Creatively, it was a bit of a tough week.
The days are getting longer and warmer which means the light is a little bit harsher for a little bit longer. That’s normally not a huge issue as I can either focus on smaller, less light-intensive subjects or go inside and figure out my relatively new flash.
This week, I ran into a wall.
Wrestling tree limbs is always physically demanding but when the weather gets better and the temperature starts rising, it plays a little different on your system.
For me, my dumb ass is terrible at remembering to drink water and I’d often get home and feel like laying on the floor until it was time to go to work the next day. To put it mildly, my energy was a bit low this week.
Normally when my energy is low, there’s two types of shots that are generally pretty easy and are crowd-pleasers: macros of flowers and portraits of Remmy.
Here’s the thing, the whole point of me shooting everyday is to push myself and try to improve my craft. “Easy” should make me want to turn my nose in disgust— which it did a couple times— and I was tired of taking macros of flowers.
In a sense, I was creatively bored with some of the shots I was taking. There wasn’t a whole lot of inspiration or out-of-the-box thinking that accompanied the shots I had time and energy to take.
Most days I was able to drag my ass somewhere and try something different or find a new location but there were a couple days where I phoned it in, hated every shot I took, and then bitched about it to a few of my friends.
On the flip side, I had a few high-energy days where I drove around for two hours looking for the “perfect” shot only to come up short or get a shot I felt was subpar. Essentially it was a week filled with frustration and a little self-doubt.
Obviously, I’m still pushing on and continuing to shoot everyday— you don’t get better without working through the shitty days. It’s also part of the point in this entire project: proving to myself I CAN take decent photos everyday if I just get off my ass and do it.
Still, there are days when my mind wanders and looks for the easy route, the one that takes less time and meets the minimum requirements. I have to tell myself that it’s okay not be “on” everyday and sometimes I just need to do it, get it done, and move on.
I almost never believe myself and don’t particularly love the shots I take on those days but, in time, I’ll be a little easier on myself.
In other but related news, I ordered a new camera. I’ve had my current camera for almost six years and it’s been great and I’ll continue to use it for certain things but I figured it’s time to upgrade if I’m going to take this seriously.
It gets here Thursday and I can’t wait to try it out.
There may also be some good news in the next couple of weeks so things are looking up.
The boredom I’ve been experiencing this week just reminds me that I need to push myself and continue to grow.
Really it’s the only thing any of us can do if we want to keep our sanity.
Keep Your Feet Moving
Frames This Week: 676
Total Frames: 1,251
Day 8- May 3
It was my Dad’s birthday and instead of kicking back and relaxing, he helped the neighbors build a fence… you know, like normal people do.
It rained off and on all weekend but it poured particularly hard on Sunday. I was still chasing the elusive raindrop shot but also wanted to capture the essence of my Dad. The shot I ended up getting did one and a half of those things.
I managed to capture him working outside— something he always did when I was a kid— and almost got a raindrop or two. You can at least tell it’s raining and there’s a few drops in the background.
My Dad turned 63 but he still works like he’s 23.
Day 9- May 4
This was the day my boredom started.
I took Remmy on a longer walk, hoping I could find something to shoot, something interesting and out of the norm. Maybe some horses on the border of a suburban area or a tractor plowing a field or something that I didn’t normally see when I pulled out my camera.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find what I was looking for.
The horses were in some trees where I couldn’t get a good angle, the farmers were too far away to see or not out, and the rain was back.
So, it was flowers.
I tried to get some flowers with bees on them but every time a bee came near the flowers, Remmy would try to eat them and they’d fly away.
Spring is nice in that there are so many flowers in bloom right now, it’s difficult not to find one that could be potentially interesting for a macro shot.
But they’re relatively easy to shoot and there’s only so many angles on a Cala Lilly and all of them look phallic in some way so I wasn’t the most enthusiastic about these shots.
Day 10- May 5
Since the weather was nice and there was decent cloud cover (65%, which is far better than 17%) I figured I might as well find a good sunset shot.
There’s a pond not far from me that— I thought— wouldn’t be crowded with people and I could get a decent shot without worrying about being around people.
I thought wrong.
I expected an empty or near-empty parking lot but as I pulled up, it was clear people weren’t taking the stay-at-home order seriously. Not that I had any room to judge.
Remmy isn’t a huge fan of loud people either so we walked around the pond a bit and found a nice spot to settle it. She got a little curious when a beaver (I think) slipped into the pond and swan to the other side. Had my camera not already been mounted on the tripod, I would’ve snapped a couple photos but alas it’s an image only for me.
Day 11- May 6
I managed to bang out a lot of frames on this particular day.
After work I went for a drive around the some of the farm communities and snapped a few shots of some clover fields and a trio of horses. They weren’t my favorite shots in the world— the horses were too close to a house and I couldn’t get close enough to keep the fence out of the frame— but I found a few other potential spots for sunsets or sunrises in the future so I figured it was a success.
