Living With Street Talk … Living With Yourself

05-15-0206-Edit

Sometimes I get tuned into things that I don’t know I’m tuning into. It’s just cause I’m old now and don’t give a shit unless I can make a photo I like. I got 2 here, I mean there’s others sleeping but these two kinda do it for me. I was walking down Market and right in front of the Federal Courthouse, all these people blocked my path. I mean the nerve of these people. I have to make photos, get the hell outta my way. No, they got their fancy dance TV stations all over and every is racking up some of their 15 minutes. I’m in real close cause Andre’ the Fuji X100s told me to get close then get closer. Wonder where he got that from, imagine that.

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So I did get in there and a few Fed agents were probably nervous but that’s ok cause I don’t give a shit right. Here’s something to ponder. It’s not easy to digest and act on but you really must in order to achieve self satisfaction.

Defining your photos is the most important thing you will ever do. I don’t just mean the content. It means content election, timing,approach, presentation and some other things I can’t remember this moment. When your working hopefully you know what your stuff is and that helps you find it. What makes us different from everybody else is not location or camera etc. It’s your eyes. How you plug your eyes into what you are seeing is the key. Then seeing the photo in your mind is the goal. It’s called Pre-visualization. Ok, no one can do it all the time but think about it like this. In your mind you have a preset that you feel is your vision. So when you raise the camera to make the photo, the preset should activate.

In LightRoom there are presets and you can make your own. The mind needs to think like a preset or it’s lost. Some might say that this is making preconceptions. It is and even if you don’t work this way, you have preconceptions about a photo or you wouldn’t make it. What I’m saying is, don’t live by others preconceptions. Make your own so you recognize your work.

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There is no one way to do anything in life. There is no path to take to get you to the magic garden. It’s inside you and always was. It’s up to you to fight and say, “I am me and good or bad, these are my photos. I love them because they are me and I am them and they do not exist without me and I don’t want to exist without them. ” That means that you have committed to your work and committed to make a signature that you recognize.

If your out there trying to fit in to the IN Crowd or to be accepted by others, well I pity you and you have my condolences for a wasted life. I the end we all get to lay on our death bed and that’s not the time to be sorry about what you did with your life, it’s the time to say, hey, I did what I felt was right and I made what suited me. I am ready to go to the other side.

Excuse me, do they have battery chargers over there?

2 thoughts on “Living With Street Talk … Living With Yourself”

  1. Don – I like the idea of having a pre-set in the mind … or as you say – a pre-visualization of the photo you want to make. I think I do this sometimes, even though I may not always be aware of it. I think in doing street photography it starts to become instinctive over time. Take care and thanks for another thought provoking post.

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