Paul Flatt Photography

I am a retired meteorologist that loves the outdoors and natural beauty that abounds all over the surface of this planet we all share. Exploring new place, meeting new people, pondering the possibilities that life affords us, and enjoying the view of wherever I find myself is how I enjoy spending my time.

My first memory of exploration was when I was about 4 years old. A friend across the street from me (who is 2 years older than I), convinced me we needed to explore the woods about a quarter mile away. Of course we never told our parents where we were going and when I came back (late for dinner), my Mom made it clear, I was not to do that again. Well I didn’t exactly follow that advice. I’ve been exploring, wondering, meandering, ever since.

My love of photography began at an early age with a Kodak 110 film camera hanging on my neck as we took vacations across the United States. In high school I took a more active interest in photography learning to develop my film and make my own prints.

My career as a meteorologist, and raising two girls with my wife, took most of my time for the middle half of my life and photography took a back seat. Since retirement, and the advent of digital photography, I’ve picked it up again. And with the availability of web pages, here we are, I can now share the sights I’ve seen and captured with my camera with you.

So why do I take photographs? What motivates me to spend my hard earned money on camera gear, take my time sizing up a view for a potential shot, spend time post processing the shots I take, and put them out for public consumption?

I am thinking there are two answers to these questions. I find the technical aspect of photography intriguing. The camera is this small device that captures light, of some recognizable, visually pleasing image, for some predetermined amount of time. At the basics, this is the exposure. The exposure could be 1/8000 of a second, a time interval short enough to freeze all but the fastest of objects. Or it could be seconds, or multiple minutes. In rare case you could have an exposure of hours, days or even years. The time interval chosen has dramatic effect on the image that is produced. There is the aperture chosen. Wide open for a narrow depth of field, or stopped down small to bring as much as possible into focus, though at the smallest of aperture the final image may be a bit fuzzy and not pin prick sharp. So there is this technical aspect of an image where I determine how long to keep the shutter open, do I move the camera while the shutter is open, how wide or narrow should the aperture be. All the decisions to get the effect I want in the image I am photographing. And then there is…

The aesthetically pleasing aspect of the image. So this is where it gets personal. I like what I like, you like what you like. There may be some commonality, maybe not. I strive to make it mine. You may agree with me, you may not. That is the wonderful of people and the world we live in. I think William Cowper (1731-1800) said it best, “Variety’s the very spice of life. That gives it all its flavour”.

Enjoy,

Paul