Making the Pictures
Losing the fun.
Do you ever get to a point where doing something you’re really good at (or at least like to believe you’re really good at) and it starts to get difficult?
Yeah, me too.
I’ve noticed that my timing is about a tenth of a second off. Meaning I’ve just missed the (decisive) moment by the slightest little bit, just a fraction of time, but nonetheless significant.
I think (or hope) that it might come down to the electronic viewfinders (EVF’s) we’re all using these days. The delay between seeing through a piece of clear glass, like with a Leica rangefinder, and an EVF doing its digital magic, is real. It might not be much, but it’s enough.
It doesn’t help that most of the shutter release buttons these days are a little spongy as well.
Or maybe I’m just getting lazy. That’s a real possibility. It’s really hard to play at the top of one’s game when there’s no significant game to shoot for. There’s nothing like the potential of a double-truck, printed with ink on paper to keep one’s head in the game.
And at some point, photography should be just that, a game. It should be fun, rewarding and give satisfaction when done well.
Maybe that’s the real issue.
I went to a local rodeo not too long ago. Instead of having my credentials waiting for me, they had a contract. Then the contract was pulled and all they had was a “no”. These are my neighbors, an event I’ve donated prints to, and suddenly they’re too big a deal to have a guy like me roaming around. “The Cowboy Network is broadcasting us live!” Their words not mine.
I’m not interested in jumping through hoops anymore. I’m no longer willing to play that part of the game.
What is this, a KISS concert from 1979?
Something happened about a week later. This time a music festival. Three songs and you’re out… All I can think about is Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop.
That historic moment when Jimi lights his guitar on fire, is that something you want to be missed? If The Who taught us anything, it’s that one waits until the end of the show to destroy their musical instruments.
Oh well.
We used to have a funny joke back in the day, how every war, even if it was a rebel group with only two soldiers, they’d have a public relations person as well, even if the two soldiers had to take turns doing it every other day.
Okay, not such a funny joke after all. These days wars are mainly fought with technicians operating drones and PR people. The real army are the bots hired to tirelessly work the social medias.
Point is, even when the smallest public event has a “media person” with a branded lanyard, a jovial yet authoritarian disposition and a contract to sign, it makes the making of pictures, especially good ones, that much more difficult.
They take much of the fun out of the game and you can’t blame the moments missed on your fancy electronic viewfinder.
A brief rant reposted here, that was originally published on another platform in 2023. Seems to still hold true today.
With regard to missing the decisive moment...
Reminded me of the lyric from Send in the Clowns:
"Isn't it rich, isn't it queer, Losing my timing this late in my career?"
Damn...right on the money too.