Tag Archives: Eye, Heart & Mind

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, Streetshooter

August 26th, 2016 … Time With Andre’

August 27, 2016 streetshooter 9 Comments

The change of seasons is starting to happen here in NE Philly. I hear tell, it’s like this in many places but I don’t believe it cause I can’t see it. So there are elements to deal with besides the cold air I love. The light will start to be magical in a new way and I love the cold harsh light and the deep shadows and dark tones that Fall & Winter bring. That light I find intoxicating and seek it even in warmer weather.

I was on my way back from the VA, not great results and I can’t walk like I used to, but my eyes are still tuned into what I feel about things. I saw they opened a pathway thru Market East. The light was shining in such a way that I had no choice but to go towards it. It appeared many others felt the same way. As I was walking, I felt there was too much space in the foreground and as I looked thru Andre’ the Fuji X100T, a man passed me on the right…..CLICK! I never get tired of seeing people going to the light.

Maybe I’m an old man or maybe an old man with a kids heart but I love the beauty of seeing light and how I respond to it. That’s what photography is about right? Capturing the beauty of light and life and present the illusion in two dimensions. Well, Andre’ the Fuji X100T is my friend and my Portal to my images.

I noticed decades ago that there were different experiences in seeing and making photos. I’ve tried to explain this many, many times, and yet I fall off the side when I do it for myself. Not always but many. There are times that I want to make a photo for a reason I don’t question and I am aware of being in the here and now. There are other times that I feel the same but there’s a certain presence that is like hanging over me and usually these photos are the ones I cling to most. The thing is, that looking back at my history, it’s a blur and I can’t remember anything. I can feel but not remember. It’s like when you give birth to a photo, you have to set it free and let it stand on it’s own. That doesn’t release you from accountability nor does it let you forget the experience of it.

It’s what we forget in life that catches up and torments us in the future. It’s what we remember in life that adds the flavor and elegance and desire to breathe. Same with photos. The ones that resonate thru the halls of your heart and mind are the ones that create the driving force to continue the quest.

When I was young, we would drive to Atlantic City, NJ to visit my Grand Parents. We took rt 30 East and I would look out the window of the car and I was making photos, but without a camera and not recognizing myself as a photographer. I would see all the passing glimpses of things and I recorded them all in my memory banks. Back then they were reel to reel tape.

The, we would pass the White Horse Farm and I would be jumping inside and never told anyone how excited it made me. Years would pass and turn into decades. On RT 30 East I still see The White Horse Farm. I made many photos of it but this time I felt different. I was with Tanya and as we made the approach to the farm, I started to feel that time was slowing down, maybe almost at a standstill. I can’t explain it but I felt kinda sad because looking at the farm, I could feel the years slip by of my life. I saw the young boy who was making photos without a camera but more than that, I felt a passing breeze of life and it’s history.

The recording of memories and experiences is what makes us photographers. All that history, memories, thoughts and feelings surfaces in the present to guide us gently into the future. Our photos are what makes us and what we make are our photos.

The thing to never ever forget, even tho you do one genre’ or another, nothing will live as long with meaning to others as the photos you make to record your life.

Philosophy of Street, Street

Streets During the DNC

July 20, 2016 streetshooter 2 Comments

Philadelphia, 2005

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m not a hero of the streets. I’m not a critic of social injustices or inequalities. I’m an observer. An observer with a camera and I damn sure know how to use it. I also have no issues chatting with anyone at all. Why mention this, well the DNC (Democratic National Convention is coming to Philadelphia. So there are workers putting caulk in the cracks on the pavement. I have hit a bump for over 20 years and it’s always been there. Now they ruined it by fixing it. I talked to a few homeless people and they are being carted off to some place to get a shower, fed and a bed to rest for a few daze and not because anyone gives a flying fuck about them, they just don’t want the politicians to see what they are accountable for but are too busy to do anything but make money.

The general mood on the streets is this is a big show for that 1% group that Hillary is always talking about that takes all the money from the 99%. I thought she was a 1%-er. Imagine that. The workers are cleaning windows in all the Market Street places. It will be very clean and easy to see what the politicians want to hide from but still look like they are our candidate and they are concerned.

