Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/09/12

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Subject: Dealing with the Photo Blahs [was Re: [Leica] Catching Up]
From: ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter)
Date: Tue Sep 12 14:20:17 2006
References: <C12B3435.1531D%bd@bdcolenphoto.com> <EEB2F524-3763-4E59-81EE-AC561A56C04D@mac.com> <p0623090cc12b73d50455@[10.0.1.2]>


On Sep 11, 2006, at 4:23 PM, Richard S. Taylor wrote:
> So "power through it" is the advice.  Anybody just take a week or  
> two off?
>

TAKE A WEEK OR TWO OFF!?!?

Hell, I got a PAW to do!

I remember a comedian (maybe George Carlin) years ago talking about  
the hospitalization of a celebrity for exhauation.
He said, ?Exhaustion!! Now?s THERE?S a rich man?s disease!?

I spent 15+ years as photog for the smallest daily in North Carolina? 
town of 10,000, less than 3X5 miles. After a few years, I burned out,  
just couldn?t get inspired.

I couldn?t just quit, so I looked harder and took photos I didn?t  
like as much, but I kept plugging away due to bad habits (eating and  
sleeping under a heated roof, that sort of thing). After a while, the  
eye and inspiration came back. It went away and returned periodically  
for the rest of my time there. Still does, but it aggravates more  
than scares me now.

So, I guess discipline is my cure for the blahs. Discipline for some  
is prayer or meditation. It?s a routine that becomes part of what  
centers you.

The PAW is a good way to focus, it?s a good discipline. It is  
sometimes the thing that makes you get the camera out of the bag.

If you make yourself do it for a while without waiting for  
inspiration, you will find it part of your life, not just something  
you do to produce pictures. Move beyond inspiration.

Maybe this is just a verbose way of saying: "Keep pushing that  
shutter release, it will come unstuck."

Ric Carter
http://gallery.leica-users.org/f/Passing-Fancies




In reply to: Message from bd at bdcolenphoto.com (B. D. Colen) (Dealing with the Photo Blahs [was Re: [Leica] Catching Up])
Message from kennybod at mac.com (Kenneth Frazier) (Dealing with the Photo Blahs [was Re: [Leica] Catching Up])
Message from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor) (Dealing with the Photo Blahs [was Re: [Leica] Catching Up])