Connect! Unite! Act! Asheville, Florida, L.A. & DC Meet-up Info! — Do You Take Good Pictures?

A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward.

I'm generally not good with any camera, though I occasionally get lucky. I don't seem to have a good eye for composition, though I have tried to learn the Rule of Thirds. I'm also too impatient and just snap away. More than half of my pictures turn out blurry, or have my thumb in them, or the lighting's wrong, or there's a street lamp growing out of someone's head, or my subject's eyes are closed or they have a goofy expression. For some reason I just don't see those things in the viewfinder before I click. I'm so grateful for digital cameras because I used to waste a ton of film, only getting 1-2 usable pictures of a roll.

Whenever possible I hand the camera off to someone else and they'll get the better shot than I ever could have. pNut, who has studied lighting, is a great photographer. My seestah mimi2three, who has made a real study of photography, is just outstanding. And if you're at a meet-up with the Diva know that she'll get the best photos of all.

When we were walking to the Cheers & Jeers dinner in Detroit we turned a corner away from the shiny new Renaissance GM building to see this spectacularly colorful abandoned building. I snapped several bad photos, then had the good sense to hand my cell phone to 4freedom, who then did it justice. An even better photo of this building was taken by front pager Mark E. Andersen.

Photo by Mark E. Andersen in Detroit: We Need to Renew the American Dream

Clearly the lesson here is, the closer you get to your subject the better. Unless, of course, I'm the subject, in which case the further back you stand (preferably about 20 feet, with a little Vaseline on the lens) the more aesthetically pleasing the image. I've passed my age of close-ups, Mr. DeMille!

But every now and then not knowing what I'm doing creates an odd but personally compelling photo:

A tourist in Motown

I've seen that some of you are very good photographers, so feel free to share your favorite picture you've taken and give the rest of us advice about how you did it.