When I teach photography, I am often asked for tricks that can make a student’s photographs better. The truth is, there aren’t any easy tricks that will quickly result in great photography. The curse of today’s technology is that it is fairly quickly to get good at it. That is literally the problem. It’s like inheriting money before you have learned the value of hard work.
Am I good enough?
Shooting sideways is a way to ensure that I, as a photographer, do not get stuck in my photographic vision, but rather seek new ways to express myself. The more experienced we become in our art, the more we run a risk of sinking into some standard routines. We know what works, and we apply this knowledge in our creative endeavour. And in so doing we actually stop being creative and our art becomes rather boring.
I think projects like these are important for getting one out of a rut and stimulating the creative juices. But sometimes it can lead to angst and frustration. My Nikon broke at the start of 2018 and a few months later my client abruptly ended my consulting contact (no explanation given) after 5 years. So I was without a camera and I did not want to spend money on a replacement until I was working again. During that time a friend loaned me her father’s Canon EOS 5D Mk III and EF 70-200mm lens.
Previously most of my photography fell into the “wide” range — 12-35mm — with the occasional foray into the 50-200mm. After several months of being restricted to 70-200mm, I am frustrated to the point where I don’t pick up the camera anymore. I know this because my wife commented that I leave the camera at home on every outing.
Being restricted to heavy 70-200mm prevented me from doing landscape photography, it prevented me from doing street photography (a 70-200mm is too conspicuous in the small town suburbs of New Jersey), and the camera + lens was too heavy to go “walkabout”.
I miss my 11-16mm, my 18-55mm, and my 35mm prime!!
Go walk the dog, go pick every bit of trash on the street outside your home, go walk the dog again, buy a colouring book and colour, go bake a peach cobbler, go paint some pebbles with bright colours and put them in a pile. You may think it’s procrastination, but—with the right intention—it isn’t, it’s motion. And any motion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn to motion.
Otto, I’m in a photography drought right now. I have a camera. I have a lens. But I just dont’t feel motivated to pick it up and create something. I think part of my apathy is in not liking the combination of lens and camera but mostly I’m just out of the zone. Hopefully, this blog post will have me thinking about other things I can do. Something that leads me back to my creative space.
What you definitely should not do is stop doing something.
