Category Archives: Street

Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

November 19th, 2016 … the Mechanics of Aesthetics

November 19, 2016 streetshooter 6 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This will be a series of articles about what and how photography attempts to work. I say attempts because whether you are aware of this or not, it attempts to work. The title of this part is a key to what I’m getting at.

The Big Idea

The big idea of photography is to capture the light of something in a 3 dimensional world and make a new object on a 2 dimensional world. The photo can co-exist in the 3 dimensional world but the 3 dimensional world can’t exist in the 2 dimensional world or photo. There is a translation of realities that happens that forces us and allows us to hold witness to the new reality. It’s not always a pretty picture.

We hold witness to the moment of time and the photo made for it. That moment of time forces us to be accountable for the truth of the photo that marks the lie of the moment. See, the photo captures a fleeting moment of our life. As soon as you release the shutter, the photo, yet finished is already dead. It does not move with or change with time. It is a stagnant representation of what we felt necessary at the moment of exposure. Meanwhile, the reality that inspired the release of the shutter has breathed countless breathes to the future leaving us behind to make the truth as the camera saw it. That truth of the photo is the lie of the reality that inspired its existence.

Something that I learned on my own decades ago but do not claim to be the origin of, just the self discoverer of an uneducated photographer is….Titles. This has been a long arduous journey with many opinions from many different people. I always stood for what i believed to be the truth as I knew it, whether others believed in this truth or not.

The Truth About Titles

There are times to use a title and there are times not to use a title. A brief example: in police work as evidence, a photo usually needs a title or even more description. A Horticulturist may use a title in a photo of a flower to aid viewers in understanding the plant in the photo. A tourist on a journey may use titles on the photos to show location and other info. There are countless examples of using a title on a photo.

There is a common usage and purpose to most photos being with a title. That purpose is to provide information to the viewer as the viewer enters the world of the photo. It is a semi-description to aid the journey of the photo. This of course also sets to play, the dreaded preconceptions.

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Shooters and Titles.

I was asked to curate photos for a project. So, it’s been going on for a while. I have seen many hundreds of photos. Almost every single photo has some sort of title to it. The titles are mostly descriptive and certainly have poisoned my mind. Try as I may, it’s impossible to enter the photo with a clean slate. Example: standing on the corner. Well, maybe that is the message wanted to pass on to the viewers but for me, when I enter the photo, I absolutely look for: standing on the corner. The shooter has given me the photo and told me what to see. It’s almost impossible to discover the beauty of the image. I am forced to seek the meaning of the title in the photo and not allowed to discover any hidden or not hidden meanings on my own.

Active vs Passive Title

We as photographers inherited the title crap from painters etc. Yeah, it’s true. So, here it is. An active title is like so: sunset at Mary’s, ferris wheel at 9:00 pm, John doing the jig and anything more descriptive then needed.

A passive title is like: Untitled, RT 61, Phila, New York, July 21st, 730 am Pittsburgh, Andrews Ave, Paris, The Outback, McDonalds…. a title like this presents a time and place but not descriptive to the point of interference of the investigation of the photo.

So, back to mt task of curating. After going thru hundreds of photos more then a few times, it seems to me the ones that are most interesting have a passive title. I didn’t go into this task seeking the title stuff, I went in to find my selection of photos. I saw photos that at first glance I liked, then saw a title and instantly felt locked in vision.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Portraits are also effected by titles. Of course it’s easier to get into a photo if it’s a portrait because of the nature of the image. A title usually doesn’t hinder the visual experience although it could. What does this all mean? Well, when you take your camera out and choose a lens, or get into LR and process, whatever, you give thought to what you are doing. If your serious, you tend to be aware of what you are doing. You also are very committed to your vision and making sure that photo you made represents you. We can get complacent with french fries and burgers and salad and tea and coffee but we dare not get complacent with our images.

Hold on now….hmmmm ya know, if we are that careful and loving about what we are doing, maybe, just maybe, I know it sounds crazy but…. maybe we should pay attention to titling our work and making sure the title supports OUR VISION and not detracts from it.