I don’t mean to ramble and bitch about the politicians and the system. Fuck that shit. Damn right I d0. I’ think it’s a damn disgrace that someone can spend millions of dollars and have millions replenished by supporters and so many go without a meal. I ain’t going up to a home or car… I know countless people that can’t afford a meal.

I see it like this. Things aren’t going to change. We as people have a duty to other people to at least recognize the struggles of each other. No, we can’t count on the system to help but we can say high to each other on the streets as a sign of solidarity. As long as we think that we are the 99% group, we will be that and it will never change.

What’s this have to do with photography? Well, it’s the subject matter that counts. You either see it or you don’t.

That works for many and most but the streetshooters are the poets of our world and they aren’t satisfied just seeing it….

THEY LIVE IT!

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Missing Edmund Bacon

June 22, 2016 streetshooter 12 Comments

There is an elegance to breathing. It’s the one thing that keeps us above ground. It’s the common denominator to all human beings, even those that may not be as human as others, breathing.

There is a musician that said, “Love is the Seventh Wave”…I think his name is Sting, some Bass player or something. What he said tho, is very important because it establishes the rhythm of life. So then if there is a rhythm to life then breathing is the elegance of the living and hence, the Elegance of Life.

Well, that simple enough to digest so why am I writing this stuff now? Because photography has a rhythm to it. Making…(we doin’ need no takin; ’round here)… photos somehow has to have a rhythm to and we need to explore that. I been aware of this maybe phenomenon, for a long time and I just been going over things I learned thru my life.

I find that sometimes I feel like Coltrane, just going along with my internal rhythm and flowing. Other times I feel like Muddy Waters and other times like Respighi.

I spent time with Edmund Bacon. We did a book together called..”Murder of the Little Stream”. Basically, it’s about how the City of Philadelphia wanted to expand the Northeast section of the city. They all smoked their cigars and sat back in leather chairs and decided that they would fill the Neshaminy Creek and PennyPack Creek. The engineers and city planners and architects and Mayor and the whole gang were convinced that was what should be done. Then they would make many, many boxes for the residents to live in. It was a plan without Rhythm or Heart.

Then riding in on his Magic Unicorn waving the Flag of Humanity, Sir Edmund Bacon smashed the door down to the dungeon where all bad and stupid people and thoughts were in hiding. . He said, open your minds, open your eyes and open your hearts and let me shine the light of history future for you.

One day Ed had a task for me. He always had a task and I always looked forward to them because I loved the guy and thought he was an Angel of Mercy on the earth. Ed said, I need a photo of an egg with the red veins in it. I didn’t want to ask why even tho I was very curious.

My wife at the time and I drove about 50 miles to a place that had such eggs. (I think they are called fertile but don’t hold me to that)…We bought a dozen eggs. I was very excited because I knew there was a good life lesson coming soon.

So we got home and I set the View Camera up. The camera was an 8×10 Deardorff named Margaret. So, my wife made a plate with a clear background and together we started making the photos. I didn’t exactly know what Ed wanted but i was sure the he would tell me what he didn’t want.

So, I shot the whole dozed eggs individually. I made silver contact prints on Azo. We went to Ed’s and we all sat down and I handed the prints to Edmund. He flipped thru the prints rather fast and I was upset but waited. Then, then the 10th print, the one I prayed was right, the 10th magical image caught Ed and I noticed a tear in his eye.

He looked at me and said, stand up Don. We both looked at the print and he told me the story how when he was a little boy, he cracked an egg open and saw the veins like this one. He starred at it and immediately know that the cities we live in are like an egg or a cell.

He explained to me that the yoke is the center of the city and thus, the center of life. The clear white was the surrounding areas and the veins are the roads and highways that transport life to all in and around the city.

He looked at me and said, I know you understand. Yes, Ed, I do.

Ed and I used to walk Market Street and I mean walk. He could walk miles without tiring.He would tell me about how he designed Market East and show me things and then he asked me, “Don, why do you make photos in Center City all the time?”.