Having finished, I drove back to town to run an errand and on the way back, the main street in front of me had been closed down by local police and fire departments.
A kitchen fire on the second floor of the newest apartment complex drew fire crews from three different stations and closed down the main strip for three blocks.
Obviously, I grabbed my camera and started shooting.
I was able to grab a few action shots of firefighters grabbing equipment from their trucks or popping out on the apartment’s balcony to direct the other crews.
Unfortunately, the sun was still high and very harsh so many of the shots were high in contrast and made some of the plants and trees look fake. I tried to get a shot of a concerned-looking Corgi but he kept moving his head anytime I’d click the shutter… he’s still a good boi.
Day 12- May 7
This was, by far, my most frustrating day.
As I was driving back from that day’s job (it was my turn to drive the stump grinder to the shop) I saw Mt. Hood in my rear view mirror. It’s been a while since I tried to get a shot of the mountain and longer since I’d seen it that clear.
After I dropped off the trailer and tested out my new harness in the cedar behind the shop, I drove around looking for a good spot… for two fucking hours.
I noticed a gravel road with a couple farms from one of the back roads I was on and pulled onto it. I noticed some bee hives in the corner and thought I could take some shots of that after I’d gotten the one I stopped for in the first place.
I fired a few frames of Hood with clover in the foreground and played around with different looks. After I was satisfied with those, I took a few of the hives themselves and then returned my attention to the mountain just in case I didn’t get the shot I wanted— which I’m glad I did.
When I uploaded everything to my computer it looked like my lens had ALL the dust spots on it based on the shots I was looking at. I grabbed my camera and looked at my lens filter. There were a few small spots here and there but there wasn’t anything that would warrant my photos looking the way they did.
Then I remembered: the bees.
Every shot saw bees streaking across the frame in the sky line and almost ruining the shot. There were too many bees not to notice and not enough to make it look like I’d shot them on purpose to show their movement so I spent probably forty-five minutes in Lightroom getting rid of all the streaks.
They didn’t turn out too bad and I managed to get some good shots of the hives themselves. Despite my frustrations I managed to get some good frames and work with what I had. I might go back to that spot and try to show just how much the bees move.
Day 13- May 8
I forgot to drink water the day before and woke up with a headache and almost no energy.
Work was a bit of a drag only because it was too hot by 9AM, I still didn’t feel like myself, and I knew I would have very little energy for photos later in the day.
Once I got home I tried to fight through the lack of energy, do something simple but meaningful and failed in every shot.
I tried taking some photos of some older looking books but, after looking at them on the computer, was unimpressed.
I laid on the floor in the exact spot the AC hits you from all directions and thought. At some point my hat fell off and I noticed the sweat lines and dirt on the brim.
I grabbed my camera and fired off a few macros, trying to get the contrasting colors of the fabric untouched by sweat and the grungy, dirty fabric that had.
In some ways, the shot was an homage to everyone who knows the feeling of breaking in a new hat and knowing that it takes several months of sweat and dirt to get it just right.
I definitely half-assed the planning of this shot though considering how little energy I had and how few fucks I gave, it turned out to be a pretty decent shot.
Day 14- May 9
Determined not to have another day of uninspired shooting, I woke a little earlier than I thought (thanks, Remmy) and sipped on my coffee while I scrolled through Instagram and Twitter.
Finding nothing there, I perused some photography videos on YouTube and figured out the day’s shoot: flat lay photography.
Typically used for product and commercial shots, I figured I had enough stuff around to make a decent flat lay.
I looked at my work boots and noticed all the scuffs and oil/gas stains on the toe and built my idea around the idea of well-used but reliable tools and equipment.
It could just be a stereotype but when I think of blue collar workers I think of cigarettes and smoking so I decided to get a pack of smokes and a lighter. But to take it a step further to capture the “old-timey” feel of the shot I got a soft pack of cigarettes and a Zippo lighter. In some ways it turned into a 1980’s blue collar worker shot.
I found the one place with a plain Zippo lighter (Walmart) and bought it and the cigarettes.
But the lighter looked too new— I know, weird, right?
So I did what any normal and sane person would do: I beat the shit out of it until it looked like it had been at least a little worn in.
The shot was a lot more time-consuming than I thought. It was like getting a 1,000 piece puzzle while thinking, “I’m an adult, I should be able to do this in no-time” which always costs four days worth of free time, a perfectly good friendship, and a very large portion of your sanity.
That said, it was one of the most fun shoots I’ve done since starting this project. Every little detail mattered and could dramatically change the feeling of the shot. Whether it was the angle of the pack of cigarettes or whether the lighter was opened or closed, the story the photo told somehow changed— and yes I’m well aware I should’ve wrinkled the cigarette pack a little.
Going through the raw shots after I’d gotten done was a lot of fun and I’ll definitely be doing a lot more of these types of shots going forward.