… go in peace my friends but go with a camera in hand …

Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

November 12, 2016 … Un-Mastering Your Mind … a Path to Satisfaction

November 12, 2016 streetshooter 3 Comments

For decades, I would read books by other shooters and try to find the key to unlocking my creative self. Many times I would get inspired by something I read and then feel like I was close to the Magic I sought. After a time, I would feel something off or missing. It was like a loneliness taking over. This went on for years. I collected and read more books then I care to mention. Of course I discovered many thoughts to inspire me. But yet unsatisfied.

I remember walking with Winogrand and he was fascinated by my being a combat vet. We talked and walked and made photos. One day I asked him what I thought to be a profound question.

“Garry, what do you feel is the key to life?” Garry stopped, turned to me and said …”Breathing, as long as your doing that, there is a chance for everything.”

So I decided to meet artist, shooters and people and continue my quest for the magic. I went to lectures that were free cause I couldn’t afford it otherwise. After more time doing this, I felt empty again. So I started compiling info from all these people and try to figure what is missing for me. It took a few decades but I eventually found what I sought.

Many will state that they are never satisfied by their work and always strive to improve. Ok, ok… I’m trying to get this but for the life of me, well it ain’t working. My thoughts on this and then back at ya.

I live by the simple concept that I want to experience love from my work while I am doing it. I work hard and I want some satisfaction from it. Not every photo but the ones I love, I want to be satisfied. This sets up standards to work with but the satisfaction must be present.

If you live by what many say, never satisfied and always strive to do better, well why the hell are you doing something that Doesn’t Satisfy you? We are not kids. So forget that shit about Steve to be better. We all do that by natural instinct anyway. No one need wait to be told to strive to be better, you will anyway.

That is not the issue is it? The issue is being satisfied enough to want to continue the journey of your work. Not to create blockades in the mind to stumble upon. You must be able to look at your work and see the love you have for it and the love your work gives back to you.

I hope this makes sense. It maybe goes against what many masters and others say and teach. I tell you this my friends, your life will be more fulfilling in a satisfaction that will keep you going. You will live the reason to strive to do better because your work loves you like you love it. If you think about mot being satisfied and striving to do better, what are you striving to…. more un-satisfying work. It’s time to cut it loose. Get off the bandwagon set before you and take control of the ride. We all strive to do better but it’s more important in there here and now to love what your doing and love whet it’s doing for you.

Like Garry said “Breathing….as long as your doing that, there is a chance for everything.”

Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

October 20th, 2016 … The Case For Auto ISO … Part 2

October 20, 2016 streetshooter 14 Comments

The last post was about Auto ISO but more about not using it. This post, I will talk about using and hopefully debunking the ideas that using Auto in M Mode is not really Manual. I learned about debunking procedures from Trump and Clinton. I ain’t never heard of debunking, never used debunking and don’t believe that debunking is really anything. Bunk to all that.

The idea with cameras, especially the new generation that’s over 20 yo henceforth called digital cameras, is to allow the shooter to concentrate on the vision and not have to do much thinking or fiddling on the camera whilst trying to make photos. Now I know this seems like a far out concept and many of youse like to mess with your camera settings because you just do and you can we don’t give a damn. It’s yours so do what pleases you.

Ok, so now we have the ones that just like to fiddle and stuff satisfied and I will now show how Auto ISO in M Mode is more Manual then using fixed ISO in M Mode.

As shooters and not just street shooters but all shooters ever born or ever will be are faced with 3 steps or points of exposure. Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. We discount the EV Comp because I don’t believe in it and don’t need it and wish it was off my cameras or at least make the dial programmable.

Scenario 1

Your out working and you set your camera to 1/250 @ F8 iso 400. You should all have a feeling of what that light looks like. All the sudden, Trump is there and he’s pulling Clinton’d dress off, (Hillary not Bill) and exposes her anti Bill abuser outfit on. You need to know that you have to change exposures because it’s like 2 stops underexposed where you have the camera set. At this point, taking your eye off the scene, makes you miss the shot because things in never never land poof if you stop looking at them. As you raise the camera, your finger slips on the Aperture because you know this is the Million Dollar Shot and now in yor mind, with 1/1000 of a second to make this photo, your cooked. You press the shutter cause your hard core and know you maybe kinda oughta be able to salvage the shot.

