Snapping away

I don't know about you, but it takes me some time to get familiar enough with something, be it a person, place, or thing, in order to photograph it well - or at least photograph it in a way that satisfies me. I'm made especially aware of this when it comes time to edit travel photos. I'm editing the images from our recent trip to Europe, and am being made especially aware of how familiarity affects the way I photograph.

The Netherlands is both lovely & photogenic - shame I couldn't make the most of it.

If I'm working somewhere I'm familiar with, I'm usually reasonably happy to take my time. To find the little details that add depth to an image, and make pictures that work as images, not quickly-hazarded copies of whatever I see in front of me.

When I'm somewhere new, however, I get snap-happy. This trip, we spent five weeks overseas, and I've brought back a little over 3,000 photos. Admittedly, because my feet issues make it next to impossible to stand without swaying, I take 3 images at once to be reasonably sure of getting at least 1 in focus. But that still means over a thousand images from those five weeks, many of which I'll most likely end up culling.

I think the problem is that when I know I'll only be somewhere a short time, or I'm unlikely to get back to, I rush. I quickly frame my images with a vague idea of a composition, and snap away, without actually checking to see if the image meets the one in my head. This usually results in a bunch of over-excited and poorly translated images that were very evocative in person, but are flat and lifeless as images.

It's the premature ejaculation of photography, and most annoying.

The problem is compounded, of course, by the disability and chronic pain issues. These days, I'm always aware, consciously or otherwise, of my increasing pain levels as I stand or move around. It makes it that much more difficult to take my peaceful time in making an image, when I'm all too aware of how little functional time I have.

So what's the solution? I was thinking of going back to film for a time, for the almost enforced slow down, but for me at least, working solely with film just isn't practical any more - or financially viable. If my digital camera and lenses were built to work comfortably on manual focus, I'd switch to that, and use the extra focusing time to also focus on the image in front of me rather than the vague idea in my head, but that's not something the non-high end digital cameras are designed for, sadly.

I think I need to carry a chair with me when wandering around places like this for photographs.

In the absence of outside props, then, I'll have to make the change for myself. I'm going to try and curate my images in-camera, before I press the shutter button, rather than on the computer. I'll also try and find ways of photographing more comfortably, even if that means carrying a chair with me! And for a little while, I'll make myself come back from an outing with no more than 5 images, not 50 or 500.

Any other ideas? Those of you who photograph, how do you deal with the digital urge to spray & pray?

It's snowing in Amsterdam

Snow on bicycles, Amsterdam. iPhone photo.

Well. From the sunny summer Botanic Gardens in Sydney, to Amsterdam in the middle of a snowfall is a bit of a jump, but that's where I find myself right now. I'm currently sitting in the cafe at FOAM photography museum in Amsterdam, sipping nice warm coffee while snow falls heavily outside. There's a flight of stairs climbing past the window next to me, and I'm watching it mound up with piles of feathery white snow flakes. Walking down here from our hotel, M and I also became walking mounds of snow, and had to pause at the entrance and de-mound ourselves, lest we end up streaming with icy water the instant we walked into the warm.

I'm enjoying the snow, but I still find it deeply weird. Think about it - feathery ice drifting down from the sky - how odd is that! And even odder is the idea that people voluntarily choose to live in places where it gets cold enough for this to happen regularly. Weirdoes!

The strangeness of snow aside, I've really enjoyed Amsterdam. It's very different to Sydney, of course. You can see the strata of the city's centuries in the houses and canals, as ech generation inhabits the city and adds and remove bits to create their own landscapes. The 16th century mingles happily with the 17th and 18th, while sleek and edgy additions from the 21st try to edge out dated-looking scraps from the 20th.

Unlike London, though, this commingling of past and present doesn't seem to have mired its population in the past, nor has living in each others' pockets made them perpetually angry and withdrawn. I like it.

