Keep moving

I’ll start today’s post with a quote.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Not only does this apply to everyday life but also to our photography and our growth as an artist. The key to achieving our goal of arriving at the port of becoming a great photographic artist is to keep sailing. Moving towards the direction of the port. There may be times we get lost at sea or encounter a storm but sail on we must. As an example, yesterday I broke out the light meter. My light meter has many options available other than just reading incident light, reflected light, and flash output. I set correction values based on the use of filters. It can display exposure values and give readings in a variety of measurements. I had forgotten how these things worked. I’d become lost at sea. So, my solution was to break out the map, the manual and to relearn the things I had forgotten. The next thing I realized I had not done in a long time and had nearly forgotten was how to use my cable releases and the bulb setting on a camera. All this got me thinking about what else I had forgotten and become lost or off course to the port.

Not only do we need to break out our manuals and refresh our memories about some things periodically but we need to also look at our charts (previous work), and maps (concepts and ideas for future work). I then realized I have charts but haven’t any maps. I come up with ideas, but I rarely write them down and if I do write them down, I file them away and don’t revisit them.

Now, I have broken out my charts, maps, and put up the sails. How about you?