I explained to him that Life has a rhythm and it’s not always in time with others but I feel and breathe this rhythm and it gives me life. Center City is the yolk of the egg and I live on the clear white part and I take public transportation everyday to get here like the veins in the egg.

The moral of this story, the moral of this song, is that one should never be where one does not belong. (Bob Dylan)

So I suppose the point I’m making is that, we all have a place in the world. It is your duty to your soul and your essence to discover yourself and where you belong. Your camera will do the work asked of it and make the photos you desire. …but if your not in sync, or rhythm with yourself then you can’t be with the world.

So, my friends. Don’t let things get you out of place. If you feel that maybe you don’t fit in with those around you, hat your work isn’t up to par, well…. just sit back and imagine that they are all wrong because you are your own person and you need to be right for you, if you fit in with others, good if not….. as long as you recognize you and what you do….nuff said

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

The Truth of the Lie

June 5, 2016 streetshooter 2 Comments

When I was younger and a real photographer I had all kinds of tools. I had a Color Meter and still have it but don’t use it. I would look at a scene and determine the color temperature with my meter and then what filter to use and how to expose the film. Color was a very mechanical process for me and the aesthetics was secondary. Sad huh. Yup and the reason I stopped for my personal work.

Now that I’m older it’s not that I can still take color temp, it’s that I don’t care anymore I care about my work and love but as far as tweaking exposures, I’ll leave that to the younger crowd. I just wanna make photos. For me it’s aesthetics first and my interpretation of them that matters. So, what I’m dealing with is that B&W and Color are the same language. They are the same because they are photography. That gives them a common ground. So if the language is the same, where then are the differences? I believe it’s the syntax of each. Each has it’s rules and you choose to either except, reject, challenge or ignore those rules. Then when you decide what to do, you need not be stuck in the rut of repeatability. That’s right. You have the right to keep everything as flexible as you wish.

How long does an illusion have to exist and work before it becomes real? Here’s what I mean. We all know and accept that a photograph is 2 dimensional. What we perceive as depth in the image is merely an illusion. It is a mind game that we all love and feel connected too and apply freely.

Well, I wonder how long this illusion of depth has to be, before it’s not an illusion anymore? When does the illusion of depth get accepted as truth? In fact, when does a photograph get accepted as truth? We all now that a photo is a lie. So if in fact it is, where is the truth of that lie? The truth of the photo is the photo itself. There is no illusion, no link to 3 dimensions, no escaping that the photo is, it’s own lie and it’s own truth.

I don’t care to guess how many photos have been made so far up to this point. I do state that the illusion of depth is now an accepted part of the syntax that is used, now silently, in making and viewing photos. The same holds true for color vs B&W.

So, what does the shooter have to deal with in terms of doing Color vs B&W?

Stay tuned for the next post and I will share the thoughts brewing in me poor head.

Street Photography

Thinking Color … RICOH GRII

June 3, 2016 streetshooter 6 Comments

Well, I suppose that I ain’t all cleared in my mind yet. Oh, my brain is not on vacation so that’s not the issue.I don’t know that there is an issue and if there is an issue is it an issue I need to be concerned about?

I been enjoying roaming the streets of Center City Philadelphia with Mom the Ricoh GRII. It’s tourist season so I am feeling my oats, so to speak. Something that has been gnawing at my back is the reading of photos of B&W vs Color. I have been critiquing photos from some friends here in Philly so they can submit to various things. This is some shooters that have taken a workshop with me. I offer never ending support and most take advantage of that. The word I use, never ending, may be a mistake at times.

One of the most difficult things to work on is the way the print is assembled. I say assembled because that’s really what happens and always did happen. Every step from holding the camera to presentation is apart of the assembly procedure. So if that’s the case, and it is, any given point may add to or detract from the finished print. There are 2 main considerations that will control the eye travel of the viewer. The first is, Aspect ratio. This is the rectangle or square that you compose your frame in. The most common are 3:2 and 4:3. This is not so say that others aren’t important, just that these 2 are the most popular. In fact I have a natural affinity for 16:9 but haven’t perused it for long time.

So, the visual Dynamic of the box or frame has an enormous impact on eye travel and the final image. It behooves us to at least understand the frame we choose to work in.

