It seems like the number of visitors on this blog is picking up when I’m not writing much, so I suppose I should add a post or two to keep things down. Don’t want those wordpress servers to start glowing…. duh
A couple of weeks ago, I made a bold post stating I am starting to realize where I’m heading. Well, I still think that is true, and I done some more thinking on the subject. Around the photography web, everyone is talking about doing projects. Nothing new in that, the concept has been around longer than me, and I’m not going to say it is wrong. Projects are fine. I make a living out of project work. Setting goals, doing some fun stuff, and then lots and lots of frustrating, boring stuff that must be done. Lots of stress and sweating over deadlines.
When I go home, I don’t want to do even more projects. Even if I have tried to convince myself that I will do photographic projects, I rarely manage to discipline myself. And it is not because I can’t do it, it is just that I don’t want to. I want to do this because it is fun, because it is food to my soul. If I start to think projects, I get stressed and feel guilty that I don’t work harder to achieve my goals.
I want to follow my own muse.
I want to push my creativity, not my productivity.
If I force myself into being productive, it should be to stimulate the creativity, not to meet an arbitrary deadline.
So I have started to adopt a slightly different mindset to what I do. It doesn’t really affect what I do that much, it just makes me feel better when I’m not doing it. Photographing that is. I am not defining projects, I am focussing my interest on certain subjects. This focus must come naturally and out of joy, and not be something I force myself into. My latest points of interest, the forest shots and the night lighting shots, came about when I was browsing my archives and discovered some trends. I found the beginnings of series hidden in the old stuff. This inspired me to go out and do more shooting on the subjects, and to organize the material I already had. Hopefully I will keep my interest long enough to finish something, but if I don’t, I’ll just put it on hold.
It is also well aligned with the “art is a verb” philosophy that I have adopted from the very first time I heard about it. I do this for myself, enjoying the process, and any product that may fall out at the other end is just a bonus.
December 15th, 2008 at 20:04
Kjell,
This is very interesting. Likewise being a project manager, I have found that working on a project does provide direction and consistency, but like you stated, working on a “project” also brings along a bit of expectations and the related stress of getting it done.
At times, I use the terms series and projects interchangably, but I am now suspecting that this is a subtle mistake. I am realizing that I like the word series a lot more now, sort of in line with your subject focus. hmmmm, something to write more about I suspect;- )
December 16th, 2008 at 22:57
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