I’ve been thinking a lot lately.
One of the things I’m really good at is staying in my head, constantly thinking and contemplating.
Everything but doing the work or creating images. And I’ve come to realize that I need to have a narrative to my work. Putting images up on social media is where everyone's eye and attention is. But bite-sized likes and comments aren’t fulfilling me at the moment.
How you spend your days is how you spend your life
This is something I constantly think about. And wonder if the way that I live my life is enough? Is it OK to write my thoughts here, take some photos, work and pay my bills? Nothing more nothing less. Is that ok to have an underwhelming, mediocre life?
Why should anyone care about your work?
Why should anyone care about your work? Why should someone care about what you are writing about for example? We all think we are special, that we deserve attention, and that what we are doing is the most important thing in the world or our field of expertise. I'm sorry to say this but if the majority of people think this, then it becomes a double negative and makes everything meaningless or not as important as you hoped. So why should someone pay attention to you and your work?
What is wrong with living a life of mundanity?
What is wrong with living a life of mundanity? Why always strive to make a difference, to create, to have a legacy? Why do we believe that we must be more than what we are? Why do we subconsciously strive to live past our own lifespan? Is it possible to accept our average life like an ant in a colony, a bee in a hive? We are just a tiny aspect. So why do we feel shame and guilt when we just live; and experience, void of productivity?
It's not the person behind the camera that is important, but the person in front of the lens that is.
A lot of photographers are forgetting this one important aspect of a photographer. That photography, the person or subject should be more important than the photographer. We are not celebrities, we are not talent, we are not history. We are storytellers, archivers, and documenters.
Photography is selling us a lie
When it comes to what photography is predominantly used for in our society, documentation; or to put it simply to sell us a feeling or product. An extraordinary amount of advertisements focus on three emotional components to manipulate us. This idea is that whatever they are selling will bring us happiness, love, status or luxury. But advertisements wouldn’t work well if they focused on what we really need. Is advertisement or our focus photography selling us a lie?
Your thoughts and beliefs aren't real
Purpose, meaning, spirituality, religion, motivation, goals, dreams, aspirations. If you really think about it are all fabrications. Man-made, and predominantly in your head, things not of the physical world. I would say that anything your mind can think up isn't real. Go with me on this.
You're focusing on the wrong thing?
When you think about what we need to focus on, money, our health, family, rent, debt, what camera to use, how to get clients the list can go on forever before even looking at the fundamental elements all photographers need to focus on. Your audience.
Why take photos
It’s a hard and easy question, depending on how deep you want to go.Many people want to capture a moment, archive a memory. Some people want to express themselves or other peoples stories. Some want to show you something, be it a travesty or crime to a shiny object to entice you to buy it. For others capturing a photo is meditative or therapy. We all have our own reasons to capture a photo.