Yayyy! Massive backlog of city photos from my expedition (two weeks ago!) now cleared… next up, my big industrial drive from last weekend! I take so. so. many photos. Never mind – that’s why I have lots of external hard drives and postcards and book ideas. Think I’ve just about run out of things to talk about with this lot – a miscellaneous mixture of all sorts of stuff. Shall save up my eloquent sentences for next time… (I’m never eloquent, who am I kidding?!)
The grid of thumbnails in my catalog of images makes it very easy to see where I’ve been spending time… busier, grey and less colour = city. Bold, graphic and simple = industrial. This is definitely due to my surroundings, but I’m pretty sure I compose things in a different way depending on those locations as well – if that makes any sense?! I think I need to set myself a challenge and a location and go and make things work. A list of things to find, perhaps? A theme? I’ll keep that processing in the back of my brain, and maybe I’ll have a stroke of genius! I’ve trained myself to take photos like this, and see things this way – I most definitely can train myself to do something else as well.
I was looking at my blog title the other day (actually – when I was having dramas with the cover of my book!) and thinking how my ‘365 days. 365 photos. one creative year’ has turned into so much more than that. I’ve always said I think in pictures – and now I get to make those pictures into a concrete thing, I guess! 365 days: that’s turned into a lifetime, I’m pretty sure. 365 photos: I’d achieved that early, early on (day 68, to be precise!). As for ‘one creative year’ – hah. If only I had known quite how that year would change me creatively. Now I see a million and one photos everywhere, and I swear I spend my week days planning where I’ll go to take photos on the weekend. If I can’t stop, I write it down. If I’ve got a place to go to, I think about how I can detour past one of my spots on the way. I add locations to my list faster than I can get them off my list. I think I’m taking more photos now than I ever was. That’s ok – I’m happy! I heard/read something somewhere (no idea where, it just stuck with me) that taking a photo a day is similar to meditation. It makes you take time out from everyday craziness. It makes you slow down, stop, think… and concentrate on something beautiful.
The other day I listened to a photographer (the dude that’s almost the sole reason I use the camera I do) talking about ‘finding’ a photo in an interesting spot… and by finding, I mean finding. He talked about turning up at a location and not just taking the first photo you saw, but instead taking the time to explore different options. Actually, I wrote it down! His words: “There’s a photo here. Now, I just have to go and find it”. So, so true. On Sunday, I glanced back over my shoulder – past a spot that I’d taken a photo at… and the change in perspective really was intriguing. He also talked about taking a ‘5″6 photo’ (I take it that’s how tall he is?!) – you know the one… the one you take when you first pull your camera out and point it at something without thinking about it properly. It’s usually pretty mediocre (in my case, VERY mediocre!). And oh I have so so SO many of those! It’s becoming less often, but I have plenty of examples where I’ve taken that photo and decided ‘it wasn’t working for me’ and moved on. Actually, I’ve climbed in the car and said those words out loud – and I know I’ve even written them! Sure, I know sometimes things just weren’t ‘working for me’… but usually, it just meant I was the one who wasn’t working for it.
Thinking about that and reaching that conclusion is quite eye opening. Really!
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Recognise the second ‘one way’ sign? Day 157 – I normally wouldn’t take the same photo again, but the light was glorious.
On Sunday, I took an astronomical amount of photos, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed getting through them all! I’ve been meaning to get into the city on a weekend for ages (to tick a few places off my list!), and we finally made it this weekend. In hindsight, it was probably a bad day to do it, since we’d already walked around 5km… and then added a whopping 11+ km to that! You should see the map… it’s ridiculous. That said, I’m so glad I’ve finally transferred the pictures in my mind to something more tangible – especially for the places that I’ve been meaning to revisit for a long time. It’s impossible to explain a photo to someone… they’re not going to understand what you’re talking about, no matter HOW excited you get, or how fabulous you are at explaining. Best thing to do is take it, and show them! I love going out to take photos with others, as well as seeing the images that other people have taken at the same places – it’s refreshing to see a different perspective of the same location. It challenges me and the way I see things, and opens my eyes to all sorts of different possibilities!
PS – recognise that red wall? see day 198!)