Scenario 2

You are set the same as you were in that bad dream except, you set the camera on Auto ISO. Now as Trump and Clinton sit and drink a beer, you just baad azz walk over, take aim… wait wait,….we don’t wanna say take aim cause then we seem to be a threat instead of the threatened. You point your camera and just fire away making all the photos you want because Auto ISO corrects the exposure in the camera according to the light.

Another issue is Under and Over exposure. The other school says that it’s easy to get either under or over by changing one of the 3 points of exposure. This is perfectly correct. The problem is that usually, you look at the meter and decide where to make the change.

I have been told by good shooters with good knowledge that it’s easier to go under or over and maybe it is but I want to keep my eye on the subject as they say. I also hear the it’s not possible to get under or over with Auto ISO because the camera always corrects the exposure. Does it really. There is a setting in the camera to tell the camera when to change shutter speed either low or high AND also, most important to us renegades, to change in ISO. So, by pushing the exposure or puling the exposure, you can force the camera to change ISO to the limit you set and then it will over expose or under if ya want.

I do this alot. I force the camera to over expose and that’s how I get those really blown out high values that I love. I’m not claiming to have invented anything here, just to make the case of Auto ISO. You need to fill in the blanks and see how they work for you.

I will say this, … in 1971 I was walking on Market Street with my Black Lac M4 and 35 Cron. I loaded Tr-X and always shot at 640. The light was changing fast and I was younger then and tried to chase the sun but failed……..I stood looking at the scene, people walking, cabs, buses, trucks, pollution, ya know black smoke from the exhaust and I had a revelation…..

I looked at Blackie and said…. ya know Blackie, in the future when they make digital cameras, some one is gonna make Auto ISO a reality…. I hope I get to see it and use it and Blackie, at that time my friend, you get to sleep the sleep that all cameras do… dream, my friend, dream…. I will catch up to you ……. but not yet

Philosophy of Street, Street, Streetshooter

October 18th, 2016 … The Case For Auto ISO … Part 1

October 18, 2016 streetshooter 10 Comments

Ramblings are not always bad or good, I suppose. Look at Clinton and Trump. They are both rambling, spreading bullshit and not getting anything done. Maybe the plan is to divert the citizens from finding out there is no plan and that way nothing gets done so the citizens can’t complain. Ya don’t think this is true. Look at President Obama, perfect example. Well, that’s my political views all tied up.

So, the streets are filled with many different energies. I posted last about change and it’s true. The political scene has brought out the best, well…the worst of people. This effects me as well because the energy out there is not pure. I mean it’s always filtered but now it’s polluted.

I was at the National Historic Park and as always looking for juxtapositions that I relate to. This guy is watching me like a hawk. He’s looking at Serendipity with that look of building lust. I hold her tight but loose enough to do her job. He’s still following me and then I turn and there, there in front of me is the guy follower and the ….CLICK!

To the point. It is a disbelief to assume that manual mode is not manual mode using Auto ISO. I’m going to explain. There are those amongst us that feel the ISO should be fixed in M Mode. I beg to differ. What happens is if you use a fixed ISO, all 3 points of exposure are locked. if you read the scene and you see that you are 1 1/2 stop off, then you have to make a decision to sacrifice the exposure equivalent. I am not putting the Exp Comp in the equation. I never use it, don’t believe in it and think it doesn’t exist.

The thing is this. When I am shooting out there and I believe at least a few agree with this….I want to work without restriction from the camera. If I was using the 3 points of exposure, I would constantly be checking the meter etc to male sure I wan’t under or over. Back in the days of film cameras, you set the ISO and then adjusted the aperture and/or shutter speed to get proper exposure. This system is what many call manual exposure. All 3 points are locked.

