Eleven Days and a Whole Lot of Snow

I knew that my camera had been sitting on the desk beside me for a while now but I had no idea, until I checked the date on the photos still on it, that it had been 11 days. That is a long time ago without making a photograph.

It was time to post something new but I really had little to nothing new or exciting to post for a few good reasons. I have received recent print orders that required my attention and took some time to get in order, printed and delivered. Angie and I have had a few days of not feeling spectacular and now I think I am getting the cold that she is just getting over. Three mornings last week were spent at the track getting much-needed exercise to help kick the "blahs" caused by the remarkable amount of snow and cold that we have already received this year. (The above photo was taken early this afternoon and as you can see we have more snow on our deck already than we did all of last winter.) But beyond that I have been feeling like I have been carrying on on a plateau, photographically speaking.

I have been spending a lot more time reading material that I have read in the past to see how much more I can absorb, purchasing new material to dig deep into to see what else I can incorporate into my abilities and really wanting to spend these inopportune times for shooting to learn, instead.

I can hardly complain about wanting the next big piece of equipment to help me improve my photography because I have great equipment and I know that equipment only makes a photographer better when they have maximized their effectiveness with what they already have. I know that one of the best ways to get better is to simply use what you have and shoot, experimenting and trying new techniques as you go. However, as much as I have had the desire to go out somewhere and photograph in a completely unplanned way, the opportunities and locations have not been ideal. Therefore my alternative has been to attempt to increase my skills through study.

It's not that I haven't made a few nice photos recently. It was a few weeks ago that I did some more staff photos for our church, my favorite being directly above. But as much as I have been enjoying the projects I have been working on and the places I have been able to use my camera to help, I feel like my style has reached a standstill. So many photos have the same perspective, similar setups and similar restrictions. Our dining room has made an excellent place to arrange my photos but it has also added some limitations. That is where I need to take the other options available to me and start using them such as the posing platform my dad so expertly constructed for me and was used for my very popular nuts and bolts photo from last year.

Nuts and Bolts by Jay Scott

What really encouraged this post, or at least made me take the time to put it together properly, was the amount of interaction I have had with a lot of other photographers online lately. Nothing generates traffic to your website like someone who has a lot of followers referencing you for referring their followers to your site. I do not know how much traffic will be directed here in the next little while from those recent interactions but I thought it might be nice to have something fresh for them to look at as well as have something new for my regular visitors to see.

Just a few more gifts to buy and my Christmas shopping is done so I cannot use that as an excuse for not posting new material. Hopefully this cold does not latch on and I will have the energy to continue producing something worthy of sharing in this space.