It’s been a few weeks now; I have more or less neglected everything that spells out in zeroes and ones, and I have been enjoying it shamelessly, the time that has been freed this way. Not to say that I found nirvana, but anyway. This daily photo thing was devastating to my state of mind and only left me with the feel of not having accomplished anything of worth. I know, many of the images were worthwhile, but overall, this project only torn me down. You can compare it with having to get up in the middle of the night just to make something, like dinner, and then to go to bed again. And never get used to it. And for every night that goes, to get more and more nervous and find it more and more difficult to fall asleep. I simply didn’t. Cope. While for others, it’s just a daily routine, even fun, I chose to enjoy my time in other ways.
I’ve wanted to do something similar, but more in the vein of daily filmed reflections of everyday life, with a funny/sarcastic twist (kind of like Dilbert, but filmed), yet I would most likely be so cynical after a while that no one would want to watch them.
Considering we are talking 3-4 “speech bubbles” it sounds easy, but it’s probably very very hard.
As people read magazines online and not on paper a 10-15 second video strip would probably work, provided the right content.
Good for you. American photographer Jim Brandenburg had a project where he only took one photo a day for 90 days and published them in a book “Chased By The Light – A 90-Day Journey”. Interesting results but not the kind of project “normal” folks can adapt to easily. The daily grind, coupled with the added pressure of posting a photo a day is not for everyone. Those that do it have inconsistencies in the quality of photos, which they tend to disregard for the sake of the 365.
Anders, a strip would be like a million times more difficult, in my hands. But similar to your idea is that also I wanted to tell something with my images, and I simply was not able to do that.
Förstår dig fullt ut.
Och det finns många sätt att
verkligen njuta av livet på.
Som att fotografera när man
känner att man verkligen vill
och är inspirerad!
Och så kan man ju njuta
av ett glas vin också.
//Malin
Thanks Ken. Accepting snaps simply didn’t work for me. Defining it as a 90 day project could have had an impact on how much effort I was willing to put into this. It’s easy to think my stamina could have been improved if I had allowed myself to shoot, say, a lamp post a day, along my route to work. But then, I would show the interestingness of my life, by far more challenging than coming up with an image that tells something about what I see around me.
Tack Malin! Jag tror du förstår ganska väl; känslorna och tankarna är som kläder för mig. Utan dem, finns bara min kropp kvar. Modet att gestalta min kropp, den jag är, genom det jag ser omkring mig, det har jag inte. Ännu.
Maybe a script of sorts would be needed beforehand. For instance what will be the thread throughout the pictures, and with some form of start, middle and end. The risk is though that it becomes like one of the gazillion “this is my boring life” blogs, unless the topics and interpretations are externalized somehow.
I’ll make a picture documentary of Sweden Rock Festival (June 6 to 9) in any case.
Anders, a script is what it takes, even when making stills. Few people’s lives are that interesting a daily snap without thought would due. My opinion, of course, and part of the reason I failed.
We are the only person that can make our destiny and our life happier.. Anyway, we should be happy always and just forget the problems for a while..
Glad to hear that you took your life back. If you weren’t enjoying it, there was no reason to pursue it – none at all. We’re still around and I’ll be here whenever you make your periodic updates!
“Modet att gestalta min kropp, den jag är, genom det jag ser omkring mig, det har jag inte. Ännu.”
Det var ett bra svar Ove. Vet vad du menar.
Man får låta det ta den tid det tar helt
enkelt.
Vänta in och sen…
Då kommer bilderna.
Ove, not the type of project I could adapt to either. Life if far too short not to find the enjoyment of our passions.
Tålamod, det har jag, Malin.
Earl, as long as we keep the passion alive, I’m fine with this. But, as everything, it comes with ambiguous feelings. One part of me wanted me to continue.
I know exactly how you feel. Reminds me a bit of my (one and only) try at SoFoBoMo… Nope, photography (for me) has its own, much slower, pace. Well, unless you’re on a workshop of course
I’m too slow for being pushed, too. I suspect that most of us want it that way, Thomas, to live and enjoy our lives a bit slower than the community calls for.