Another very key element that really is taken for granted is B&W vs Color. This seemingly simple decision can and will make or break the image. I remember at the Museum with Ding, he showed me some prints and they were in color. I can’t recall the photographer but just the experience. See, this is KEY! I remember almost every photo I saw there in B&W but this group was in color and I can’t remember the shooter. Back then I was a Leica shooter and just used B&W films. I never cared for color. Now, I don’t distinguish between the 2 to the point that it mandates my thinking or feeling. Now, my only concerns are breathing and really spending time till the end of my life breathing.

I have the tendency to find my own tonal scale in B&W. I always did that in my darkroom and I’m told that i have a palate that is mine. Now it seems I have something similar in digital. I admit it’s a shared palate. So, me brain is thinking, maybe, just maybe we need to understand color in our own palate. So I am analyzing my thoughts and feelings towards color and the effect if has on my prints and more importantly, my vision.

Now, lets clear the air. I have done color in the past even with serious intent. Now with this new life cycle, I decided to do color with a new set of thoughts. I was asked a short while ago, why I write this stuff? Well, I guess because I have to and someone has to do it. I replied, if you need to ask why I write this stuff, you don’t belong here.

I suppose I’ll continue this but for now, I need to rest again.

Color, Street Photography

Ricoh GRII

May 17, 2016 streetshooter 12 Comments

One of the beautiful things with digital photography is that you have a choice of Color or B&W. Back in the day, I always carried 2 M bodies so I could have both films to work with. Now of course, most time you need 1 body. My friend Roger is an avid Leica collector for 50 years, with more cameras that any store. He sent me the M Mono when it came out and he was so excited. Eveyone was, a B&W camera, sooooo cool and soooo great…until you need a color image. Now ya get back to me with my 2 M6’s.

Anyway, the difference between the 2 is more in the mind then the film or camera. I figure it like this. Bear with me as I use terms maybe the wrong way but the way I need to use them. Photographs are on a 2 dimensional surface. The are born from an idea and maybe a scene or something in the 3 dimensional reality most of us share. There happens to be an abstraction from 3 dimensions to 2 dimensions. One of the mosr important things lost in this abstraction is, space or depth. So the photo is as some think, an illusion of the reality it was captured from. It is no longer the reality in 3 dimensions. It now takes on a new reality in 2 dimensions. It’s alive! It has it’s own life and energy.

Here’s some magic. I know youse all know this stuff but I need to write it down so it looks good, ok. If we now take our photograph, which is a new life and see it in color cause we made it a color photo, we have something to deal with on a conscious level. That is, the viewer most likely will use the color photo to transfer the reality in the mind of the image back to the sourse. For exaample….wow, yeah, I know where that is…..or…you nailed that green perfectly. I know that door.

Now, there’s never any one way to do anything in this world. But we are shooters and we are reading shooter’s stuff cause it’s better than washing the dishes. Color has a way of softening the abstraction to the 2 dimensional reality, better known as the photo. Color eases the translation of the visual syntax of photography. It helps to define the meaning and process.

If we were to abstract even more than 3 dimensions to 2 dimensions, and strip the color away, we would have a b&w image. What does that do? Well, it now makes our abstracted image even more distant from the sourse of reality that it was born from.

Ya know what I love about photography? Well, no answers so I’ll tell ya. Photographs give the illusion of being something they are not. A photo is an entity upon itself. It is not what it appears to be. It is it’s own seperate reality. Unfortunately, photos suffer from many things in the reality that they live in. Things like memory, sentiment etc. These things plague the life of our work. People look at the photos and recall a memory of something that the photo sparks. There’s nothing wrong with that and it’s a very powerful, iimportant thing to deal with.

Well, color supports all that and more. B&W on the other hand has the power to stand on it’s own but we as shooters and viewers, won’t allow that to happen. Ideally, looking at a photograph, we only see the world that lives as the image. Even in b&w, we force the memory and sensory input to make the photo relate to some other reality. That reality is different from the photo. There really is a contradiction of terms but we probably don’t want to deal with it.

