The past two weeks have been filled with taxes, reorganizing my billing system and lots and lots of paperwork, in other words, the fun part of running your own business. I shot a few assignments and made a point to walk my neighborhood as often as being the father of an 8-week-old child would allow. During these walks I purposefully tried to turn the reasoning part of my brain off and rely more on intuition. It is in this place where I seem to shoot in a way that is very meaningful to me. But it is sometimes a difficult place to get to.
The white noise in life can be a lulling distraction. Add to that the dissonance of competing tasks and needs from other parts of your life and the intuitive voice from inside is easily drowned out. This seems to be more of a problem the closer you are to home. Familiarity can make the eye lazy.
In an effort to break out of this clutter, I am forcing myself to shoot everyday. And I am working a new personal project – well actually it’s more of an exercise than a project – which I think will help me to understand this process a little better. I tend to shoot quieter moments and I am drawn to photographers who do as well. I think these are the most difficult to see and capture. At least they are for me. They are very elusive and don’t call attention. What’s more, they are also usually difficult to shoot well. Sometimes they are the moments in between, sometimes they are down a road we don’t take or behind a door we are afraid to knock on. These are my issues. So my exercise is to try to get beyond the white noise and dissonant voices to a place where my intuitive voice guides me. To see the moments in between, and, maybe to take a good frame from time to time.
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