Impulse

• I assigned too much meaning to it. Once, inspired by Robert Hume Kennerly’s book Photo du Jour, I tried to keep a photographic journal. Each day I would to create a photograph that represented my day; a visual document of my existence. So, it had to have meaning. It had to have importance. It had to be good. So, I never took a picture. My expectations were too high - it’s just practice after all. I’d hardly expect that each of Yo Yo Ma’s daily practice sessions could become a platinum selling CD. There’s a difference between grandiose and just screwing around.
• I procrastinated. Have you watched this movie yet? Have you gotten sick of me mentioning it?
• I invented creative barriers. “The light sucks.” “I don’t feel creative.” “It’s raining so nobody’s going to be outside.” These are all excuses. As zen-master photographer Mike Manzano often told me, you have to look at your disadvantages creatively and turn them into advantages. Plus, I live in Seattle - time to get used to the rain.
• I invented technical barriers. “It’s sunny out and I’ve got a pushed roll of 1600 in the camera.” “I don’t think anything’s going to be good, I should shoot digitally but I don’t have a good digital camera.” “I don’t want to carry around all those lenses.” (Maisel’s got a great antidote to this: “As soon as I looked through the lens, I realized I wanted the other lens back. But that’s always what happens.”). Similar to the creative barriers, these are just excuses. A camera is a dark box with a hole in it and a bit of glass. That’s all it is. It’s the art of wrapping a frame around something in the real world and knowing precisely when to snap that frame. I don’t need all the fancy gear to do that.

So, I’ll keep all this in mind and take another shot. For this first trial week, I’ll try to update this post with my favorite pics. Well, the ones I shoot digitally, that is. Chemical pics, like those I shot today, to come later.

I suppose it’s more bloggish to do separate postings for each, but my brain is overly hierarchical after 15 years in the computer industry and blogs don’t lend themselves to nesting…

Update: Couldn’t resist:

Update: I’ve decided to put daily pics up on Flickr instead of continuously updating this post. Click me.