It has been a couple of weeks since I wrote my last blog post: “The importance of light when shooting street photography“. There is no one reason for this delay, just… life. This seems to be a theme lately for many people: My friend Patrick Laroque recently wrote about his struggles with his mother’s illness. I have a close friend who is also dealing with a new diagnosis, one which has the potential to change the path he and his family walk in the future. We all go through these times of course, none of us are immune, but it seems to come in waves doesn’t it?
Which brings me to the title of this post….
When life is overwhelming us it is so easy to forget about the simple things we do that bring us joy. We get busy, we get focused, and all of a sudden we realize that it has been weeks since we last picked up the camera, the paint brush, the musical instrument. These are the things, however, that balance us as artists and centre us so we can focus on everything else. These are the things we NEED to make time for.
My wife and I recently spent a weekend in Seattle to see Billy Joel in concert, visit the Seattle Art Gallery, eat a few good meals, and generally take a time out from life. I brought one camera and one lens with me (the Fuji X-Pro2 and the 35mm f/1.4 lens) and made sure I had a couple of hours here and there to shoot some street photography. Yes, I was on a mini vacation with my wife, but she understands that I am a better person when I have the opportunity to shoot and create art and she is always supportive of me in this regard. I love her for that. Plus, you know, she goes shopping.
The weather this weekend was incredibly variable. In one day we had sun, cloud cover, rain, and hail. Is this my best collection of street photographs ever? Nope, but that’s not the point. There is an expression: “process versus product”, and right now I’m very much talking about the process. I spent time alone with my thoughts for a few hours, wandered Seattle’s streets, and shot when something caught my eye. I spent time interacting with strangers, made new friends, and shot a few portraits. What mattered is that I made the time to have a camera in my hands and to do what I love. I cannot stress how important this is.
Here are some of the images from the weekend, I hope you like them. Each can be clicked to view large if WordPress compression is causing you any issues.
I have a lot of new content coming up in June: Some photo essays I have finally edited, a new interview, and hopefully a new gear review too.
Until then!
Ian