Photography is an art form. Like knitting, graffiti or cooking, it is based on creativity. As with all creative acts, it happens from time to time that inspiration flows like molasses, shoots become bland and tasteless and one relies on the true but tried methods.
Scientists aren’t really sure what causes photographer’s block and there are many home remedies for curing the symptoms, but all they really boil down to is shaking things up. Recently I have found what may very well be the mother of all shake ups…. changing mediums and/or formats.
If you shoot digital, pick up a 35mm. If you’ve shot 35 already, find a medium format camera. Already done that? Go Large! If you’re used to shooting with a 5D, steal your little brother’s 3 mp Optio point and shoot and see if you still have ‘it’. Get the cheapest thrift store toy camera you can find (the kind that they don’t even make film for anymore) and mod it. Shove a roll of anything that fits inside and work your magic.
Whatever side of the scale you call yourself… gear head pixel peeper or artistic retro silver snob… go out and grab the favorite tool of the other side and light it on fire (figuratively, of course).
Having shot digital for too long, it took a plastic camera with no settings, no preview display, and 12 shots per roll to shake and bake my creative mind enough to give me the freedom and confidence to bring my camera absolutely everywhere I went and take any shot that came to mind. It was just the spice I needed to see things from a different point of viewfinder.
1 comment:
That was completely enjoyable Duncan. Thank you.
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