Reflecting on my own photography in the year of pandemic
the lockdown
I spent a lot of time shooting from my apartment window during the lockdown, then I fell in love with looking at the sky.
the spirit is willing, but not the footwork
I realized I probably would never be able to shoot complex street scenes…a kind of photos that drew me to street photography in the first place. You know, Alex Webb and the likes. You can say my agility and wit just don’t cut it. Gradually I stopped trying and instead looked for simpler scenes with a clear visual point of interest. Going back to the basics I guess.
My fear of getting close to the subject is still as bad as when I first started street photography. But now I stopped beating myself up for not getting the shot, and for not trying to go closer. I’m contented with being a distant observer.
So far, yet so close
Being a distant observer, I like to get onto a higher elevation. Maybe a balcony, maybe from a parking lot. Perhaps you lose that emotional connection with the subject, but what you gain instead is the sense of scale. Somehow I feel more connected as if I’m a part of that scene. Being far and being close simultaneously.
finding my own visual sense
I don’t feel that I have improved in any way as a photographer. Neither the technical nor the aesthetic sides of it. But I like to think that I am a bit wiser now, and perhaps more true to my own visual sense. Same time next year, hopefully I would have created something of value, and finally stop chasing for an illusive one-minute fame…
