Hello darkness my old friend...
It is Halloween (October 31st) when I write this and we are now in the period of the year when my photography usually takes a sharp drop in frequency. The daylight is getting shorter and shorter in these northern parts of the world - especially so after Daylight Saving Time is over - and frankly the stuff out there I want to take pictures of get less and less interesting. Foliage is rapidly falling off their branches and the all too frequent rainy and cloudy weather takes away many of the interesting shadows and potential light situations.
New year and new things to do
It’s been a few days since people all around me in the neighborhood seemed determined to blast 2020 into smithereens and it’s time to consider the new year and things to do this year
Photographic rut
It is one of the dreaded parts of a creative endeavor, be it music, writing, photography, painting etc. That feeling of “what is the point really?” or “my stuff really sucks” or “I should just sell all my gear and withdraw into a cave!”. I’ve had it happen before, so it’s not exactly a new feeling, but it’s still uncomfortable and unnerving when it does arrive. I’ve felt it slowly creep up on me during the summer even though I’ve been quite happy with the stuff I’ve been shooting and posting. The change in weather and most important - light - might also have something to do with it.
New year...now what?
At the start of a year you're supposed to write a "this is what I will try to achieve" post (at least that's what seems to be the consensus among many bloggers), and I did one of those last year, where I stated that in 2016 I would do two things photographically that year; an Instagram 365 project (which I finished) and I would do more analog photography (which I've at least I've begun to do). So that's great for 2016...but that makes me think of goals for 2017.
November is not a photo month
Whenever November rolls in my photography urges tend to fall to a year low, because frankly both the weather and the light tend to be dreary as hell. Also, I tend to be a bit more occupied with something that has become a tradition for me. For the past eight years I've participated in the National Novel Writing Month (yep, been there, done that, have the sweater...and the thermos mug...and the stickers) which, if anyone who knows me doesn't know too much about it already, is where you set the yourself the goal to write a pre-first draft of a novel of 50,000 words in one month. That's 1,667 words per day for 30 days in a row.
Projects, projects...
For most of my photographic "life" I've been a single image at a time person, not doing anything long term like shooting for an upcoming exhibition or book and I've been fine with that. I've always thought about having a project though, something that can be done on a long term basis, but haven't really found anything that's been thrilling enough to do.
Now though I find myself toying with 3 (!) at the same time. How's that for irony?
Post NaNoWriMo Thoughts
So today marks the end of another month of writing towards that "elusive" 50,000 word goal. Yes...I've reached it again. I crossed the imaginary finish line with one day to spare. This is number 8 for me...in a row in fact. I guess I should feel proud of this; that I can string sentences together to form that length a work of fiction.
October in the City
Today's post is images from a photowalk I did at the end of October in Malmö, Sweden with a local photography group on Facebook. It was fun to do, and it's always cool to do those with new people, to enjoy the social aspect of photography.
November is coming!
It is late Sunday evening as I type this, with one week to go before November 1st kicks in. For most people that is nothing special. A new month begins, and we’re ever closer to the holidays. But for me, and many others who are perfectly aware of what the acronym NaNoWriMo stands for it is the beginning of what could be a great adventure.
