Day 364 / 729 – Why do I shoot what I shoot? I honestly don’t know.
When I try to think about it, I don’t come up with a good answer. There isn’t one overarching thing.
It’s a little bit of a chicken and the egg problem. Which came first, what you want to shoot, or why you shoot it? For me, the shooting came before figuring out what I really wanted to shoot.
I think it’s a little less common to pick something to shoot, and then go do exactly that. The artist’s statement doesn’t write itself before the art happens. Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York started out wanting to shoot people in New York, but even that morphed into something different when he started really talking to his subjects.
I’ve always been drawn to black and white photos. My first camera of my own was some 35mm film camera in the early 90s that I barely knew how to use. I knew how to focus, load the film, click the shutter, and that was about it. I didn’t understand what the settings did, other than maybe make things brighter or darker. I don’t even know what brand it was. I simply had fun with it. I’ve had digital cameras since the late 90s, none of them “serious” cameras. Until this project, I never took any of it “seriously.”
It took half of the first year of 365 until I started to find my “voice,” and even then, I’m still not 100% sure what that means. As soon as I figure one thing out, another comes along to stake it’s claim. I was enjoying shooting in the fields, then we went to Yosemite and that turned into a “thing.” It’s a great problem to have.
But there are a few things that stick with me when I shoot, that tell me what is a James shot and what isn’t:
- Feeling – If I don’t feel anything, then it won’t matter if I take the shot or not. Without feeling, there is no reason to do it. This is top of the list, no matter what.
- Heart – I prefer to take photos of things that were loved, or are loved. A falling down barn was once someone’s job, or their day, or something that helped them. At some point, they cared about it. Nature is the same way. We feel something akin to love in nature, when we are really in it. I’ve taken and posted plenty of photos with no heart behind them. They aren’t my favorites.
- Wonder – A cousin to heart. Yosemite Falls are a great example of that. You feel small in comparison.
- Fun – Yes, there is room for fun in art, and certainly in photography.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. It’s only one side of something even I don’t completely understand. But the most important parts of my photography have little if nothing to do with the camera, the lenses, or the software (although a little bit to do with the software) than it does the purpose and feeling behind the photo. I think that’s the big secret to art, and what can make it so difficult to do. When you put the pressure on to make and produce, you push to the side the things things that make your art. The feeling involved. The reason you are making it. You can produce daily, and make good work daily. Do it often enough (such as 365 days in a year) and it will come easier. The reasons you shoot show up when you show up.
Finding that out, that’s the trick.
