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Taking pictures during the summer is a wonderful experience. You’re wandering
around in a tee shirt while the sun illuminates your images. The warm weather
draws other similar-minded folks and this camaraderie motivates and inspires
you. In the fall, the changing colors and crispness of the autumn air are heady—you
can’t wait to get outside again with a camera. Your weekends are spent
framing shots, exploring color, and developing pictures. Now this is lovin’
photography!
And then the winter hits. The holidays take up your time and energy. The weather
may turn cold, muggy and dim. Getting up for a sunrise is unthinkable when compared
to staying in your warm bed. Standing outside shivering is no fun, and it’s
hard to press the shutter release while wearing mittens. You’re overwhelmed
by too much work, too little exercise, and too little inspiration.
Your enthusiasm for making photographs doesn’t have to depend on the season.
But a lot of folks do hit a lull at the beginning of the year. So much is happening
that seems to tire you out, or there may be little to inspire you photographically.
So how do you rekindle that “lovin’ feeling?”
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Perhaps
there’s a theme that you’d like to develop, like photographing
horses in a field.
Photo © Craig Varjabedian, All Rights Reserved
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Here are some New Year’s Resolutions you may wish to consider:
1. Create Your Own Photo Project
Look over your past work. Are you currently working on a theme that you’d
like to develop, or is there a theme on which you’ve been tempted to focus?
Have you always wanted to create images of churches? Red cars or black dogs?
Trees, flowers, your children or grandchildren?
Start out by defining what you want to present to the world (or to your immediate
family and friends). Write it down and stick it on the refrigerator. Define
your objective so you can be clear: Why am I going out with my camera early
Saturday morning instead of sleeping in?
Let other people know what you’re looking for. Do you miss the camaraderie
that summertime offered? Then ask the neighborhood or your office-mates to keep
an eye out for potential subjects. Make sure you know what local weekend events
are happening where you might have the opportunity to make a good photograph.
Don’t get distracted. Of course, you should photograph the spaceship that
lands in your neighbor’s yard too, but your mission is to make those pictures
of red cars, black dogs or evergreen trees. You’ll be surprised after
just a few weeks how many great images of your chosen subject that you’ll
create.
The outcome of this project means you’ll have practice photographing and
editing your work (soon you’ll be able to pick out the photographs you
want to keep and discard those that didn’t work out the way you had hoped).
And you’ll be well on your way to creating a portfolio of your images.
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Traveling
to exotic locations can really motivate your photography.
Photo © William Plunkett, All Rights Reserved
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2. Buy an Inexpensive Camera
You may be out and about on the weekend with your prized camera. But what about
the rest of the time, like a workday or chore time? You may not take your good
camera to work or the grocery store. But what if you had a simple camera, inexpensive
enough that you can slip it in a bag or purse? Then you’re ready for anything.
You can make pictures during those brief moments when you’re early for
a meeting, when you have 15 minutes to kill before the next event, or when you
just have some free time and see something worth photographing.
Carrying around a simpler camera takes the pressure off you if you’re
afraid of losing or damaging your best camera. The pressure is off technically
too. This “spare camera” will allow you to hone your compositional
skills without being encumbered with technical issues such as lens and f-stop
selection. I like to use the least expensive 35mm or APS camera I can get. Currently
I use a Fujifilm Q1 APS camera, and I shoot whatever APS color-print film is
on sale.
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A
compact camera is great when you have free time and find a scene
worth photographing.
Photo © William Plunkett, All Rights Reserved
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