{"id":2383,"date":"2016-09-18T17:53:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T23:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/?p=2383"},"modified":"2016-10-07T10:27:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T16:27:22","slug":"09-18-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/2016\/09\/09-18-16\/","title":{"rendered":"09-18-16"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dsc04387-edit_3k\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Day 262 \/ 627 – Balboa Park, San Diego, CA<\/p>\n

Yesterday was the 500px Global Photo Walk, and I joined around 50 photographers roaming around Balboa Park for the shoot.<\/p>\n

I was really unhappy with what I wound up with. \u00a0I came away with about 100 shots, and I like hardly any of them. \u00a0I barely like the one above.<\/p>\n

Which is actually a good thing.<\/p>\n

Walking around in a group of photographers (or, thanks to my currently broken ankle, rolling along with my knee scooter) is not how I like to take photos. \u00a0It doesn’t allow me the room to do what I do when I take photos. \u00a0Photo walks can be fun. \u00a0You meet other photographers of all types. There can be – but not always – a sense of camaraderie. \u00a0I’ve done them in Durham, Chicago, and Columbus, which was my first and best one. \u00a0I am signed up for one at the beginning of October, but I don’t think I will do many more of them.<\/p>\n

I believe that, if you are going to do something well, you should have a philosophy or idea about how you should do that thing. \u00a0For\u00a0a writer, that could mean\u00a0your style of writing, your working times, why you write what you write, or whatever choices you make about your writing. \u00a0If it comes from a philosophy, it will have a stronger impact on you, and you can turn to it when you need something to keep you going or direct you. \u00a0Having a reason why you do something strengthens how well you do that thing.<\/p>\n

For me, I figured out a few things that work for me. \u00a0I believe that my number one job as a photographer is to find something I feel something about, and try to put that feeling into what I shoot. \u00a0That feeling is where my voice and my style comes from. \u00a0Sometimes it’s a deep feeling, sometimes it’s surface amusement. \u00a0It doesn’t always have to be profound, but the feeling has to be there.<\/p>\n

But that also takes a bit of time in the moment. \u00a0It might mean I sit there for a little bit, thinking about what this particular moment or scene means to me. \u00a0Maybe I am able to get swept up in the moment. \u00a0Driving down a dirt road, maybe I see something that catches my eye, and I have to turn around and go back, the excitement of seeing something interesting taking me back.<\/p>\n

Photo walks don’t afford that kind of time. \u00a0You are often on a set path, and move with the crowd, shooting the same thing everyone else is. \u00a0Sure, a good photographer can compose a nice photo almost anywhere, but that doesn’t mean it will speak to what they believe, how they feel, and what their intentions are.<\/p>\n

I say the words ‘maybe’ and ‘might’ a lot here. \u00a0There are no guarantees when it comes to how you feel. \u00a0You can’t demand or schedule a feeling \u00a0I went out in the streets of San Diego a few days ago (not an easy task at the moment), and I didn’t even turn on my camera. \u00a0There was nothing I wanted to shoot. \u00a0Nothing made me feel in a way that I wanted to take a picture.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, that’s the way it goes, but I believe that the more you do it, the easier it is to open your heart and mind up to the things you see and want to photograph. \u00a0I believe that is the case with everything creative. \u00a0You sit down to write, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes to open up to the good writing, to getting how you feel out on the page. \u00a0And you will slide back as you get better, realizing that the next hill is a little steeper, a little higher and harder to climb. \u00a0And then the next breakthrough comes, and on and on.<\/p>\n

So while this photo walk wasn’t what I would consider a success as far as photos are concerned, it did solidify my own belief in how I do my work, and how I shoot. \u00a0And that is something good to take away from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 262 \/ 627 – Balboa Park, San Diego, CA Yesterday was the 500px Global Photo Walk, and I joined around 50 photographers roaming around Balboa Park for the shoot. I was really unhappy with what I wound up with. \u00a0I came away with about 100 shots, and I like hardly any of them. \u00a0I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[2,339,71,338],"class_list":["post-2383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-118","tag-2","tag-balboa-park","tag-ca","tag-san-diego","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}