When I do a workshop, the single most important thing people want to understand, is:…the abstraction to a print. Making the world in a frame and flattening it out. Framing becomes something new because you become aware of the way things get flat. The illusion of space or depth is a stronger illusion in color. The eye travel not only seeks to learn about the subject matter, but also to understand the relationships of the color.

Our lady above is being seduced by a few things. The obvious thing to us is the color. After I made the photo, she asked my why I made it. I told her that I found it very interesting that she was wearing the T Mobile color. She said, “get out… I didn’t know that. I stopped here cause I was comfortable here.”

I have to get to rest….. I need my 3 hours sleep………. seeya’s later, be blessed alls……

……to be cont’d……….

Street Photography

Fuji X100T

May 14, 2016 streetshooter 8 Comments

See, Andre’ the Fuji X100s was passed on to Olivier. Then I started missing him instantly. When we took Olivier and Andre’ the Fuji X100s to the airport, I had a sick feeling and a feeling of loneliness inside me. I felt empty.

Then as Olivier jumped out of the car, I felt a presence inside my soul. I knew who it was. Quickly I ordered a Fuji X100T and in a day, it was here. I loaded it with a fresh charged battery and turned it on…..

Then, then by the grace of Mother Light, I felt the presence do kinda like Astral Travel from my soul to the Fuji X100T and it gave life to the empty camera.

I watched as Andre’ did his magic to the camera. Now here’s the thing. Fuji cameras are wonderful and do a great job but they come alive when working with a shooter that gives them a name and creates a synergism with them. I did that, well Andre’ and I did that.

Clarification

Part of the idea of naming a camera is to:Unite the eye, heart and mind with the process of photography. Sure, you can be a knucklehead and just meander thru life and just not be so attached to everything. That’s called, it’s your life so do as you please and just leave me alone. procedure.

I see it like this. Andre’ is not just a camera. He’s a metaphor for my existence as a photographer. So, when I say Andre’, it means every facet of my photographic life. Why do I do that? Why shouldn’t I and why don’t you. When there is an attachment like this, for me, it’s let’s me become at one with what I’m doing. It is a conscious awareness of the eye, heart and mind in the here and now.

I have had many cameras in my life but never kept a single one that didn’t allow me to name it.

Besides, we all need a place to put the guilt or blame for things, right? When a shot don’t turn me on, it’s not my fault, it’s Andre’s or another camera I was out with. See, not so stupid, huh, huh?

I hope you all have a blessed weekend, and life but really just this weekend and it becomes very productive cause I only get so many blessings to give out and can’t keep them so I pass them on to all youse and yes I may be crazy butt it’s all about life and being awake while you live it cause when we are dead I don’t think there’s battery chargers up there or down there so let’s keep things together here……

Street Photography

Unheard Voices … The Stance

May 11, 2016 streetshooter 18 Comments

How we do battle with the demons inside us and even the ones waiting to get in, determines how well we adjust and carry on with our work. I call this, “The Stance”. Why? Well, we are bogged down with baggage that we generate and we pick up from others. So we need to adjust our stance to make due with the battles ahead. It is battles because these things intrude on our process and have an effect on the print and there’s no way of preventing it. No way of preventing it from happening over and over again.

I remember way back when the sky was a real blue, I would bring prints to Ding and he would look carefully at them and most times say something like…. “Nice, keep going.”

I mean after all, the prints he had all over the place was very intimidating to me. In a short time I was reluctant to bring any to him.

Then he said something to me that I try to live by….”When you feel that you are present in the photo, enough to want to stand by it under any and all conditions, let me see it.” Easier said than done and time went buy and I didn’t bring him anything at all. In fact, I didn’t want to go to him anymore cause I was intimidated.

After a time, I made some prints I really cared about. It’s not that I didn’t care about the others, it’s that I felt I was in these new prints. I took them to Ding and he sat patiently and looked at them. I had 6. That’s right, 6 prints and it took me maybe 4 months to get them. Ding had this look on him that is like scrutinizing the very fiber of the paper. It’s like he was sniffing the Thiosulfate and Perma Wash. Then he looked at me and said, as he held up a print….”this is beautiful, you nailed it”….I looked at him with an innocence of a young boy looking at his father for approval.

