Winter is a tough time to be a photographer. Your hands are cold, your bed is warm, and everything just looks bleak and uninteresting. During lean times, I use a few tricks to keep me motivated. I typically switch to panoramic images, and like to shoot expired film for a bit of mystery and difficulty. Anyway here is one from a nice sunny winter walk with the Mamiya 7 and the 80mm lens.
Transportation
I have this crazy theory that photography is changed by the speed at which you are transported through it. Put simply if driving in a car I can only see maybe 3% of the possible pictures I would take. If I ride my bike and therefore move more slowly through the particles I can maybe bump that up to 30-40%. But it really isn’t until I walk that I see 100% of the shots I might take on any given day. My hypothesis is that photography on foot is more granular, more detailed, and more thoughtful than anything you can achieve in a car. You move slower and at a pace that can allow creativity. Driving is simply too fast to get good ideas.
This Sunday I decided to park my truck on this project and walk the little town of Ellisburg and see what I could get on foot. I started at this interesting little mechanic shop and I just loved the signage here.
Mamiya 7ii with Panoramic Adapter and Kodak Gold 200 speed film (expired)
Deaf Dog. November 2020
A train whooshing by, so I slowed down the shutter and shot a blur of it.
Limitations
Today I decided to go up to the North County to shoot some film. The only issue was I have not been “feeling” it lately. Partly I think this has to do with the changing of the seasons. Partly I think when a project starts to get less compelling that is a good sign to carry on. Whenever I get bored with my current photography project I try to give myself limitations. The limitations can be fun and also challenging forcing you to think on your feet. It often helps break up those inner negative voices as well. I decided not to bring any medium format film today but instead shoot only panoramic 35mm using expired Kodak gold 200. It’s a much cheaper stock than I typically use and I could tell by the canister it was 5-10 years old. Anyway here is some golden morning light and a longer exposure to get a bit of a streak.
Try these ideas you get bored with you current project:
Switch up the camera.
Try video instead of photo for the day.
Use a different film stock (or switch to digital, GASP)
Use a different aspect ratio (PANO!)
Only bring one lens (Bring a really tight lens if you use big wides most of the time)
Only use your phone
Try an instant camera like a fuji instax.