Approximately one month ago, my friend Ed introduced me to a novel perspective on street photography. For more information on this approach, please refer to my previous blog post: Read Here
Upon reflection, I have come to realize that I occasionally experience frustration when doing street photography, unaware that others perceive me as unpleasant to be around while I am capturing moments. This frustration can stem from missed opportunities and has often driven me to improve my skills. Initially, I viewed this frustration as a positive force, but it has consistently served as a catalyst for my growth. It has sharpened my focus, and I have consistently believed that my best work is achieved when I am experiencing frustration.
As a generally pessimistic individual, I often find myself questioning the purpose of my photography endeavors. I dismiss the value of my time and effort, leading to a state of negativity. However, when I encounter frustration, it serves as a catalyst for dispelling this negativity, enabling me to concentrate and achieve my full potential.
The past month of shooting without looking at what I’ve just taken and not looking at the photos for at least week was bloody hard for me. But, something happened that I wasn’t expecting, I became excited about what did I just capture and the not looking heighten the excitement and waiting for a week too see the photos wasn’t a bad thing, going into those photos with fresh eyes was kinda cool.
There was however a downside to this, I found that I had miss composed some of my photos and the knowing that if I had looked back at the photo when I had taken it I know I could’ve got a better composition. Now lets look at this from a different perspective, I know that the area where I took the photo is still there, so I can go back and do better next time and in here lies the next level of excitement and this is another driving force.
So I need to ask myself, where do I go from here; I believe I can incorporate both the excitement and frustration when I’m on the streets, I will look back at the photo I’ve just taken to make sure my composition is correct, I just can’t shoot without doing this I know that I can do it well, but I need to nail the composition it might be the most important part.
However I won’t be looking back at the photos taken for a week (at the very least, I will make an effort to refrain from doing so), keeping the excitement going the not knowing if I did capture what I saw.