The he held up the other 5 and said, ” Don, I don’t have words for these but I would love to have them in my personal collection.”

Now, I’m not really the one at a loss for words. I may not always have polite words but I have words I tell ya…..I just sat there and had a complete realization that I WAS a PHOTOGRAPHER, for real. What Ding did for me at that moment has never been equaled in any manner. I’ve had over 50 One Man shows, countless group shows, sold many prints, works in collections, museums, collectors and yet, I was born with those words Ding said to me.

I felt an energy come into me, not over me but into me. What was born back then was not just me as a photographer but a photographer with a stance. I mean it gave birth to a realization of my own self worth. I don’t mean ego cause I keep that away from me as much as possible.

I felt that I should trust my instincts on all manners and without wavering from outside input.I knew that I knew my craft and I was ready for a lifetime of doing it. I don’t practice photography, I live it. I don’t just make photos, my photos define me as well.

So the STANCE is a frame of mind that overcomes all forms of input and energy that tries to enter your SPIRIT. We will never rid ourselves of all the crap that attacks us but we can develop a STANCE that overpowers it all. It requires being strong enough to take cuts and abuse and lack of interest in your work. It requires a firm appreciation of the whole that we are and a total committed love of what we do and why we do it and how we do it.

We are shooters after all…. what could be better…..?

Inspired Eye, Street Photography

Unheard Voices

May 6, 2016 streetshooter 8 Comments

Well, apparently I’m not the only one thinking about my work. I got some nice emails from readers here and even some post about the situation. Oh yeah. it’s a situation alright. It’s bi-partisan also.

I happen to really like the above photo. No matter what others think and or feel….I like it, I feel it and glad that I made it. Enter the Flickr crowd. No I am a Flickr-ite so it’s ok for me to comment about the madness there cause, I’m maybe the most madneser guy there.

It’s not easy to stand up for yourself amongst the crowd. We all want to be accepted and appreciated.To let that influence what and how and why we do things is a problem. Actually it’s many problems on a multitude of levels.

Ok ok… check this stuff out…… your looking at someones work. You check the meta data out and see that person is working with a Fuji X100T You don’t have that camera BUT YOU KNOW YOU NEED IT!

That shooter was in Paris and you can’t walk there….BUT YOU HAVE TO GET THERE! That shooter is very sensitive to the darkness and you always do bright sunny or overcast light…BUT YOU KNOW YOU NEED TO SHOOT IN THE DARKNESS.

C’mon, I’m the worst of the lot of us. I have 1400 cameras, airline tickets to every city in the world and a guide in each city to show me the streets cause I’m too fucked up to know ANYTHING ANYMORE!

Ok, so here’s something for youse to chew on. In my interviews for the Inspired Eye Magazine, I ask a question about going out to work alone of with others.

99% of the interviewed answer, alone. Now I find that a very interesting question and the answer seems so simple but it’s the most crucial question you will ever be asked. Your answer to that determines how in touch with what your doing you are.

Here’s what I mean. Photography is a 2 dimensional art form. I rather think it’s really a 3 dimensional art form and the 3rd dimension is not space but the mind. Of course those with a spaced out mind, are ok and this applies to them also.

When you go out to work and your alone, just you and your NAMED camera and your in a place you like to work, are you alone? Most of course will say yeah, I like to work alone.

You are not alone. You are out there with all the things people say about your work, all the things you see in other peoples work, all the stuff that you want to improve upon, all the energy that is churning around in your mind and much of it is placed there by others.

It’s the unheard voices in your head that will overcome you and make you surrender your self to them. Those voices dictate what you see and how you see and why you see it and what you use to capture it.. They do not have your best interest at heart. They are there and they force their will upon us in many ways, location, camera, processing, everything.

Ever hear the expression….”Misery loves company.” It’s true. Why do you think we all get married?

It’s the weekend. Olivier and I have the presses going strong to get the new issue out to everybody. I will seeya all very soon…

chew on this stuff and don’t be afraid to let me know your thoughts…..

….to be cont’d………

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer