Twas the night before the 25th and all thru the house, not a camera was stirring, not even, hey shooter, what the heck are you doing? It’s November silly. sheeeesh XMAS is a month away.
The winter is arriving soon. I’m told that I should expect this to happen soon. Actually, I love the change of seasons. Temperature changes and it gets colder…yeah…yeah… the light, yup the light gets clean and bright. The air is cold and moist and chills my bones all the way thru… yeah… yup. My hands get so cold I can’t feel my camera. Yeah… I love the friggin winter.
So what does happen is that the complacency of seeing the same things all the time really wakes up the mind. Andre’ the Fuji X100s is the perfect companion all the time because he allows me to work the way I choose and yet he opens my mind to other possibilities also. Gently but he does. See, cameras have the ability to intrude on your vision. What I mean is you decide to make a photo and the camera either supports that or it doesn’t. Sometimes with Andre’ I find myself needing the EVF and when that happens, and it happens fast, it makes me feel that the camera is helping me make the photo. Beings a really big advocate for the screen, Andre’ has that too.
What this means is not megapixel, screen brightness, grip, anything like that at all. It’s about opening your mind and having a camera that can assist in that process.
Making photos should be about what YOU see and feel in life, not what others put upon you. So maybe we should be more selfish making photos because we only need to satisfy ourselves. Sometimes we satisfy others too and that’s very nice but should not be the motivator or goal of your intent. So it’s good to make photos of things you normally don’t make photos of. It helps to remove the guilt of doing something you fell is not up to your standards. It also helps to reshape your preconceptions and alter your mind and vision. This gets you to see things differently and helps to stop getting complacent.
There’s a beauty in the ugliness of the world. Then there is an ugliness in the beauty of the world. If we approach everything as if it’s the last time we’ll see it, maybe it’s possible to live with both. What’s important is to not pre-judge yourself or anything around you. Pre-judging is kinda like being really close minded as you seek your images. It’s ok because it’s another way of being selective. This may or may not be good. You have to decide. This pre-judging happens before exposure because it’s a process of selection of subject matter.
The danger of course, is that one gets kinda boxed in the frame and can’t see outside of ones self’s frame. Probably many photos are lost at this point.
Preconceptions are pre-judgements that have anchored into our images after exposure and that have a direct impact on the viewer of the images. An example is a title. Many but not all titles can limit what your viewer gets from the image because you may have anchored a preconception to the entrance to the image. The same is true with cameras and lenses.
I could very easily say the Andre’ the Fuji X100s can’t do many things on the street or anywhere’s for that matter because he limits me to 35mm FOV. I could say that and it may be true but I won’t say that because it’s not true but it is sometimes but it’s just how I look at things and not always how I thinks about things si it maybe true and maybe not.
There was a Doctor named, Dr Murray Banks. He was a shrink. He told a story about 2 kids. One was an optimist and the other was a pessimist. Each was placed in a room filled with horse manure. The pessimist started complaining like.. get me out of here, there’s manure everywhere.
The optimist was digging around the manure and said, where’s theres manure, there’s gotta be a horse.
I’m gonna ride that horse and take Andre’ the Fuji X100s with me and hopefully I may find some things to look at that I never paid attention to before. If not, I’ll try to make photos of things that I may never see again.
shooter out……………………………………………………………………………………………….
As you have so often said, Don, it is the shooter not the camera, but we do have our favorites, but you seem to stick with one or two longer than some of us. 🙂
Dan, Thanks again. Ha know I don’t think I can find a better camera than the X100s for what I use it for. If it wasn’t that good, I wouldn’t have it.
Awareness and approach for me is what it is all about. How is the X30?
Lynn, The X30 is a great camera. I surprised at how well it works and the IQ. It just does more than I expected and I won’t be getting rid of it any time soon. I’ll post the comparison to the X100s shortly.
Looking forward to this comparison. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks Keith, it won’t be long now.
Thank you, Don. Wonderfull and true last paragraph. And some lovely photos.
Thanks Tommi. You keep inspiring me and I’ll keep shooting and writing.
Wonderful article.Very thought provoking.
Thanks and now that I know you like it, I’ll keep writing like this.
Don
Hey Don,
Finally got to see your new blog – smooth! I like the look, the dark background helps the shots pop off the page (as if they needed it!).
Sadly, I can no longer read the blog pages from work (restrictions on viewing certain content, like Flash and Java driven pages). So it’s home only from now on.
Great sequence on the MOH winner – being a Brit, I didn’t experience ‘Nam but I know a couple of Aussies who were there and understand it was hell. I hope everyone paid the right respects.
I hope your neck is improving, I’m only a year or two younger than you, but thankfully still solid enough to engage in contact sports (rugby) and hate to think what it’s going to be like in a couple of years when I finally have to give it up. I don’t think I can become a referee – you have to be a player, don’t you?
Anyway, keep up the great work and stay well 🙂
John,
Thanks for your thoughts and support. The new blog is nice but needs constant tweaking but in time I’ll get it. The neck issue, well acupuncture is my friend. I hope I can amuses you and will do my best.
Don
Hey Don, Good news! Somebody fixed something on the work browser and you are back filling my lunchbreak with Streetshooter goodness 🙂 Thanks for being so honest with us 🙂
Thanks John. I can’t lie about the honest thing but I must be honest about what I can’t lie about. I’m hoping to kick off full swing by Monday and have the post flowing on a steady stream.
I’m glad you worked out your access issues. Now if I can get past the Russian, my husband spends too much time on the computer person, alias, da wifey, things will go well.
Don
Thanks for another enlightening post Don! Look forward to each and every one. Take care.
Thanks Dave. Your probably too nice of a guy to hang out here but we thank you for doing so.
Don
Ya know Don, if applied in the right soil, beauty can come forth out of horse manure. Today is small business Saturday, I think I’ll hop on my horse, go to town & catch something beautiful.
Thanks and watch those damn flies on your french fries….lol
Don, you almost fooled me with those photos…I really can not focus properly unless it’s B&W…but than I understood those orange pilons…Ok, it looks nice in color…(just this time…!)
JG, thanks. I had an old age moment and it happens sometimes. Color creeps into my work and I have to deal with my friends like you that take notice.
I will try harder and better in the future…. ahhh bulldinky, sometimes I uh… forgot what I was thinking… another old age moment…..