[Leica] OT Mid-life crisis ???

[Phil Stiles <stiles@metrocast.net>]

Henry Ting wrote:
> 
 All my pictures lack the snap and
> form that I thought I used to have. While the
> technical side of my pictures are good, but the form
> and the image have nothing behind it. I was delighted
> right after retirement when I first thought I could
> pursue my love in photography is turning out to be a
> disappointment -- to a point that after months and
> hundreds of rolls of film, no picture possess the
> image that I feel proud enough to even post on the
> forum for any feedbacks. I'm indeed a little perplexed
> and depressed. It almost seems like a similar feeling
> of one reflecting what one could do both in physical
> ability as well as perception in life during one's
> youth, is now gone as one reaches mid-life. Could it
> all be a case of too much of anything being
> detrimental and I'm indeed going through a cycle of
> photography overload ?
> 
> Any old-timers here ever gone through a similar
> situation ?
> 
Henry,
	I don't know if I'm quite an old timer (57 does qualify for the senior
citizen discount at Dunkin' Donuts,) but I have been taking pictures for
some 51 years.
	I find I have real peaks and valley with regard to my shooting eye.
Somedays I can't take a bad frame, some days I can't take a good one to
save myself from perdition.
	I do have a suggestion. Photography is subject related. You can't take
a photograph without a subject. Find something you really love. It might
be a grandchild or a classic car, or even a location. Then try to
capture the visual essence of what it is that you love about that
subject. If it's the smile and sparkle in the eye, try to catch that. If
it's the big empty sky above the sand dunes, make that a part of your
composition. It's an exercise that you should enjoy.
	Regards,
	Phil Stiles NH USA
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