Well, I’m not about to be locked into anything except my cell when I act up and that’s rare. The idea with a camera is to make adjustments to secure the image. What happens if your out shooting at 1/500 F8 ISO 400? well, nice exposure and then you turn to the bldg and this amazing scene is there and you simply must make the photo. Well, ok so what? The issue is that the light is 3 stops less because f the dark doorway and shadows. Now, you can’t get the shot. Because you listened to the guys and gals that told you M Mode is all 3 points locked. Sure you can move the aperture and loose DOF or even change the shutter speed and run the risk of movement from the subject or worse, you and the camera. The Horror! Isn’t the point of any camera to make the mechanical aspect of photography easier so that you can concentrate on the aesthetics? Well?

I will continue this discussion in the next day or two. I know many M Mode shooters will not like this but that’s to damn bad. Even the Mighty M is digital now.

Black & White, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

October 12th, 2016 … The Energy of Seeing … vs … The Seeing of Energy

October 12, 2016 streetshooter 4 Comments

I’m wearing a jacket, at last, jacket weather. See, jackets are wearable camera bags without straps and my new trusty POW/MIA black hat. I love this time of the year, very special for me and I get in a frame of mind that interest me and directs me to a new shape of my photos. I guess I’m lucky to live in a place that has the change of seasons. Well, the point of the story is, energy changes also with the seasonal change. Maybe it’s the change of energy that is so appealing. Then again, we are programmed to fear change. Anyway. I get in front of the US Court House and I see the light dancing on the bldg and the people there. So, I decide to make a photo and …CLICK! Suddenly there is a woman looking at me like she isn’t happy at all. I smile and then see her arm and decide to get the hell out of there quickly. I know a few of the guards there and they were keeping distance from her also.

So maybe change makes us slow down or break the preconceived ideas we have and try to redo the thought process. Maybe it also tampers with the expectations. I mean if we can jar the thinking out of complacency or the comfort zone, it seems reasonable to assume that the gathered expectations will change also.

I remember talking with Winogrand as we walked around Times Square. He told me that he liked the idea of getting a groove going and working it without seeing what was on the film. I gathered from him that, the idea of seeing your results all the time will and does alter the groove you set out to do. If you don’t see the work, then not much gets in the way of the groove. I suppose we all have our madness and the way we think about the same things, changes from shooter to shooter.

Well, change is in order here in Philadelphia, because they give us a change of seasons 4 times a year. I hear other places get the similar season changes but I ain’t seen it and I don’t believe it either. Well, I tried this change thing idea with Tanya about cameras. I mean, maybe changing cameras and lenses is good for the art and for the heart and mind. So I said, Tanya, maybe I should get the Fuji XP-2 for a change of whatever. She changed from not caring what the heck I do and having zero knowledge about cameras to:

What lens you gonna get with the XP-2? Well, I want a 35mm FOV….and what sensor is in the XP-2? Well, it’s got an ASP-C sensor. She said so it’s essentially a bigger clunky X100T, right?

So I changed my diet to try to keep her and my Doc’s at the VA off my ass. Well, I am not getting the Fuji XP-2 but I am finding that the weather is changing and so is my approach to my life’s work. It’s been a few weeks since I did the blog and I didn’t like that change. I will get back on some kind of schedule and get the blog out more often.

To all those that sent messages about missing me, well, I’m back and it’s gonna be a pretty site out there on the streets.

shooter out……………………………………………………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street

September 23rd 2016 .. Happy Birthday John Coltrane

September 23, 2016 streetshooter 6 Comments

John Coltrane September 23rd, 1926 – July 17th, 1967 (90)

When I was young, I was into music that was outside the perimeter of my family. I loved jazz and bluez, especially. I would be playing records in my room and listening to Trane and Pharaoh Sanders etc. My brother was an amazing drummer and he listened to similar music and could play it but in the bands, mostly Rock.

