Thank you, for including me in your newsletter this week! It is a great topic and I am sure helpful to many. I find studying photobooks a great way to reconnect with photography and very inspirational too!
Numbers 2, 4, 5, & 6 are things I do all the time (all the time being every now and then haha), but I am definitely someone who doesn't touch the camera unless I feel an urge to do so. It's funny, now that I am not working and I have all this free time I feel less compelled to photograph than when I was working and only had a small amount of photo time available after work or on weekends and that rush to try to fill that available time was often frustrating because a lot of it felt forced like I "had" to make good use of that time. Fast forward to know and I am in this strange place where part of me is calling me a loser for not being "productive" with all this free time, but another part of me is feeling more fulfilled in the last couple of months with just taking pictures in the backyard whenever a urge hits me to go outside and look around. I've come to appreciate the smallest things in the last three months with just photographing in a small space like a door that's not usually open being open, a new car parked in a odd spot, the budding if new plants, a new hope the dog dug and so on. Often I'll just be sitting around and then it just hits me, go outside, grab the camera, and somehow these intuitive moments generally relate to one of these moments where something "new" is happening in the garden space or outside of it. Great newsletter, so many great insights and good ideas! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for the feedback! That’s a really interesting thought. Almost like since photography wasn’t as accessible to you you wanted it more and now that it’s something you could do all the time you find yourself not as drawn to it. But yeah fulfillment looks different for everyone and it’s really cool to hear how you’ve found fulfillment in photography in this since the change you’ve experienced in your everyday. Thanks so much for sharing that!
I've come to realize that life is a lot like the old analogy of "you want what you can't have and when you get it you want something else" and trying to mitigate that feeling and learning about why that is you feel that way and how can you appreciate what you do have and desire what is already there as much as that new and unknown thing we tend to crave. I think it part a consumerist state of mind (physical products or social status kicks from social media) definitely play into that always wanted something else that we don't even really know why we want it. I'm definitely not saying everyone feels the extreme of that of course, but I think it is there in all of us to some degree. I mean photography is an addictive medium, everything is about making something new in a lot of ways. I come from music and in music once you write a good song you play it forever, but in photography once you make a good photo, you often just enjoy the momentary high and then you are off searching for the next great photo. I think learning to appreciate photo books and making a print or two of your own work can help you replay photography and add value to the mediums neverending chase. I love digital photography, but the perceived value of film photography is lost to a degree with digital of you aren't careful. The tool is expensive, but once it's paid for it makes "free" photos where with film each photo costs you a pretty penny these days so I think you inherently appreciate it more because of the perceived value of it. Photo books and prints help with that for sure, they add value to photography and make you take more time with the work because of that perceived value given to it. I'm not saying that just because a photo is printed it's good, but rather you take the time to try and understand it and appreciate it more than a digital image on a phone which doesn't appear to have any value unless you train your perception to associate things differently. No idea how I got here, but hey! Hope to have more conversations in the future, take care!
RE: Put the Camera Away: Rodney Smith shot at most maybe 40-50 times a year and could go 6 months without shooting. But throughout he stayed close to photography, curating and printing and planning. I sense that volume and frequency too often define a photographer's output and feelings of success. But so much is to be gained from putting the camera down and revisiting older work for a spell. It's amazing how doing that can reignite your passion as give you a different perspective when you start shooting again.
That’s a great point! Staying “close” to photography while putting the camera down is a great way to put it and will help give time to plan and think about future photo endeavors.
Ok, but seriously, this is great! I have written about similar themes, but not in the context of falling back in love with the craft, and I appreciate being able to revisit this post as a reminder. One of the main reasons I started a Substack was to get away from the trappings of social media, one of which is subconsciously mimicking trends and losing track of my own style. It's great to see more photographers coming here to talk about their own.
I personally would skip 6...It’s just because I believe art should be based on intuition and we should follow our hearts and own creativity without caring about what anybody thinks…even if it comes from a good place...
Thank you, for including me in your newsletter this week! It is a great topic and I am sure helpful to many. I find studying photobooks a great way to reconnect with photography and very inspirational too!
