DAY TEN

Be prepared ... is very good advice, especially when going out to do something creative en plein aire. 

So next time I will remember to replace this little item in the camera before I go out to capture the autumn trees in the wonderful late afternoon sunlight.

I haven't been out with the camera in about a year, having dedicated myself to it throughout 2021 in an effort to finally 'master' an activity I've been keen on since childhood.

Mentioning childhood reminds me that photographic recording technology has always been a problem: I remember losing a whole set of photos from a school journey as a roll of 120 film somehow managed to uncoil itself around my legs as I removed it from the camera. Same shit, different medium I suppose. 

I mentioned in the very first blog post that I feel mocked by the results of my photographic efforts, and it remains a mystery why a medium about which I have read and studied extensively remains so elusive. One shouldn't compare oneself with the best (or anyone, really) but I still find it annoying that one of my heroes, David Bailey, seemingly has the ability to point any kind of camera at any kind of subject under any kind of conditions and come up with a stunning image.
 
But here's the thing. I put down the camera at the end of last year because I'd become very frustrated with the lack of progress after a solid six months of steady, persistent application. As far as I could tell there'd been next to no improvement. Then ... I expect you can tell what's coming next ... I took a closer look at the files from last year and well, one or two, maybe even three or four out of the nearly one thousand shots were almost acceptable. Give it another year I might even think they are good.

I'm sure this is a familiar experience to anyone who regularly makes or creates something. I've had it with writing too. The novel I mentioned in that first post had been set aside for four years because - as I remembered it - the last thing I wrote was execrable. Turned out it wasn't so bad on reading it again a few years later.
 
The lesson, recognised by many others before me, is that you should not be too quick to judge your own efforts and that like some wines, you have to let your work breathe for a while before tasting it.

Onwards...


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