as everyone else rushes to get the latest iphone and professional photographers get their hands on the hottest lenses, i'm over here without a professional camera at the moment, currently shooting personal work exclusively with an old digital point and shoot.
not as a long-term replacement for my DSLR, but as a temporary release from the heaviness of a modern device that brings with it all its expectations of perfection.
in an age when nearly anyone can shoot in 4k, why "dumb it down" and get a crappy point and shoot from 2002?
well, i'm not 100% sure. sometimes we have to follow our gut and ask questions later. but here's a bit of what's going on for me right now as an artist.
i'm in the mood to (seemingly) not make any sense.
does this ever resonate with you?
i'm in the mood to show my grungy side, while everyone else is showing their most flattering, primped, and pampered sides. i'm in the mood to show my worst work, while everyone else is displaying their best.
i want to share the rips, and tears, and imperfections that make up a life worth talking about. this has always been an endeavor of mine artistically but if i'm brutally honest, having my daughter 2.5 years ago drastically changed how much i share online. more on boundaries later and how i plan to manage this moving forward.
naturally, as someone who makes things, i like to share these things and receive feedback. this is largely what instagram is, though it is tough to navigate all the algorithm stuff/i'm genuinely just not inspired to make reels (i know i know, i just ought to learn). because of this, i do not have great levels of engagement with my posts. however, i have lots of engagement in my stories.
this is where it's at for me - direct messages in response to my stories is where conversations get started and connections are made.
i want to get out of my head. it's not necessarily about the image quality (isn't that insane for a photographer like me to say?) it's about changing the manner in which i am shooting.
this fujifilm finepix is light as hell, it fits in my pocket, and thought social media may not find the images swoonworthy, i'm finding myself swooning. again, it's not about fantastic image quality - it's about a stylistic quality. and the actual handling of the camera for me.
also, i'm just picking this camera up a bunch because it's new and i'm experimenting with what it can do.
maybe it can't do anything fancy. that's ok! hell, that's what i want! plus, i don't have to pay for film and pay to get it developed..is this something i plan on doing? yes! i'm sending a few rolls in soon. do i currently have tons of funds to support this self-taught education at present, no! lol. so you likely won't see a ton of film from me yet. hence, this point and shoot.
i know by all accounts this image above is awful but for some damn reason i like it and i guess i don't really care if anyone else does?
what i like about images like these is, even if they are defined as "quality imagery", they are unique. and nothing but this camera or one like it could produce the image in this way. and for that reason alone, it's fun and beautiful.
i'm bringing sexy backkkk! (silent prayer no in-laws see the sexier pics of this lot, jk but seriously)
just some silliness really.
creatively, i've felt stifled by the infinite number of choices one has in the world of image and video-making.
this overwhelm has quite literally kept me from making anything at all a times, and has me questioning every artistic direction i take.
so, may this simple point and shoot delivery me from overwhelm and indecision, so that i can return to making again just for the sake of making.
thoughts, questions, ideas?
let's connect