Of course! Thanks so much for the encouragement. Photobooks are are definitely a great way to stir up inspiration!
Numbers 2, 4, 5, & 6 are things I do all the time (all the time being every now and then haha), but I am definitely someone who doesn't touch the camera unless I feel an urge to do so. It's funny, now that I am not working and I have all this free time I feel less compelled to photograph than when I was working and only had a small amount of photo time available after work or on weekends and that rush to try to fill that available time was often frustrating because a lot of it felt forced like I "had" to make good use of that time. Fast forward to know and I am in this strange place where part of me is calling me a loser for not being "productive" with all this free time, but another part of me is feeling more fulfilled in the last couple of months with just taking pictures in the backyard whenever a urge hits me to go outside and look around. I've come to appreciate the smallest things in the last three months with just photographing in a small space like a door that's not usually open being open, a new car parked in a odd spot, the budding if new plants, a new hope the dog dug and so on. Often I'll just be sitting around and then it just hits me, go outside, grab the camera, and somehow these intuitive moments generally relate to one of these moments where something "new" is happening in the garden space or outside of it. Great newsletter, so many great insights and good ideas! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for the feedback! That’s a really interesting thought. Almost like since photography wasn’t as accessible to you you wanted it more and now that it’s something you could do all the time you find yourself not as drawn to it. But yeah fulfillment looks different for everyone and it’s really cool to hear how you’ve found fulfillment in photography in this since the change you’ve experienced in your everyday. Thanks so much for sharing that!
I've come to realize that life is a lot like the old analogy of "you want what you can't have and when you get it you want something else" and trying to mitigate that feeling and learning about why that is you feel that way and how can you appreciate what you do have and desire what is already there as much as that new and unknown thing we tend to crave. I think it part a consumerist state of mind (physical products or social status kicks from social media) definitely play into that always wanted something else that we don't even really know why we want it. I'm definitely not saying everyone feels the extreme of that of course, but I think it is there in all of us to some degree. I mean photography is an addictive medium, everything is about making something new in a lot of ways. I come from music and in music once you write a good song you play it forever, but in photography once you make a good photo, you often just enjoy the momentary high and then you are off searching for the next great photo. I think learning to appreciate photo books and making a print or two of your own work can help you replay photography and add value to the mediums neverending chase. I love digital photography, but the perceived value of film photography is lost to a degree with digital of you aren't careful. The tool is expensive, but once it's paid for it makes "free" photos where with film each photo costs you a pretty penny these days so I think you inherently appreciate it more because of the perceived value of it. Photo books and prints help with that for sure, they add value to photography and make you take more time with the work because of that perceived value given to it. I'm not saying that just because a photo is printed it's good, but rather you take the time to try and understand it and appreciate it more than a digital image on a phone which doesn't appear to have any value unless you train your perception to associate things differently. No idea how I got here, but hey! Hope to have more conversations in the future, take care!
For sure! Totally get where you’re coming from and would agree! Would love to have more convos in the future for sure.
RE: Put the Camera Away: Rodney Smith shot at most maybe 40-50 times a year and could go 6 months without shooting. But throughout he stayed close to photography, curating and printing and planning. I sense that volume and frequency too often define a photographer's output and feelings of success. But so much is to be gained from putting the camera down and revisiting older work for a spell. It's amazing how doing that can reignite your passion as give you a different perspective when you start shooting again.
That’s a great point! Staying “close” to photography while putting the camera down is a great way to put it and will help give time to plan and think about future photo endeavors.
that was fire bro.
Ok, but seriously, this is great! I have written about similar themes, but not in the context of falling back in love with the craft, and I appreciate being able to revisit this post as a reminder. One of the main reasons I started a Substack was to get away from the trappings of social media, one of which is subconsciously mimicking trends and losing track of my own style. It's great to see more photographers coming here to talk about their own.
-Chris
Thanks so much for the kind words Chris! Really glad you enjoyed the post and could relate. Cheers!
I personally would skip 6...It’s just because I believe art should be based on intuition and we should follow our hearts and own creativity without caring about what anybody thinks…even if it comes from a good place...