Of course, there are reams of photographs, but unfortunately, I can't actually upload any! My poor little netbook is too slow to manage a photo editing program, and has too little memory to store the pictures. So you're all stuck with iPhone photos until I get home. I've been making a lot of film images this trip as well, with a little camera I put together from a kit - but it will probably be even longer before those see the light of day, given my backlog of negatives that need scanning!

Well, I'm back

Tropical idylls by sand & sea

The holiday was lovely. So much light and warmth and fun - and great food! I do love South-East Asia, and Malaysia in particular - the people are warm and friendly (except for one cab driver who grumped from Penang airport most of the way into Georgetown), the food fabulous, and there are so many interesting things to see. And I get to watch so many different cultures and lifestyles interacting in a friendly and mostly positive way, which is a perennial fascination and a joy to me.


So many different things for so many different people!

Now, of course, I'm home, away from tropical idylls and the time-out that a holiday affords. I brought back a geshtomping great big cold with me, so have spent the last few days drowning in my own flood of mucous, and only leaving bed to get more fluids or go to the bathroom. Now, though, the mucous-tide is receding, and I'm left to confront the question:

What the hell do I do now?

My last work role is officially behind me. Sadly, I'm not independently wealthy, so even though I'd really like to travel lots, take many pictures, hold exhibitions, and start up small non-profit organisations to help people have more choices in their lives, I do actually need an income to do all that.

So what do I do? I'd prefer not to have to travel 4 hours a day like the previous role, and I'd kinda like to feel like I was working in a functional environment. Ideally, I'd quite like to go back into naturopathic practice, but I really, really don't want to go back to running my own business for a near-nothing cash flow, which kinda lets that idea out, unless I can find someone willing to pay me to do it.


But where to from here?

I'm not entirely sure I'd like to go back to supplement formulation, either. It looks to me like the 'natural products' market is moving further and further away from what I'd consider 'natural', and I'm not entirely comfortable with being part of that. Maybe I could go work in Singapore or somewhere making supplements there - from what I've seen, the market is still looking for products that are what I'd consider traditional remedies. Err... does anyone have any contacts in Singapore?

Other than that, I'm sure that there are many things I could do. I've got a good, fast grasp of structure and process, and can analyse a problem well. I actually quite like working within a business environment, but I don't like hypocrisy (or marketing), which I suspect may limit my options.

I'm stuck. I know what I'd like to achieve - I'd like to help people be happier, healthier, and have more choice in their lives. But I have no ideas on how to go about it - especially how to do it in a way that provides a good income for me as well.

So, oh great and wise internet, tell me: Where should I look for work, and what should I look for? Remember, too, I'm disabled, so heavy lifting, waiting tables, and retail are all probably out.

Please, comment and let me know what you think.

Always a path onwards, in one form or another

Singapore by Night

Still, even when I could barely move out of the hotel room, as soon as night fell I could limp onto our balcony, and make photos of a view like this.

Stunning.

Singapore's a surprising city. Not as prissy as it was seven years ago when I was last there; it's become clean and gracious and very, very modern - even down to proudly displaying its history as 'heritage'. I love it.

KL Streets

KL hadn't changed much, unsurprisingly enough - it was only a few months since I'd been there last. It was comforting, though - I feel oddly at home there. The smells, the heat, and the noise and movement all feel strangely familiar. It was a good feeling.

Islands in the stream

My birthday was a little over a fortnight ago now, still in the cold and wet part of winter. While cold is pretty, it gets into my bones and joints, and aches all over. To make matters worse, my partner would be away for work over the week of my birthday as well. Rather than pine and mope, I decided to go too.

I flew over this island on my way to KL - the photo was taken pressed up against the plane window, believe it or not. It was roughly around Indonesia. I'd dearly like to know what it is - it looks beautiful, and I'd like to actually go there, rather than just fly over it.

Motion 2

Sydney University - my journey to work.

Thankfully, not all of the long trip to work consists of sitting in traffic. I leave home at ungodly-o'clock; it does make some difference.