April and May have come and gone. My camera hasn’t seen much in the way of creative work.
There were a few moments I did shoot. Those images went straight to my hard drive, and sat, intentionally untouched. Dramatically, I wanted no part in them. The critic in my head on repeat, “there is nothing to say, nothing interesting to share, and these images aren’t worth anyone’s time if you aren’t finding value in them.”
And, truly, I wasn’t finding any deep feeling in any art-focused image I worked on. Dud after dud, my creative arrows landing in the weeds, missing the target. (My client work however has gone super well. It’s my most productive spring, in fact. Huzzah!)
A toxic trait I have is the longing for novelty. A deep desire to find new ways of speaking to, or rather, illustrating those abstract, hard to quantify states we humans find ourselves in. If I can't do this, why bother?
This week I peeked into the folders on my hard drive. There weren’t many. However, the time produced full on edits, extreme culling, and slow roll sharing of what few things were captured. A common theme did emerge. Lots of contrast, several sunsets, vivid color, and bold black and white. It’s almost a revelation of extremes despite the goal of finding a middle.
It’s a start. I’m thankful for another.