Would you recommend it? Let me expand on this a bit… Now that I’ve become antiquely charming I have some thoughts on this subject. Do these thoughts have anything at all to do with Photography? Why yes they do! Please read on.
Photography is about light, and also freezing time. The leading image to this post is one of my favorite “T” shirts. That shirt is wearing out. (I might be as well ^_* ) I wish to pay the shirt and the thoughts it provoked upon purchase some homage.
From now on… when ever you see a person with a few miles on them cruise on by, I want you to think this… because this is what they are thinking a lot of the time… “It seems like yesterday that I was in High School having tons of fun”… “I was in better shape.” “I might have even been cute, or handsome.” “I had very few cares in the world”… “just what the hell happened?!?”
How Does This Affect Photography?
Lots of ways! For those of us serious about our art, what happens in your heart and soul affects your work. If you are a Photo-Journalist? What you see and feel along with the factors above will affect your work as well! For instance… I could never Photograph a piercing convention.
To see people willingly mutilate their own bodies, or hang from the rafters being supported by fish hooks inserted through piercings in their chests… Makes my skin crawl. My images would reflect that as well! I do not think those images would represent what the people that might hire me, intended.
The reason for this post stems from the fact that I am about to head out on my summer into fall sojourn. My rustically appealing persona, has had more than enough hot weather. Once the temperatures stay above 80 degrees I’m looking for cooler climes.
The heat will affect your photography as well. The temps in your parked car will soar. Any equipment left behind could melt, or the oils in your lenses will dry out. If you are on a shoot with a woman her makeup will melt. (not to be sexist?… some men wear makeup too!)
The adulting part of you has far more questions, statements, and experience flowing through their veins. If you are concerned about loved ones behind the scenes… had a fight with your significant other… are worried about money or paying the bills…Your camera settings…wondering if you’re sweating through your clothes… anything at all! This will come across in your work!
Adulting Now Seems Far Too Complicated…
Someone recently said to me “30 years ago” and my mind went to the 1970’s… but they meant 1994, and then I needed to go lay down… holy crap! 1994 was thirty years ago? Retirement age is 67. Life expectancy is 78. Work for fifty years or more to maybe enjoy 11?
Just who came up with that plan? More importantly… why do we buy into it? Work five days a week to enjoy two days off? Fifty weeks weeks a year? Work our butts off to spend two hours a day in traffic or getting prepared for work in addition to our work time?
Spend all of that time in cars we can not afford, in order to buy houses we also can not afford, in order to spend very little time in that house? What? Are you kidding me? Since I am now nostalgically precious I can not help but think “Just what the hell happened?!”
My Studio Is Now Mobile…
I showed everyone a picture of my mobile studio in last weeks blog post. I’ll show it to you again.
When I think about adulting now, I can not help but think about all the time, money, and effort I placed into that big fancy house, or those other fancy things I thought I needed to keep up with the status quo.
My Travel Trailer is a 2015, my Truck a 2005, the four-wheelers are a 2000 and a 2006… and my cameras are old too! My photography equipment has been put together over many years. I’ve been put together over many years as well! Thankfully it all still works! There’s no need to upgrade anything…
We Need To Upgrade Our Minds!
Remember why you got into Photography in the first place? Like most of us you enjoyed how it felt to capture that image! You forgot about adulting… you became one with the environment, or you mind melded with your subject, male, female, or animal. Even the pretty flowers! Or the coffee cup!
If you did not “fall in love” with that coffee cup in some way, to show it in a special light, or see the steam rising up? Your picture would not be very good would it? You would not be happy with it. You would strive for more. Does that mean you need some piece of new photography gear?
Likely not! That means you must think differently. Use the gear you have to show that coffee cup in a way nobody had thought about yet! That’s what you need! Simplify to improve… If you will study a lot of Fine Art Photography… Isn’t it simplicity that stands out?
Should we not simplify our own lives and minds? I know I long for that. I’m a bit tired of adulting. I’m also not really very happy with my own work for the past few years… Yes I have an image or two that I liked. But not as many as in the past. The image below is one from a recent PhotoSafari that I liked.
It was a simple day, terrible light, no clouds. I was in an area I’ve Photographed a bazillion times. An area with totally awesome color! But on this day there was none of that! What did I do? Go buy a new camera? Some new lens? No I went back to the truck and grabbed my Infrared Camera!
I simplified things! No clouds? No Problem! Infrared processed in certain ways turns the sky black. No light? Again Infrared renders light differently… Also my skills with dodging and burning through luminosity masks came into play.
But Luminosity Masks and dodging and burning are not “simple” you might say… yes they are. You simply need to practice them. Practicing something simplifies it. Practicing our life should simplify that as well, don’t you think? I think so! I will be searching for simplicity this next sojourn…
I’m A Bit Tired Of Adulting…
I’ve simplified my world into the mobile studio above. I also need to simplify me. I need to simplify locations, or subjects. Already I try and stay away from “the news”… News programs are no longer simple. They are now sensationalistic. They are negative. There is little money in “good news”… but lots of it in negative news.
You can not expect to live a positive life if you hang out with negative people… it’s pretty tough to live a positive life surrounded by negativity also! Will I become a Quaker? No I don’t think so… but when you consider all of this are those beliefs so far fetched? At least I’d be around horses again…
The image above is simple. The ruins and the Milky Way. It’s now Milky Way season so I’ll be looking for a lot of out of the way simple locations for that. I’ll also be doing some Milky Way PhotoSafaris you can join me on this August and September if you like. Stay tuned.
I hope you will follow my travels on my sojourn. I’ve started writing this blog for many reasons. One of those? I’ve always thought my writing sucked. So to simplify that I started practicing it, hence the blog. Many of you have sent me very kind remarks on my little experiment. Thank You!
I still think my writing could use some work… my Photography too! I can also use some work. Aren’t those very traits what keep us going Photographically too? Do we not always strive to improve? Are we ever totally happy with our work? Have we had fun “adulting?”
Yes and No for me… probably the same with many of you. However now? Simplification is upon me. The only news I really need now, is what’s the weather, and is there a fire somewhere I need to be concerned with? Where will I go next? What or where can I go that hasn’t been Photographed to death? How can I simplify it to show something different?
Will you join me through this blog? I sincerely hope so. The millage of others may vary…
