Remember When It Was Just Fun?

I live in Canada and we have lots of snow in the winter. I remember when I was a kid and we would go sledding. It was the most fun in the winter we could have. Even when you got hurt it was worth it!

My kids love sledding too. I don't take them often enough. Always there is an excuse. It's too cold, it's too windy, I have too much other stuff to do today. It doesn't matter what excuse, it's just an excuse. Look at these faces, how could I deny them this much fun?

As an adult we get so caught up in our "problems" that we forget the pure joy that can be found in sliding down a hill on a piece of plastic or bike riding or jumping off a dock at the lake. 

While I was standing there on the hill shivering, I watched my kids and all the other kids on the hill and thought, what a terrible joke life plays on us by making us grow up. Then I thought why do we have to grow up? Where's the fun in that? LOL. There is a difference between being irresponsible and refusing to grow up. You can still be responsible and embrace that child that is still lurking there just under the surface. In fact, it's your responsibility in life to live it to the fullest and enjoy it. So next time the kids want to go sledding, I'm taking my sled too and chasing them down the hill.

Stop taking life so seriously. Get out there and act like a kid again. Your kids will love it and you will too.

Chris.

Photograph What You Love?

Photograph What You Love.

I hear this a lot when talking about photography and business. Photograph what you love and the rest will be easy. Does that mean the business aspects will just fall into place? Of course not but they do say it will be easier because you will have the passion and subject matter more in control.

But how do I know what I love to photograph? Well that is the hard part. I've heard it said by many photographers that you will just know but it may take years to figure it out.

I think the cause of my photographic block I've been suffering through is due to me trying to figure out what I love to photograph. I could say my kids but that's a given. Or is it? I know many people with kids that take very few photos of their kids. Certainly few of my friends and family go through the set up and processing time that I put into the photos of my kids. So there, that's one thing I love to photograph.

But that's more for me isn't it?

Well there is another point. Don't try to love photographing something just because you think that's what others want to see. If we all photographed what we thought others wanted us to, there would be billions of cute cat photos in the world or on Facebook anyway! You need to photograph something that has a meaning to you. The passion you put into that will show in the photo. That will draw like minded people to your work and from there you never know what could happen.

So back to my stuff. I've spent some time looking over my Flickr stream and it looks to me that I love to photograph nature, minimalistic scenes, industry and rusty crusty stuff that is loaded with textures all along with my kids. Texture and color seem to play a significant part in my photos as well. I've also noticed a lot of daily life type photos. You know, food, coffee cups, socks hanging on a railing, people enjoying their hobbies. But in these I'm also seeing a lot of strong colors and textures as well.

Even when I use my phone to take a photo, I tend to punch up the colors and textures in the image.

There you have it I think I have figured it out. Besides my kids its Nature, Minimalism, Industry and Color and Textures.

It has taken me years to get to this conclusion and it may change down the road but for now, I think this is what I will focus on (pun intended).

Chris.

A Question Of Motivation.

I love photography. There's just something about capturing a moment in time that seems powerful to me. But I find that lately my motivation for photography is slipping.

When I purchased my first DSLR I went crazy. I took photos of everything and anything. Then I started learning. I took the New York Institute of Photography's Complete Course in Professional Photography. I learned so much so fast. The whole time I was taking the course (3 years for me) I was constantly taking photos. Then I completed the course.

Now that I have no reason to practice my course materials I find that my motivation for taking photos has slipped. Don't get me wrong, I still love photography and I still love taking photos but I just don't seem to have the same passion for it anymore. Some days I don't even look at a photograph or take my camera out of the bag.

I've been thinking, again, about how to better motivate myself to get out there and practice this art I love so much. I know, I've blogged about this before and probably will again but I'm really struggling with it this time.What am I going to do?

I have noticed that listening to photography related podcasts and watching YouTube videos really make me feel like getting the camera out and taking some photos.I guess this is a great start then. I have my iPhone so listening to podcasts happens all the time for me. I'll just need to ramp up the photography side of the podcasts I listen too. As for YouTube, well I subscribe to several photographer's channels but I think I may need to look for some more.

Another thing I'm going to try is always having my camera handy. When I got to the day job this morning I took it out of the bag and put it on my desk I took the lens cap off and put the hood on the lens then turned it on. Now when I see a great shot or some great light, I'll be more prepared to take advantage of it. I'm also going to keep my camera out of the bag in my truck on the commute to and from work each day. There have been times where I saw something that would have made a great photo but didn't have my camera out in time.

As I right this, when I should be working at my day job, there is some fantastic early morning light streaming into my office window. I'm feeling motivated so please excuse me for a moment while I take advantage of this amazing light......................................Ah, that's better.

Here's what I got!

Now that I have gotten that out of the way I can focus on my motivation again. Just kidding. I realized that I had my camera out and the light was just right so I found a couple of good subjects to show off that light. Good thing I did it when I did too, within a couple of minutes some clouds crossed over and the light was gone. By the time the clouds moved the sun was much higher up and the light was a much different quality.

So for now I guess I'll up my consumption of photography related media be it podcasts, YouTube videos and blog posts. Hopefully the universe will help me out and life will be grand again.

Chris.