Well, to continue on our journey of, um maybe photographic madness….I think we need to address the unheard voices a little bit more. Some heard voices told me that it was imperative to do so. Now I may not always pay attention to the unheard voices but I like to address the heard voices even if I don’t pay them any mind, or if I choose to do so, pay them mind.
I think many are caught in the wave of trying to find themselves thru the masters. For instance, maybe you or someone you know admires Vivian Maier. Then you go to work and her work is in your mind. Maybe you decide to emulate her style and you start to get good stuff. Even if it’s just you that thinks it’s good stuff.
A few things. First and foremost, is the danger known or unknown of really trying to do work in her style. Then maybe you get some good feedback and maybe you start to think, wow, I can do Maier better than she did. Maybe you can and maybe, just maybe it don’t mean anything anyway.
Photography is a way of lie. It’s a way of living and satisfying the inner self and going for it.So, Life and photography and maybe a few other things like a real good orange, is not about living or doing things thru the mind.
Those who live life thru the mind miss the most important thing in all existence. THE HEART! Shooters get very wrapped up in the mind and how wonderful it is and how special MY MIND IS.
The shooter that is in touch with life or on the way to that plateau, is the one that lives by the heart.
So, doing your work and standing by the influences that you absorb, or adopt or just let in, will invariably cause much inner pain and dis-satisfaction. The hard part is to dissolve the barriers of what you perceive as success and allow yourself to become your own person and shooter. It’s not an easy task. It’s a task that not many will take and will eventually let it fall into the shadows of dark thoughts without feelings.
The shooter that wants to set freedom into the work will rely on the heart to direct the path.
more tomorrow……………..
The line that speaks most to me is this one: “The hard part is to dissolve the barriers of what you perceive as success and allow yourself to become your own person and shooter.”
Thanks Dan, it kinda got to me too. I wonder where all this comes from.
Interesting thoughts…………..I’m absolutely new to making photos. But not new to making images. I draw. In drawing I work not knowing. Not consciously thinking. Improvising. Following what the marks are making under my hand……………I am at the beginning of working with X100T Charlie. We are still getting to know each other. Spending lots of time walking through the bush. Only stopping for that split second shutter speed moment. Feeling the light. The bush. Listening to the silence……….no voices……………s
Sally,
What seems to happen is….one chooses a medium to work in and selects the tools to do it. Then after a while, the mind starts to relax and let the heart guide the journey. All the sudden the tools get a name like Charlie instead of X100T and then the heart goes to work and unites the eye and mind. Then you are just seeing and making photos as a unit in the here and now.
Of course you can always bugger it up but we need not get into that……
cheers, don
It’s Sunday here, I was thinking whole Saturday about it, and my head was full of these thoughts. I was out making photos and I was confused with sense of it. Than I was at home and checking if there was a new post on this blog. It wasn’t yet. Before I went to sleep last night an idea popped in my mind. I had to write it to my phone notepad…. it was…”seeking of inner freedom – in relation to my photography”. It felt some relief and some satisfaction.
Today, when I opened your new blog post I started to read…first and last sentence. Last sentence “shooter that wants to set freedom into the work will rely on the heart to direct the path”. Hmm, this is somewhat similar to the idea I had last night.
So, you confirmed my thoughts and I say : I understand, but I don’t know where it is going to lead me.
Pavel, thanks.
Ya know, one of the hardest things to overcome is preconceptions. We create them because we make a photo and it satisfies us and our friends and then keep going after it again and again to bring back that feeling. Maybe we get into the here and now when we go to work but that doesn’t mean we are alone.The point of all this, is to recognize not only where we are in the here and now but what and or who is with us.
More post coming….. glad you get something out of this.