I know its been a while since I’ve posted on my blog, and I apologize. To start off, I want to write an initial blog to summarize what I’ve been up to. I have been trying to keep busy, but as most of us photographers know, the holiday season (December through January) is a really slow time of the year, nobody wants to dive into new projects with Christmas right around the corner. With that said, I have been shooting here and there, not as much as I would like to. I’ve dedicated more time into editing and social networking. I’m in the process of designing a new website, still in the early stages. Mainly I’ve been trying to finalize a lot of the work I’ve shot in the past, it usually takes me a good deal of time to get to a “final” state. I’m a perfectionist, and I always feel like I have to bring my photos into photoshop and do a great deal of post-production. Lately I’ve been realizing that my editorial/documentary work doesn’t need it, they can’t be presented for their face value, without hours of slaving in adobe.
Over the past few months I’ve been up and down with my photo career. I love taking photos, but I lose inspiration during these months when I just feel theres nothing worthwhile to photograph. Obviously not 100% true, but I personally find more inspiration in the outdoors, and during the cold seasons, I find the outdoors less than adequate. Apart from that, I’ve been doing mostly assisting work, rather than my own shooting, so I find myself in a mundane cycle where I work around the studio, go home, edit, relax, without shooting all that much. At first I accepted it, but it also made me question myself. If I can go through that period without shooting, am I in the wrong business. The answer, no, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I just needed some time apart from the photography, I’ve been doing a lot of other artwork around the house, collaging and painting, which I used to do a lot of earlier in my college days. Its also given me time to go back and look through work that I’ve shot in the past, but haven’t allowed to surface online. Which is where I am right now. Getting a bunch of work finished, or at least in a presentable state, so I can share online. Thanks to friends begging, and reading a Chase Jarvis blog, I realized. You can be a photographer, but I you want to be known and recognized as a photographer, YOU HAVE TO SHOW YOUR WORK! So i’m forcing myself into the habit of posting more often.
One thing I’ve learned about myself. I tend to take less photos during the cold seasons, and I now know why. First of all, I hate the cold, and secondly, my interests lie in the more active realms of photography, meaning sports, nature, landscapes. I like to shoot photos around bodies of water (beaches, rivers, etc.), especially surfing and underwater stuff, which isn’t possible during the winter. There’s just nothing to offer here in Virginia during the frigid months of the year. It puts me into a somewhat depressing state, but rather than let it hold me back, I’ve been trying to use these “uninspiring months” to edit the great stuff I have shot, and get it to a state where I can share with everyone.
During the holiday season, I find myself shooting more photos of friends and family. I have a home-made beautydish that I fabricated a few months back thats been getting a lot of use lately. I’ve been setting it up during gathers of friends, etc, and doing a ghetto “photo booth” which has really yeilded some great results. I did this for Thanksgiving, Christmas, even going to do it this upcoming weekend. We’re having a Chili Cookoff among friends this Saturday, which I am extremely excited about. I do a lot of cooking in my spare time, so this cookoff will be really competitive for me, I plan to blow away the competition. I also find this will be a great opportunity to break out the camera, shoot the variety of photos that will present themselves among the different faces and interpretations of dishes. Should be a great time.
For now, that’s really all I have for you. I have a bunch of photos on their way though. I took some skateboarding photos a while back, that haven’t found their way out yet. I’m going to post some photos from summer vacation with the family, photo booth stuff, abstract water experimentation, even photos from Maymont park from spring and autumn. I have a lot of catching up to do. Keep checking the page, there should be a lot of new material coming up in the near future. Its just been tough not having an internet connection while also having complications with transportation. Thats a whole new story though, if you know me, you already know the deal.