For me, light and shadow and space and the absence of space is like music. The framing of the scene is like a piece of music. If you don’t believe this, it’s fine, turn your ears on and listen to Trane. If you do believe this but don’t practice it, go find another blog cause you don’t belong here. No, stay here and open your heart and mind and then close your eyes, turn on Trane and let him turn you on. When you finally open your eyes, go make photos and maybe you will hear them as well as see them. If you don’t see or feel changes, listen to more music then go out again.

Now I’m not only diggin’ Jazz, I really love some Classical. Ottorino Respighi and his Pines of Rome, will put me down in a heartbeat. Obviously I like the darker side of the arts. Hmmmm, maybe that’s where my feelings for light/shadow comes from or is inspired from. The point is that we can’t control the stimuli that comes from the streets or any outside source. So, by pre-programming our selves we can get a frame of heart and mind started. We don’t live in a vacuum but maybe we can plant some seeds that will nurture what we do while working.

When I’m working, with my camera…see, I’m always working even sleeping. Well, I see thoughts in my head. Not always images but sometimes, thoughts that dance in my mind. My shrink tells me that it’s probably not normal but maybe for me so he lets me out and doesn’t keep me inside. So the way I see it, well sometimes the way I see it but not always the way I see it I’m on the street and kinda walking thru a song.

There’s a mystery inside the mind. I guess most seek the mystery of life outside of themselves. I kinda learned that I like to find the mystery inside me outside of me. The difference is in the approach and the stance you take.

Not every photo we make is exciting but you made it for a reason. It is it’s own reality and we need to examine each one and find the secrets locked inside of it.

I’m tired and my meds are kicking in. I’ll post this and do another over the weekend.

…………………………………………………………………end transmission…………………………………………………….

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

September 22, 2016 … The Things in Me Head, I find on the Street … Ricoh GRII

September 22, 2016 streetshooter Leave a comment

….it’s true, it’s true I tellya. I have all these’s thoughts and feelin’s in me head and then I go out with my camera and the start to manifest out there on dem streets. That’s what I’m doing ya know, out there trying to find what’s locked up inside and find it outside. That’s my story and I’m sticking wit it, what’s yer excuse? See, it ain’t so crazy, this photo hunting process. I mean if your the kinda person that thinks, or maybe feels things, well maybe it’s a good thing to be a photographer. Ya don’t want to keep all that stuff inside ya and not share it right?

Here in Philly today, they made it the first day of fall. I much prefer to call it Autumn. The light just comes in at an angle that excites me. Of course that means the shadows do the same thing but opposite. I start to see all these things in the light and in the shadow and it’s not easy for me to just walk on by. I am compelled to find a photo. Well, maybe more then that, I am compelled to find my photo. I mean I need to be amazed or surprised by the new reality. The shot above does that for me. It shows me something different from the reality that gave it birth. Now it’s true that this happens with every single photo that was ever born once we realize the complexity of the very existence of photos. That in itself doesn’t bother me at all as I understand things photographically.

What gets me is that I see or feel these things in reality before I make the photo. So, what is going on out there, no, what is going on in me, no, what is going on in me that makes a photo from out there, that becomes the reality of what I felt or saw? I was walking on Market going East and as I approached the Marriott, I was just passing Star-bucks, well, I see this woman holding a coffe and I turn into the alcove to see what’t there. As I approach her, she doesn’t even look at me. First thought is, I’m nothing in all existence for her. Eh, dunno and don’t care. I see the light from the street and it has that over exposed glow I crave, Then she moves to the exact spot and …. CLICK!

There’s something about Public Transportation that I absolutely love. All forms and all places. People react in many different ways as they travel form point to point. I, as a shooter like to tune into these reactions and make and record my own. Usually we are in a confined space and that in itself sets up some conditions that effect everyone and me as the shooter. It’s like I’m at a stage show and all the people are actors doing their role in the play. There’s really no need for a director but as the cameraman, I get to choose lens and camera and how to work it all with the lighting. That guy a few years ago named Shakespeare, he invented the world as a stage and we are merely players. He kinda set the scene for all of us to see the world that way.

