What inspires us Photographically? This is a topic many Photographers are confronted with far more than people might think. We have images in our minds we wish to create but cannot yet see.
We are driven to create… something that others cannot see out of the mundane, that is so extraordinary we are revered. We study past masters to try and understand how they became so,… and we might someday be.
Personally I try and remove all negativity… because it can be infectious. You cannot surround yourself with negativity and expect a positive result. Visionaries are not negative people. In my youth I was lucky enough to work for several visionaries… They all astounded me.
No was not in their vocabulary. I watched behind the scenes for more than one “dream” by a visionary to become reality. They did not stop. Nothing could deter them. When problems arose they were quickly solved, and they always moved forward.
One thing I could never learn from them was what was their inspiration?
I took this Image with my iPhone… it was inspirational and kind of spooky at the same time…I have video of this fog moving in… now that was really cool!
I Read And Save A Lot Of Quotes
This helps me inspirationally a LOT! Short sets of very well positioned words… I love positive quotes. I have multitudes of them saved in my Pinterest account. I simply need to remember to sign in to Pinterest more often. Yes, I bet you are surprised I even have a Pinterest Account. ^_*
I have books of quotes too… only now it’s more difficult to carry around my bookcases, so Pinterest can solve that…
I used to surf Instagram a lot in search of inspirational images… however that platform has now changed a LOT! The web has changed as well. So where do we go for inspiration? Once in a while I see an inspirational meme… but not very often.
Poetry is a source… I came across this prose recently.
No one tells the oceans or the trees or the mountains that they are too old. They talk of how powerful, how grounded, how awesome they are…imagine if we thought the same way about ourselves as we got older. Maybe then we’d realize how spectacular we are.
~Becky Hemsley
This is one I really like as well… “do more things that make you forget to check your phone”…
Currently I’m using my Phone more for Video Clips than I am talking or texting on it though. The video files from my iPhone are amazing!
Here’s some inspiration for you… Apple released the first iPhone in 2007. To date they have sold over 2.3 billion units world wide.
This Summer I’ve Taken On Several New Goals
I’m hoping I have not bitten off more than I can chew. I started writing this blog. That was something I NEVER thought I would do! Yes I missed last week. I wrote seven different blog articles and did not publish any of them. I wrote them… but I did not like them.
My goals with my blog are to try and inspire people. I did not think any of those seven articles would inspire anyone… So Inspiration became my topic for this week. This article might not Inspire you either… but it might bring up the topic for you to ponder…
Also on a personal note, I do not like getting emails from a list, always trying to sell me something, so I do not wish to do that either. It’s difficult to come up with a way to inform people of events coming up, with out it becoming a “sales pitch”
I am excited to say that my online educational group has been received very well! This has been a huge challenge for me! Teaching with a microphone and a camera is worlds apart over a live audience.
I’m still looking for some inspirations myself so I thought I’d run those by you a bit. I have several images in my mind that I’d like to create while I’m on the Oregon Coast. I was hoping to jump all over Milky Way season this year, but I’ve been clouded out a lot up here on the coast. Clouds also killed the Aurora Images everyone was able to get elsewhere.
This is a shot I took with my iPhone… Looking at it again inspires me to sit there longer next time!
This was shot on the only day in three weeks with sunshine.
The waves of the sea assist me… to get back to me…
Video Is My Latest Challenge…
This is something else I NEVER thought I’d do! However I’m actually having fun with it! Sound is very important for video so that brought up even more challenges. Editing as well! Video editing can really eat up hard drive space and time!
The video files have resulted in some new organizational skills, and story boarding might be in my future. I have lots of footage! Now how to organize it? My filing system for images doesn’t really work for video. There can be several topics in one video clip…
I’ve been working on the same edit for weeks. I’m now of the mind to just finish it somehow, put it out there for ya’ll to see it, and use it for a learning experience. After all… Nothing is ever perfect is it? So I “finished” it late last night.
One lesson I learned is that with video I thought blending video clips and images would be a challenge… Sound is the real challenge! Blending that is a whole ‘nuther topic. I’ve been a still Photographer for many, many years. Video has now sparked some new inspiration’s for me. Photographically Video, and all that it entails, has been one of the hardest things for me to learn.
It would be difficult to portray the tranquility of this image in Video. Many images? Yes, much easier. But a video of one image? Now you need to add music and/or voice over.
So As You Can See Inspiration Is Difficult For All Of Us…
What do you do for inspiration? One thing I’ve really noticed is that when I come across a really inspirational image… something that stops you dead in your tracks… that image is simple. Even if there are lots of items or complications to the image… it’s still somehow very simple.
This is supper hard for me to explain… but if you go through a bunch of really great images at the same time? You might just come away with the same conclusion.
Pro Tip: This can happen to you as well, when you’re going through a larger set of your own image files, say from a week long trip. The really great images will jump out at you if you click through them rapidly… give this a try.
The Images above are both the same image… however the one on the right is more inspiring. Especially if I added a poem or quote to it as well… I teach editing practices like this in my online group ByWinslowCampfire.com
People…
I have not really concentrated on Photographing People for the past couple of years. I miss Photographing Dancers, but they are always so busy. It’s difficult to nail them down to a schedule. I have a new project I’m working on called “Forty Over Forty”
My biggest reason for this project is that it’s difficult to get someone over forty to sit for a serious attempt for an artistic portrait. I can tell you that Photographers are damn tired of hearing “I gotta lose ten pounds” or “can you Photoshop all my wrinkles away? No I can not! Also I will not!
I am now charmingly antique and need to lose fifty pounds my self! I’ve been wanting to lose fifty pounds for over twenty years now! Actually since the year 2000… that’s when I quit my four pack a day cigarette habit. However! I’m pretty certain that I would not even be here to gripe about that weight, had I not quit. So I need to lighten up on myself… others should do the same.
Here’s an example for you… It’s a portrait of me that my son took, and then I edited it artistically with his suggestions. I’m a damn site older than forty. I did not edit out my wrinkles or my overweight body…There’s more than one way to accomplish artistic Portraits.
Another example. How old is she? How much does she weigh? Those things do not enter into the equation. She does love Deer and the outdoors though…
People In Another Realm
“There are people that will never support you because it’s you. Then there are people that will always support you because it’s you… YOU just have to find your people.” ~poojagarg
