The Truth

This past week has been one of those weeks that challenges the creative mind to no end.  Often, when I meet new people, they comment on my photography as if it's something that requires no work at all - "I wish I had your camera", "That lens is really nice", "It's easy to take a beautiful photo with beautiful subjects", the list of comments goes on and on.  I'm here to tell you that it's only easy when you're in the zone and you're only focused on photography.  To get there, however, it takes years of practice and the right mindset... When life throws, well, "life" at the creative mind, it is my experience that it shuts down that connection to "the zone" to deal with whatever needs to be dealt with immediately.  If photography is your job, this can cause so much frustration!  You pick up the camera and... it's like you've never even taken a photo before - can't find your angle, your light, not to mention composition and some technical details, such as wrong aperture or shutter speed can make you feel like a complete mess.  These are the times you KNOW you should be working at it, but simply can't.  So, what does a creative do when faced with such a block?  I, for one, get super frustrated, get the job done if I'm on a deadline, but I'm not happy with it and will go back in my mind over and over as to what I did "wrong" - this is creative suicide and nothing good comes from it.  If you have time, give it time - trust that the mind will clear that path to "the zone" again when you lest expect it, and you haven't become some fumbling idiot that doesn't know how to use a camera  anymore.  Sometimes you have to start at the source, finding inspiration with things you have around the studio - if the light is not right, try until you see it, and don't get frustrated (the struggle is real).  And the next day you might just pick up your camera, take one single frame and feel like it was the easiest thing in the world.  That's the story of this photo, how it came to life after a whole week of struggling with capturing moments as I see them - I just picked up my camera, with my nice lens, saw something beautiful and took one single shot.  But it was almost 30 years in the making.  

Keep at it, and find your light.