Unplugged and I Like It

Moving apartments aint easy but I am incredibly lucky to be moving into a perfect apartment with an even better girlfriend, so I'm not in any position to complain. At this point, it's about settling into the apartment, unpacking and arranging. My new office is the last item on my list of priorities which means I have been unplugged and I'm really starting to enjoy it. I haven't even taken a real picture (outside of my iPhone) in over a week and it has been really refreshing. I thought I would be clawing at the walls by now but it's been nice to just deal with things as they are, not as how they might be portrayed in a photograph. It also makes you keenly aware of missed opportunities as you travel around sans camera and I hope that sparks some new creativity when I'm back in gear.

Missed Opportunity in my fake BessaR Viewfinder

This short break is just a much needed period of calm before the storm as this is shaping up to be a busy summer; gallery shows, multiple road trips, at least two ongoing and work intensive personal projects, a movie screening (yikes) and the hunt for a new day job. I keep asking myself "Maybe I should make this photo stuff my day job?" but I don't know if what I want to photograph can earn a living. Who knows; maybe necessity will drive invention.

Luckily, I am taking part in a gallery show at the end of June and it checks off all the right boxes; encompasses photos of local musicians? Check. All images in my section were shot on film, developed & scanned at home? Yup. Being presented alongside the work of some kick-ass DC photographers? Yes. Does my section tell a story or have a theme? You bet. Does the opening party feature live music? Absolutely. Check the flyer for details about the East Coast Rock & Roll Photography 2014 Show.

This is right in line with the direction I started visualizing half way through 2013. At that point, I was pretty fed up with aimlessly treading through the endless sea of online and social media photo distribution, and frustrated with my inability to "get my work seen" or "build an online audience." I began researching a number of powerful personal projects that had been undertaken by other photographers and studying the concept of presenting a collection of images that tell a story; not necessarily a random smattering of cool looking photos. An extreme form of my vision entailed a very limited online presence and one or two gallery shows of my personal work per year. Completely untangled from the grind of constantly trying to pump out content in an effort to stay "online relevant."

I'm heading in that direction at a quicker pace than I initially imagined and might continue to do so; more film, more gallery shows, less digital, less internet.