Life is too short to be prudent and to “plan” for the future. Perhaps to live a happier life we should live more recklessly, dangerously, and take more epic risks in things which interest us, or things which were curious about.
Perhaps to maximize our creativity, we should cycle.
Cycle between the cameras we use, cycle with our different focal lengths, cycle with our aesthetic (color or monochrome, or post-processing style) and cycle with the places we live.
Essentially — the idea is to never desire stasis, and to never desire staying the same/consistency/predictability/sameness.
It seems we are all obsessed with ‘photography projects’, or ‘art projects’. It seems the bias is that if we are ‘serious’ photographers or aspire to become more ‘serious’ in photography, we need to work on a concentrated/focused/’serious’ photography project.
But is this all nonsense? What is even the definition of a ‘project’? Let me try to essay some thoughts below:
I think we photographers desire to always be inspired/motivated to make photos which give us deep joy. And in order to do that– we of course need a camera. But is there a perfect or ideal camera which will empower us to constantly be making new photos? A ‘perfect’ camera which maximizes our creative productivity? Also a camera which is affordable, a camera which is small, powerful, compact? If so — that is the RICOH GR II.
What if you only shot with your camera or phone in JPEG (with a certain filter/preset in-camera), and you didn’t allow you to further post-process your photos afterwards?
The iPad Pro (10.5 inch) is what I currently have, as well as the Touchbar MacBook Pro (13 inch) and I can say I enjoy looking at my own photos at least 5x more on my iPad Pro. And my basic idea:
The device on which you view your own photos is of tantamount importance.
Motivation literally means “to move”. We need to move and act to do anything; we need to move our fingers to type, we need to move our feet to shoot photos, we need to move our bodies to get from point A to point B, and we need to move heavy weights off from the ground to build our muscles and strength.
You cannot predict or determine with 100% the outcome of your life, but you can steer your course in life.
Steering a ship
If you’re the captain of a ship, you can steer the direction of the ship but you cannot control externals (the condition of the sea, whether there are pirates in the sea, or the weather conditions). It is your duty as a captain to be brave, to exercise your best judgement, and for you to steer boldly in a certain direction.
When you’re steering your ship of life in a certain direction, you cannot control whether you will be hit with turbulent waves. However you can direct the general course (direction of your ship).
I feel we can use a similar metaphor in life:
You can generally steer your direction in life, but you cannot predict or determine the outcome.
Thus it seems the optimal strategy in life is to steer as wisely, boldly, and bravely in life — and leave the rest to fate. Think of the saying:
To grow as a photographer is to constantly shoot more, get more feedback on your photos (arsbeta.com), and to integrate the feedback of yourself and others into your future images.
To get honest feedback and constructive critique on your photos is impossible on Facebook and Instagram. That is why we created arsbeta.com in order for you to receive and give meaningful feedback on photos:
Disregard your “weaknesses”; simply focus on maximizing your own potential strengths, maximizing your own power output, and unashamedly maximizing you.
Paint with your camera. Find colorful textures and things which inspire you. Process your photos with additional contrast, tweak the colors, and paint photos which make you happy!
After buying all the stuff I’ve wanted in my life I’ve discovered that the cost of ownership (maintenance, stress) outweighs the joy of actually owning something.
To find inspiration to make photos, don’t worry about whether the photo will be “good” or not. Simply photograph what makes you happy, what makes you smile; what you love and care about!