So I was looking out my window and my camera was in it’s belt case. It was Mom the Ricoh GRII. I saw a train approaching on the other track and had feeling tho bring her our to do her thing. Now, my train is stopped and the other is actually going backwards of mine. I know, I know, I don’t get it either. So, I hold Mom and all the sudden, I see this woman and the light……CLICK!

The same thing happened here, same act, different player…….

Be blessed all… seey’s soon

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

September 20th, 2016 … Of Signals

September 20, 2016 streetshooter Leave a comment

I’m in town with Serendipity the Olympus Pen F and her 25mm lens that thinks it’s a 50mm. Anyway the light is bright and contrast is too. I walk on Market St and all the sudden, this woman get’s right in front of me with an umbrella. No rain, ain’t gonna rain and if and when it does, this corner won’t have rain anyway. No., it’s true I tellya it’s a dry corner…. oh hold on…yeah… really….oh my, silly me. Well, I stand corrected. It’s a dry corner cause there’s no alcohol permitted not because of rain, imagine that.

I raise the camera quickly and see some things that are cool….CLICK.

Ok, it’s obvious that the frame has a strength and energy that forces eye travel. What are signals? What are irritants? Show us in this image.

Lets start with Triangles. We look at her hand and we see a triangle with the fingers, then we see on her sweater, triangles….moving right along, we see the sigh behind her, triangles…..and then again, we see the 2 against the wall. These are signals that support the photo and also give eye travel a map to travel. We see the shaft of her umbrella and the cane from the man, more signals and more enjoyable eye travel. So, there are interrelationships in photos and maybe you don’t pay much attention to them. Maybe you don’t think they do anything or don’t work but let me tellya something. If you don’t pay attention to the syntax and language of what your doing, your viewers will do likewise. The need the direction to stay in the photo. Signals work mostly subconsciously but not always.

There is something called an irritant. I learned that from Peter Sheidt. It helps draw eye travel and usually is something not very important to the image. It’s like an activator or stimulator. The image does not depend on the irritant but the irritant keeps you in the image and that’s what it is about.

Polly and Susanna asked me to write about this because they feel that it’s good to know info. I suppose I agree but to tell the truth, writing this stuff is a bore for me on the blog. Put a camera in my hand, let me loose on the streets and I’ll write anything you want. I come to life out there and I need that energy to keep things going. People have told me i do a heck of a workshop and i appreciate that but on a stagnant blog, for me, it’s work.

So, in a day or two, I’ll be free to go out and work the streets again. Then I’ll feel like posting on the blog and get it more interesting.

Thanks for bearing with me during this rough time. Seeya’s in a day or two……shooter

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

September 9th, 2016 … The Zombies Eating My Camera Post …Oly Pen F-12mm

September 9, 2016 streetshooter Leave a comment

….oh yeah, you mean those crazy horror movies with zombies and politicians looking to eat people are all over the place? Yeah sure, I think it’s because of the heat. Early September, 930pm and 92F. That’s seems normal, well for them there horror movies but not here in NE Philly.

Sorry folks, just a conversation I was having with a guy trying to eat my camera. See, it’s that hot here and the Zombies and Zombie wannabe’s are out in force. You may know these Zombies as Junkies, Druggies, Politicians, Lawyers, and all the rest of these creatures…ya get the point. So, Walker the Oly Pen F that used to be Serendipity and I hit the streets. The Fall vibe wants to come in but really, it’s too damn hot. So we walked around and I hadn’t been out with Walker in a while and it was a treat. The 12mm (24mm) on him is a dream to work with.

I be a juxtaposing this and a juxtaposing that and it’s nice to have open space to fill. The thing is for me and maybe cause I’m older but I like stimulation. I mean stimulation vs inspiration. Inspiration pushes the mind and eye and heart to want to work. It’s great but some times, I need stimulation. Stimulation is what wakes you when your walking around and maybe a street zombie. I mean, ya have inspiration to work but for some reason, not doing much. Stimulation gets you awake and allows your inspiration to focus on you and your work.

