I have to admit, I’ve been a little down on photography lately. Between technical issues and a downturn in mood, I think my work has been suffering. Not to mention that I’ve been feeling harried, and haven’t had nearly as much time as I would like to devote to photographic projects.

In a perfect world, of course I would do nothing but take pictures, but that’s not likely in this lifetime. I basically have one day a week to go out and take pictures, and I end up putting a lot of pressure on myself to do something great on that day. If the weather is no good or I have some kind of equipment snafu, I’m depressed all week. It’s important to remain motivated and focused, but also to ease up and enjoy the act of taking pictures more.

I’ve given some thought about what’s been feeding my photographic ennui, and came up with a couple of philosophical points to ponder:

1. Art is not a race.

   Time always feels like an enemy. This was even worse when I had a photoblog… boy, I hated to see the same photo sit there on the front page for a week, especially if it wasn’t something that I was in love with. I would make myself crazy going out and trying to take something to replace it. I’ve also felt a compulsion to produce work for an imaginary “audience”: publications, contests, gallery shows, websites, friends, etc. This is not necessarily the right kind of motivation and has produced as much frustration and lackluster work as anything else. I am not competing with anyone, and I have no one to please but myself. Having one day a week to take pictures is not ideal, but if that’s the only time I have to take out a camera and get to the places I want to get to, then I will make the best of it.

   My new goal is to slow down, take the pictures that matter, and take my time with them. I need to be OK with the fact that sometimes a month will go by where I won’t take any pictures that I love. Five to ten images that I’m really happy with in a year would be phenomenal, and obviously better than contact sheet after contact sheet where I can’t even find one image worth posting to Flickr.

2. Carry a camera more often.

   My aesthetic goals are actually pushing me further and further away from spontaneity. I’ve shot far fewer than half the number of photographs so far in 2008 than I did by this time a year ago. I’m afraid that I have to attribute this to the fact that I’m becoming snob. I almost never shoot digital and I’ve become bored with the sights on my way to and from work. Giving up on the possibility of a little spontaneity in my work is a disservice, and it puts me out of practice. Anyone who expects to be a virtuoso with their instrument should pick it up pretty often, even if it’s just to play something familiar.

   This sounds like a direct contradiction to my previous point, but I don’t think it is. Taking a few photos on my way to work or while out running errands is a lot different than packing up a backpack with a large format camera and heading off into the woods. There can be room for both, which is what I seem to have forgotten.

3. Complain less.

   Sorry if reading this blog hasn’t been much fun lately. I am going to whine and worry over little technical problems much less. If you don’t hear from me for a little while, it’s probably safe to assume that I’m struggling with something, whether philosophical or technical, but I’ll figure it out, eventually. Please don’t delete me from your RSS reader if I go silent for a week or two… I’m probably still bleeping away on Twitter, anyway.

Thank you for letting me vent. We’ll see how good I am at putting any of this into practice.