The flu seems to be catching up with me finally, during the night the nose was blocked and the throat got rather sore. No fever yet, but I'm not feeling too good either. So I guess I need to take it easier for a while and not go for long exhausting walks right now.
I need to start processing my recent photographs, well over 1000 of them are waiting on the computer. But it is always a chore I tend to postpone again and again.
Also, I have been wondering why I take photographs. Why not leave the camera at home when going for a walk? It would be a different walk, but I'm not sure it would be a better one. Often the camera allows me to see things otherwise not seen. Of course, it may also make me blind to things otherwise seen.
Today I visited the Natural History Museum with the children, and it took us over two hours to check out all the exhibitions. This museum is also photographer-friendly, and what was noteworthy was how many of the children were taking photographs or videos of the things on display with their smartphones. We may be raising a generation of photographers.
(Posting title is from the poem Indian Vices by Anita Endrezze.)
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2 comments:
You sound like you are suffering from fatigue, both physically and photographically. I would not leave your camera at home when you go for walks but maybe you should try to take fewer photos. When you see something that you would normally take a shot of, simply look, maybe look through the viewfinder but don't take the shot. By the time you get home you may have only 5 or 10 photos or less and you will feel less overwhelmed. Actually this isn't so much a suggestion as a comment of what I did, when like you, I was ready to give up on photography. Now I can take as few as 1 or 2 shots in a 2-3 hour walk even though I see many, many more.
Well, it may have been normal tiredness making me wonder about using the camera - I took a rest day from taking long walks, and feel much better today.
My style of taking photographs is rather different, I try to take a photograph before I have time to think about it, trying to avoid rational thinking and instead rely on reflex, on subconscious processing. This may be completely stupid but I have found that it (usually) works for me.
Of course, almost all of the photographs taken this way are not worth saving, but some are.
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