (from "asking permission for one picture" to "asking permission for a more lengthy picture project"). On a personal side I guess that more research should also be accompanied by self awareness that I am serious about taking pictures, and I should not shy off this.