I swear, sometimes I believe that nothing I ever think about, or do photographically hasn't already been covered by Brooks Jensen in at least one of his Lenswork Podcasts. If you are a photographer who is visiting this site, I suggest spending some time with his podcasts.
Earlier this week I passed a parked car with some interesting light and shadows being cast on it. I didn't have a camera with me, but I thought it would make for a good picture. I know that hesitating to shoot something interesting always ends up with the scene changing, and the moment being lost. But, I happen to be a Grade A procrastinator and do this all the time and end up kicking myself later as I dwell over all the great images I should have taken, and ended up not coming back for the image.
The next day, I passed the same spot, and the same car was there, with the same lighting. Again I thought “Great image!”, and again I took no action to attempt to make that great image.
Day three. Same spot. Same car. Same shadows. Something is testing me, and won't be satisfied until I make this image. I went home, dug out my Yashicamat, loaded it with a roll of Acros 100, and made the image.
Day four. Same spot. Same car. Object that was casting the shadows is gone. The scene has dissipated, and thankfully, I got my image.
After making the image, I recalled a quote in a different podcast where a photographer periodically looks back at his old work “Just to see what I was seeing back then, before I was conscious of seeing it.” Remembering this, I looked at some older images that I shot for no real project or idea, and thus never really edited, and from those, combined with the image I had just taken, a new theme to explore photographically has emerged.
To go back to my opening paragraph, the related Lenswork Podcasts:
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Philosophy from a tea bag
100 Prints, Vol I
Does a Photographer Need to be a Framer?
The Night I Almost Died
