Tuesday 20 May 2014

In Flux

I don't know if it's quite right to say but I'm feeling a little bit lost with my photography right now.

Not "lost" exactly, more like I'm not sure where I'm going.

See, I used to be quite happy to take a photo and post it to flickr and share some of them here. 

But then I wanted something less anonymous so I started a second flickr account with my real name and wasn't sure what I would do with two accounts to upload to.  I wasn't worried about it and for a while I just uploaded to both.

And then I got a new camera.  And there's a steep learning curve that comes whenever you change something with your gear and for a while I just wasn't liking anything I did.

And somewhere in there flickr changed a lot.  And I haven't really uploaded much of anything since.  Not to either account.

Partly that's because as I've said here, it's now not as much fun nor as easy to link a photo to this blog.  That sucks, although I've managed to make it work.

But it's also because for a while there... maybe months, I wasn't sure what I was liking about my photos, if anything.  Jason has been suggesting things I should be trying to get with my shots and while I'm getting better at, say, getting "sharp" shots, I'm not loving the sharp shots I'm getting.  Everything just feels blah.

It's probably a lot to do with me looking at things differently.  Seeing things with a different eye than I used to.  I went back and looked at the photos on flickr that I'd "favourited" when I first joined back in 2006 and I didn't like many of them anymore.  A change in what I consider a good photo I guess?  Seeing different things?

I mean that happens.  We all grow and change as people and I suppose as artists although I cringe at using that term. 

I also started shooting in RAW, not that it makes any difference because I also started using Aperture in order to "use" the RAW data and, well, right now Aperture's nothing but a photo storage system for me.  I'm not doing anything other than uploading and deleting the ones I really am not in love with.

I don't know.  I know flickr's not the be all end all of photo sharing or getting your photos seen and out there but I still feel sad that it's come to this phase where I just don't feel like using it anymore.

Maybe I just need to get back into the habit?  I don't know.

Just feeling a little bit un-sure about things in terms of how I shoot, what I shoot, and what I do with what I shoot.

Plus, I kind of hate the term shooting, but it's really the only term that seems to work.

Le sigh.

I know, first world problems, but still. 

4 comments:

Jason Langlois said...

I'm with you on the flickr thing. I used to like putting pictures up, seeing if they got views and just sharing. But when they went to this new interface, that interest died. Instead, I find myself posting my event photography up to facebook so the folks involved can see it. I'd post more to DeviantArt, but the site name makes me feel like I have to find deviant stuff to post.

I've also found the word "shooting" a bit troublesome. Particularly in casual conversation, because "I spent the weekend shooting some girls" really doesn't sound very good if its overheard out-of-context. Unfortunately, it's hard to find a replacement that doesn't feel awkward.

What is it you don't like about the old photos, and what was it you liked before? Is it the subject matter, or are you now much more aware of the composition and lighting?

Victoria said...

I'm not on Facebook (and would rather avoid it!) but I did start a Deviant Art account but I feel the same way it's like...er... my stuff's just... normal?

Yeah, let's go shoot some people really sounds bad. Or, I'd love to shoot the Queen if she ever came to town! Yeah... wanna go to jail much?

I think I'm just more aware of things, this new lens is much much faster so things can be sharper which I never cared about before. Plus, I want to do more than just take pretty pictures of flowers, you know?

Unknown said...

Ive started posting my photos in instagram. It's kind of fun and different. Although most of the pictures on there are selfies and food pictures. From what I have seen of your photography a lot of your pictures are from around your town maybe? Which is great, but maybe you just need to go visit somewhere new? If I start feeling apathetic I'll go find some new terrain. Here in Oregon we have quite a diverse landscape so that makes it easier, but maybe just a road trip or something would help. Change it up a bit. The nice thing about photography is that there are infinite subjects to capture :)

Victoria said...

Fair enough ;)