Missed Opportunities

Thoughts on "doing the work"

Part of a quick group of “simulated sunlight” pictures I made last year to promote a cigar night I was responsible for arranging. Anyone interested regarding “simulated sunlight” feel free to ask in the comments.

Consider this week’s newsletter a “real world” follow-up to last week’s topic on “doing the work”. What work have I done in the past week? Specifically, what photographic work have I done? Here’s the confession — absolutely none. I made no photographs, not one, not even a crappy ill-conceived thoughtless cellphone picture. In those seven days the real world crept in, as it does for all of us. I won’t bother with the details of how busy I was but I felt a bit overcommitted with things I had to deliver to pay the rent as well as personal commitments that didn’t seem to have a lot of photographic opportunities.

A lot of that time was spent heads-down, hands on my keyboard, in front of my computer coding up two new websites for clients. The time that wasn’t spent there was in the car running from place to place, in a hurry. When the day was finished I felt spent. I didn’t have much left. This is the real-world for most of us, even those of us privileged enough to earn part of our living making pictures.

As I reflected on my lack of photographic productivity I didn’t beat myself up about it but I did seriously consider what stopped me from making photos and what the obstacles were. I considered the truth behind my lack of productivity. Technically I could have made some pictures of my web development work. Truthfully, my head wasn’t in it and doing so would really have compromised my ability to do that particular work. I would have been doing things to avoid doing the work at hand. Were there really no other opportunities? No that was a lie. I had plenty of other opportunities.

1. I spent two full days helping my Dad re-seal his huge driveway. We spent from 9am ‘til 7pm each day. Yes there were plenty of interesting pictures to be made.

2. I was the chief cook at my brother’s house making smash-burgers for the family Sunday dinner. Again, plenty of interesting pictures.

3. I took an hour one night smoking a great cigar on the porch enjoying the glorious weather in the mid-Atlantic we’ve been experiencing this past week.

There were plenty of opportunities to make a few pictures and to make them interesting, even some that may have contributed to small on-going projects or at least ideas for projects to come. “Doing the work” is what leads to meaningful project ideas and approaches. “Doing the work”, exercises all those visual and compositional and technical muscles we all need to be keeping in shape.

What stopped me? Why didn’t I pickup a camera during any of those obvious opportunities? Sloth, was one reason. Discipline or lack of it was another. Fear was a fairly big one which deserves a bit of an explanation, I’ll deal with that one in a bit. The first thing is that lack of discipline.

I am privileged to make a portion of my living making pictures, many of those photographs are “practical” but I know when I am in the role and mindset of making pictures. Because I do that many times a week I am in the making pictures mindset many times a week. I was not tasked to make pictures once in the last week, not one single thing I did had a component that included making a picture. I need to take on much more of a David Alan Harvey mindset regarding life. He has a knack and talent for participating in whatever activity he’s involved in, and just making pictures while he’s participating in the life of the place he happens to be in. A good mindset to develop.

Now let’s discuss the fear part of the equation. I am too fearful of exposing my gear to nasty conditions. Some of this is irrational. A lot of it is that I like nice things and don’t want to mess them up too badly, even my tools. Taring that driveway was a crap-show. I ruined a pair of shoes, multiple shirts, and two pairs of jeans. To a lesser degree the smash burger exercise was a mess, at least my hands were a mess. I would never pickup one of my cameras with hands that dirty.

These two things really made me consider buying a beat-up, working grade, half-dead camera so I never feel that way again. That would be a great investment to remove that article for a lot of opportunities on many projects. I am thinking “bargain” grade 5Dmk3 or 6D both of which can be had for sub-$300 mark. I’ll pair that with a bargain grade 50mm or 24-105 that will be my beater, no-fear camera.

One last thing

You may recognize the setting or vibe of the picture at the top of the post. It’s part of a quick batch of photos I made a year ago. I used one to illustrate how much white balance can matter even when making black and white pictures in a newsletter around that time. I made those pictures to promote “cigar night” for my mens group last summer. I happened to be responsible for arranging that particular occasion. We’ve had many of those since that time. I did not make one single photo of any of those occasions.

Reflecting on my lack of productivity this week there was one missed opportunity that really stuck in my head. That hour I spent smoking a really great Oliva after a hard day’s work on the front porch, looking out over the river in the balmy air of the evening. A great project opportunity right in front of my nose that I’ve never taking advantage of. I am thinking that is my next long-term project. I love those evenings. I have a cigar night with my brothers coming up this week. I am friendly with the owner of the cigar lounge right up the street. In fact I’m going to start today as I was lucky/unlucky enough to score some great deals on cigarbid.com last week that will be arriving as I write this. Why have I never thought of this before?

Something that is a semi-regular activity I enjoy. Something that intrigues me because of its diversity is the cigar-smoking culture that I am exposed to everywhere. Down the street, on vacation, around the country and around the world I have opportunities all the time, everywhere. All of these are photographically rich, they have everything from still life to life-style. I even have ready made venues that I am sure would appreciate anything good I happen to make. I merely need to remove the sloth and develop a bit more of that David Alan Harvey mindset. Wish me luck.

“Doing the work” even when you fail to do it can lead somewhere as long as you keep it in mind and reflect upon your failures.