Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“My cameras [are] note takers for my mind, so I may place evidence before others…telling them why I am seldom bored.”— W. Eugene Smith
When I’m in a rut, I try something different, sometimes I might shoot my next session or PhotoWalk in monochrome mode and other times I’m just inspired by the world around me. In the case of the featured image, I was running an errand that took me down a road I don’t usually drive–M. Scott Peck’s the less traveled road–and saw this huge field that was filled with sunflowers. A few days later, when I get back to the field the sunflowers were not as impressive and said, “I’m here., I’ll make some photos” and this is one of them
How I Made this Photograph: I’ll be honest, I was thinking about Vincent van Gogh when I was making these images, not that I am all that familiar with his actual sunflower paintings, more that I know there were such things. The camera used was a Canon EOS 1D Mark II, I’m not sure if it was the N model; I owned both at one time and I can’t be sure if EXIF data knows the difference. The lens was my redoubtable EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM at 28mm. The exposure was 1/200 sec at f/9 and ISO 20 with a plus one-third stop exposure compensation.
Getting Unstuck
One of the things I like to do to get out of a rut is to shoot some images with a camera I don’t typically use and use it with different subject matter, instead of how I normally use it. In this case it was the Canon EOS 1D Mark II I normally used in the studio and occasionally for cars. Here I used it to make the above image, which is a far cry from my barn series of even my macro photography of flowers.
Instead of just switching cameras, think about switching genres. If you shoot landscapes, think about exploring urban landscapes. This is something I tried a few times and would like to do more of in 2027, especially using the Olympus Pen F. If you like to make portraits, try shooting street photography. Because I am basically a shy person, this, to me, is the most challenging of all genres and I wish I was better at it. But if you don’t try you won;t make the shot, as Wayne Gretzky once famously said. This is something I need to do more of and would like to do it with a film camera to add an extra touch of verisimilitude. You get the idea.
One idea you might want to try to prevent your photography from becoming stagnant is to make a new photograph each day. Photograph anything. It’s actually harder to do than it sounds but give it a try, even if you miss a day or two. I tried this once during May, National Photo Month and it actually showed me two things: First, that my life was even more boring than I ever imagined and then second the good news was that I have moved out of Phase I in my film photography development and seem really stuck in Phase II. If you missed my post on The Three Phases of a Photographer’s Creative Life, click the link and read it when you have time.
PS: Just a reminder: Barry Staver and my Pixels, Grain & Cookies podcast is now available on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos.