Potter Stewart, a Supreme Court Judge, memorably said that he could not say what obscenity was, but he knew it when he saw it.  A variation on the idea that “you knew it when you saw it” captures the idea about what impact is in photography.  When you see a photograph with impact, you immediately have a reaction of “WOW.”  There is a sense of surprise upon seeing it for the first time.  It catches your eye, is striking in appearance, and it is typically creative, unique, and out of what is ordinarily seen.  It invites the observer to “take a longer look.”

Many have said that the three elements of judging a photograph are technique, composition, and impact.  Dennis Fritsche altered that idea and famously said that the three most important factors to judge a photograph were IMPACT, IMPACT, and IMPACT.  Impact can take many forms.  Color, composition, emotion, light, subject matter, uniqueness, creativity, and simplicity are just some of the elements that are involved in impact. How to make greater impact with your photographs is the goal of
this program.

 A brief view of my life in photography is the following:  My first camera was a gift for my 16^th birthday.  The focus of my photography for many years was taking photos of the people in my life and vacation pictures.  I first attended the Dallas Camera Club in the spring of 1979 and went to two meetings at the Coca Cola Bottling Company but did not join. I had other priorities in my life then.  Formal membership in the DCC occurred in 1989.   My attendance at meetings was sporadic for many years, but starting in 2009, the year I purchased a digital camera, my attendance at meetings has been very high.  Saying that, I did not start entering competitions until 2012.  Had I entered monthly competitions earlier, I would have become a better photographer sooner.

 I have a highly eclectic range of interests in photography:  street photography, city scenes, architecture, night photography, photo/art, abstracts, and nature/landscapes.  My travels for photography the last few years tells you much of where I am with my photography these days.  Over the last few years, I have had six trips of a week or longer.  Four of these trips were to large metropolitan areas (New York, London, San Francisco, and Chicago) and two were to areas classified as landscape photography (Denali National Park in Alaska and Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.)  As you can imagine the trip to Alaska and Ghost Ranch for a week were all about landscape photography, whereas the trips to the metropolitan areas were all about street photography, architecture, night photography, and city scenes.

In Alaska and Ghost Ranch, I almost exclusively used a 70-200mm lens with assists from a 50mm lens.  In NYC, London, and Chicago, I almost literally only used two lenses (mainly a 50mm along with a 24mm lens, and an occasional 35mm lens.)

 If you wish to see my photography, go to the following: https://500px.com/p/khale45?view=photos