Transitions
Transitions
The tough thing about transitions, is that you know you are in the middle of them, but do not have the tools with which to see your way through.
A photo mentor once likened this struggle to push ahead in vision as a monkey trying to withdraw a banana through a small hole in a box. No matter how hard I try, I cannot force that which is not ready to happen.
When in such a state of uncertainty, the best advice I can give myself is to step back and let what comes naturally, happen...the thread is still there. Letting go of expectations is a good way to reconnect with a sense of purpose. Looking at other works of art (not limited to photography) is also a way to replenish a depleted well.
Another avenue is in reviewing past works. For example, images from a trip to Italy in January 2011 have been sitting dormant on a hard drive for over 10 years. It’s as if I’d never looked at the images once I returned home. Today, diamonds in the rough bubble to the surface; images that came from a place of subconsciousness and intuitively captured see the light of day. I find the works perhaps are not as refined as what I see now, but there is still a passion; a thread that is fresh and inspiring.
In the end, the letting go of control and expectations results in listening. Not with ears but with my heart. And as the transition runs its course, I work smarter rather than harder, the result being the creation of more authentic images.
