{"id":20227,"date":"2014-09-05T06:28:27","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T13:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=20227"},"modified":"2014-09-05T06:34:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T13:34:23","slug":"on-excuses-and-street-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/05\/on-excuses-and-street-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"On Excuses and Street Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sydney,
Sydney, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We often have tons of excuses in life. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough time. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough money. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the opportunities to do what we love.<\/p>\n

I always make tons of excuses in my street photography. When I am traveling on the road, I have tons of opportunities to shoot and always feel inspired. However, when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m back home\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel the same inspiration. I fall into the same boring routines of my everyday life.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I currently live in Berkeley, California (home of the hippies) and live right across the bridge from San Francisco. I always tell myself: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Man, I wish I lived in SF\u00e2\u20ac\u201d this would give me the chance to make incredible photos, be around other inspirational people, and create great work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But the grass is always greener on the other side. I have some friends in SF who are bored of shooting there, and would prefer NYC. I have friends in NYC who are bored of shooting there, and would prefer Paris. My friends in Paris are bored of Paris\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and would prefer SF. The cycle continues.<\/p>\n

I think it is hard to be inspired to make photographs in your own backyard. I know I do. I make tons of excuses why I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make interesting photographs in my neighborhood (there aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any people walking around, no exciting action, boring scenery).<\/p>\n

But one of the photographers who I gain great admiration from is William Eggleston<\/a>. He lives in quite possibly one of the most boring places in the US\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make excuses. He just goes out and shoots his own town\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and has done this for several decades. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an interest to be in NYC, Paris, Tokyo\u00e2\u20ac\u201d or any of these other \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcexotic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 locations.<\/p>\n

Some of the excuses that come to my mind in my photography (and some rebuttals)<\/p>\n

1. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough free time<\/h2>\n

This is bullshit. I can always make time for what is important to me (if I prioritize it). I have 24 hours a day (like every other human being out there) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but I often get distracted by social media, finances, errands, emails, etc.<\/p>\n

I have found that it is hard to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153make\u00e2\u20ac\u009d time to do what I love, but it is easy to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153kill time-wasters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

So for me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve started to try to cut out unnecessary things from my life. Some things which I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do:<\/p>\n