Practice, but don’t worry when life intervenes

rob — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:25:06 +0000

I teach beginners digital photography and had a recent discussion with a student who has done extremely well and is now central to a new camera club being set up. He was finding that the role of club leader was reducing his shooting time and whilst rewarding it was not actually taking pictures.

This is a common problem.

If you have a creative drive and creative urges are high then you will naturally want to push yourself forward as hard as possible. When you find yourself drawn in a direction that reduces your creative time, or when life intervenes to reduce the time available for your art then frustration is natural. After all a great artist once said that the best way improve yourself is to do something everyday. Unfortunately for many people this is difficult and leads to frustration.

Frustration is counter productive and needs to be avoided. A frustrated artist may end up dwelling on the negative or the impossible. It may lead to a paralysis of action. Not a good thing.

I have this problem too. Some times the work I do leads me away from the creative and I find myself wondering about what to do next.

I have found one answer to the problem. It is to float in the wind. It is impossible to control everything that happens in life. What is in control however is your attitude and ability to take advantage of opportunity. So what you need to do is not worry when life stops you from doing what you want. Relax, deal with one problem at a time and get back out there taking pictures as soon as you can. However just because you cannot go our with your best camera that should not stop you. These days most of us carry cameras in our phones. Take a moment out to quickly take a picture of things that catch your eye. This quick snapping will help you keep your eye in on composition.

So don’t make a chore out of things, don’t get stressed, snap away and when you can go out and do great work.

That way you can go on for years, ever improving your craft.

Remember to Carry A Camera

rob — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:22:09 +0000

One of the truths of photography is that despite planning, intention and care you can never be sure when the opportunity for a good photograph will present itself. I’ve talked about my mobile phone being a note book that I use to record ideas for photographs, and maybe even the images themselves. That is useful – there is no doubt of it, but this cannot beat carrying a camera as often as possible. It’s one of the reasons that a good many photographers as well as owning a good collection of powerful SLR cameras also keep a good pocket sized camera on hand. They’re simply following the rules that you need a camera to take photograph and good images can be seen anywhere at any time.

Here’s an example from my own work. I have two clients that are separated by the Blorenge mountain in South Wales. I know from experience that local weather conditions can vary the views from absolutely zero to quite beautiful vistas. I was passing over that mountain this week, the weather was freezing cold but glorious and there was enough view and light to take a few pictures. Had I not bothered to have a camera handy there would be no pictures.

Here are some links to those images.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grandetour/4356222113/

http://www.redbubble.com/people/robdavies/art/4653867-1-softly-we-see-the-sugar-loaf

So remember carry a camera and be opportunistic. You never know when a good photograph will reveal itself to you.

Findingviews » Camera

Practice, but don’t worry when life intervenes

Remember to Carry A Camera