Creative philosophy

(Music playing.) Natalie Fobes: Today I am looking to do something a little different, which is experimenting with HDR. In the old days, I, as a film shooter, would have a very difficult time capturing the highlights of the forest and the deep shadows, but now by using the HDR technique, I take dark pictures all the way up to bright pictures and, with the software, combine them into one photograph. You will be able to see the details in the highlights and the details in the shadow, and if it all works right, it will be a damn nice picture. I give myself self-assignments all the time, just to keep the creative juices flowing. One of my current ones is to photograph in the national parks that are in Washington State. I will be part of an exhibit that's coming up in the fall, and there will be six other photographers, six other really good photographers who will be showing their work. Now I have done a lot of work in the parks before. I've got some photographs that I will consider for this exhibit, but I want to try this new HDR technique, new for me anyway, the High Dynamic Range. That's real important for me to always be looking for something that is creative, that can keep me passionate about what I do. It doesn't have to be about photography. I just got on to a kick where I started making fragrances and loved it. I mean, I spent -- I can't tell you how many dollars I spent on buying these little fragrances and combining them to create a scent that was all my own. I've got a lot of creative energy out of that. I took a pottery class with my daughter's class. I was the only adult in the class. We made turtles, but you know what? We made turtles, and I came home and bought some clay and started making bowls with my daughters, and just really enjoying the creative process of making something, had nothing to do with photography, but I'll tell you the next time I picked up my camera I was energized. That's kind of fun, kind of fun to find different ways to create.