Compelled

When I wrote the previous post I was very emotional. I felt I had to carve an X so deep on the calendar it left marks on the wall. Words that swirled around in my head were "pivotal moment", "paradigma shift", and some of the more juicy swear words my language has to offer. Well, I'm sure you know how it is to have your life take sharp turns.

The actual fallout of my situation is not relevant. Not yet anyway. What I try to ponder is how this kind of situation affects photography. So far, I have noticed that the shutter-finger itch is stronger than it has been for a long while. That's good for volume, if nothing else. But there's something else that bugs me. Or just peaks my curiosity, I'm not even sure which...

Normally when out shooting, I raise my camera to anything that looks interesting, work the angles, consider the light, exercise the shutterfinger and move on. It's not until the pruning process by the computer that I really get the groove for keepers. What happens now is different. There are motifs I shoot with absolute conviction that it is important. Not for anyone by myself, of course, but it just feels so right that reason doesn't even get a foot in the door. Subsequent pruning of these shots just doesn't happen.

It feels really weird to project so much emotional load into an image without letting my "inner critique" have a say. It feels like giving up on creative control. The photography becomes more raw, in a way.

Here's one motif I felt compelled to shoot the other day. Because of the bright area at the top of the slope, that's all. I just had to shoot that.

Pentax K-7, DA 21/3.2
1/30s, f/5.6, ISO 200
(image clickable as usual)

Working on it

Dear reader,
If you are the typical coincidential visitor, welcome.
If you are the returning reader, I admire your persistence.

And to both of you; thanks for dropping in.

On the 30. November this year, I was confronted with organisational changes at work that implied radical change for my job situation. When I got this message I turned very, very emotional. I took the rest of the day off, took the car and drove for an hour into the countryside. I stopped by one of my favourite photo areas, Mylla. The landscape up there has a soothing effect on me; both for its beauty and its good memories.

After pondering the situation for a couple of hours, I had pretty much realised how to deal with the next couple of days; until the time is ripe for a grander decision. To mark the event, I stepped out of the car and shot the below picture before heading home.

Pentax K-7, DA 14/2.8
f/4, 1/10s, ISO 400

(click image for larger version)

Already that night, when I got it up on my computer screen, I wondered why.

I mean, not that I did what I did, or how management at work arrived at their policies. But why exactly this tree; why exactly this kind of image composition. Because of its strong bond to my emotional state that day, I cannot judge this image objectively. It is just too close. A slice out of time too potent with emotion.

Interesting times, it seems.