This shot happened in a matter of seconds. I was inspired because I’m 1/2 of the Inspired Eye but all the sudden, this bus gets in view coming up the street. I looked and saw a car right in front of my view between the bus and me. I quickly moved to the car and it drove away leaving me space to …….CLICK!

So I walked around a little more and stopped at PJ Moriarty’s and sat and had a ice cold beer. I had a real beer, Bud……I haven’t had a beer since I met Bill a few weeks ago. As I left the Pub, the sun was brutal, like 96F and climbing. I have shorts on and a Red Tee Shirt cause it’s Red Shirt Friday to show support for our Troops. I walk across the street and the guy in the BMW missed me and turned and then this man….CLICK! Remember, this is 24mm so you can see how close I was. I am feeling my Fall groove growing even with the heat.

CLICK! …no brainer.

There’s something about man and the man-made environment that really charges me up. I love the way we get lost in what we create. The search for humanity amongst the the future relics is stimulating. Then the way the environment makes us conform to it and relinquish control and we just go along the paths that allow access. Then we get programmed along the way with out walk mans and flashing signs and un-flashing signs. The stench of the underground caused by homeless people because the politicians don’t count homeless cause they don’t vote and don’t have money to get ripped off by the system.

Then, then I walk thru the turnstile and CLICK! Damn, I love the streets and all the shit it provides to inspire and stimulate.

….no, I’m not done bitchin’ and complaining about things…. ain’t gonna be either…………….

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

August 21st, 2016 … Dealing With Rejection & Acceptance … The MUSE & The Mentor … Ricoh GR II

August 21, 2016 streetshooter 25 Comments

Again, I have been asked why I name my cameras and also suggest others to do likewise. Here’s the best reason I know. I hope you understand this and accept what maybe appear to be crazy delusional thoughts. I’m not waiting for a Greek Goddess to come to me and provide inspiration. They are all busy battling politicians around the world.

My thoughts altho many are shared amongst others. The Muse is a source of inspiration. Some think without a Muse, there is no creativity. Others believe that if you don’t provide a Muse with gifts, the Muse will stop inspiring you. So, there are millions of artist, painters, writers, poets, photographers etc all around the world. I thing the Muse support service is full and backed up so we need to find a way to inspire our efforts.

The Mentor is a source of information and energy that helps you handle what The Muse gives you. They are not the same. When you have an issue, you seek advice or support from the Mentor. So, really, the Muse is the Inspiration and the Mentor is the way to following the energy The Muse gives you. A mentor can offer feelings, words, whatever and help you get a grip on what you are doing. We can have a friend or whatever as a Mentor and it is very rewarding. The Mentor can help you edit work, suggest paths to follow, how to spend money on gear and a million other things.

Ding McNulty was a mentor for me. I mentor some people and we have a strong bond. So find someone with a good mind and understanding about your work and efforts and talk about them being a Mentor for you.

I have a very strong suggestion for a Muse. I feel that inspiration best comes from the internal energy in us. You can ask your Mentor about a group of images or exposures etc. The Inspiration, should be for the source of you. It’s not crazy. This demands that you see the work you do and that the Muse you need and have is your Camera.

I go out with Andre’ the Fuji X100T and work and he is the source of inspiration. I don’t want it any other way. I am accountable for my work and my energy I put into it. So, by naming my camera, I have placed my energy and the wonder of it all, into my camera. What this means is, when I go out to work, I am in touch with everything I need to be able to work. Essentially, my camera is a trigger mechanism when I work that is independent of any exterior forces. When I hold the camera, my psyche is linked to the creative forces and I get focused on the here and now.

Here’s the thing, we all do this even if unconsciously unaware of it. So, the sweetness of all this is, the reward of making your photos and being conscious of the magic you are living. When you view your work, you are connected because you were and are present during the process…..

Sure you can go out and hold a dead cold piece of metal in your hand and work, but for me, I’m holding Andre’ the Fuji X100T and I feel inspired because we are one with the process and the world while we are in it.

Tomorrow, back about Rejection & Acceptance.

Peace to all…………….

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer