Photography

Like everyone else, I am tired of this damned pandemic and want to experience a different reality. So, I’ve masked up, received a vaccination and started booking flights.

Where to?

Migratory birds and pensioners have it right, so I suggest going south for the winter. New Orleans is a little slice of Europe here in the States. Guadalajara has a great blend of Europe and Mexico. Mexico City is on the list for its views. I’m always keen to go back to the Dominican Republic.

When the weather turns warmer, I’d recommend San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Savannah, Charlotte, Miami, and Chicago.

Hit The Road

I’ve traveled the length of Route 66 from Chicago to LA and kicked myself for not taking the time to stop for better photographic opportunities, so this is definitely on the list again. Big Bend National park on the Texas/Mexico border has been canceled twice due to the pandemic or wildfires. Maybe this year? Pitch a tent, rent an Airbnb or rent, even better, a trailer in a west Texas nomadic hotel.

Stealth Mode

Wearing a mask and shooting street photography from a distance can be beneficial and fun.

Minimal Clothing

One backpack filled with limited apparel and essentials. No checked bags at the airport, buy what you need when you get there.

Minimal Gear

For me, it is one camera, one lens, the iPad, external hard drive and the chargers.

Shoot Everything

Memory cards store numerous data, so fill them up. When done for the day, dump them on the iPad and then go back out to play.

Plan Ahead

Map out where you want to shoot, do your homework and take notes. Check out Atlas Obscura for unique finds, Geocaching can take you to unexpected places that aren’t in the tour guides. Refer to these often, so you don’t miss anything.

Airplane Mode

Not just a good idea when you are on a plane, but when you are on the ground and trying to focus. Leaving the phone in Airplane mode limits your distractions, to disconnect, to think, meditate on your life, to create images, you know, the whole reason you started this adventure.

Recover

I go away to get away from it all. It’s funny to me that I rarely do so. Next time, I must promise myself to be in the moment and enjoy it. Otherwise, what was the point?

Lately I’ve been frustrated with the lack of shooting opportunities in small town USA. By comparison, larger urban cities are target rich for photo shooters. I’ve spent two hours on two Sundays and walked away with maybe 10 images on the new camera.

Maybe I need to adjust my thinking here and appreciate the creative constraints to just keep shooting for the hell of it.

Because I am never satisfied with the way my online portfolio looks, a new coat of paint has been added. Also added is the new download page where that one person (thanks, mom!) can download and read my photography zines.

We’ve been taught that it is wise to invest in your future, so you should save and retire comfortably. So, you save and invest in hopes of a nice return on your investment. Now that you’ve saved and invested, what happens? Wait and die without living an enjoyable life? I say invest in what makes you happy, as there are no guarantees anymore. The 401k retirement plans can be worth less than what you’ve invested. Social Security is not sustainable either. But we are still taught and encouraged to keep at it anyway. Sounds like a trap for complacent sheep.

So I’ve done all that, but have a ways to go before retiring. Now I am choosing to invest in my life through other means- by doing what makes me happy while I still can.

For me, this is photography. It is a creative passport that allows me to go anywhere, capture anything and after thirty+ years, I am vested heavily.

A lot of my free time and money go to producing, developing, processing and publishing images with little reward except it makes my soul happy.

Now that I have the tools I want to accomplish these things, I will invest more time in working with other photographers and their art. Investing money into experiences, not gear. Investing both time and money into travel experiences, workshops, and anything else that furthers my desires.

It is difficult to create something in a small town, in a land-locked, flyover state, in the winter, during a pandemic. So, I invested in a trip to New Orleans next month to change my perspective. I love NOLA and feel as if I can never explore it enough. The camera comes with of course to capture those experiences. Instead of investing in all the best cameras, lenses etc. etc., I’ll put my money into travel expenses.

Investing in my own website has paid off beautifully for me these past twenty years and I encourage all artists to do so. Stop sharecropping on Zuck’s platforms and develop on your own land.

I recommend Namecheap for buying your own domain name and web hosting. After making the rounds with most of the web hosts myself, these guys are some of the most reliable. Domain name can be as low as $2 a year. Web hosting as little as $20 a year. Congrats, you have your own website, with your own email address for the cost of 3 Starbucks visits. What a great investment in yourself and your work.

Investing in photo experiences gets me out of the house and since I am currently workin from home it is a lifesaver. New experiences for the wandering misadventurer gives me fresh eyes and new perspectives to make new photos.

Investing in my life and my lifestyle is a wise choice for my time and money.

It is financially wise eating at home more than I eat out, but I haven’t been doing that. This needs to change. The money saved on dining in can go towards that next flight instead. Why didn’t I think of that sooner?

More money saved can go towards books, self-educated tools, or even investing in others through cryptocurrency to speculate on photographic works of art (NFTs.) I am slowly seeing opportunities for the blockchain to overtake “social media” photography.

Like most investors, I wish I had the wisdom to have started earlier. I want to take advantage of these new opportunities of investing in myself and earning those rewards.

Finally I have minted my first NFT (non-fungible token) titled Neon Nights at Buck Atoms Cosmic Curios on Route 66. Hopefully it will generate enough interest where someone, a curator, will purchase it with the cryptocurrency known as Ethereum.

I don’t have lofty expectations, but it would be fantastic to see it sold the first time out. After that, it’s time to generate some more images of interest and keep this going.

After organizing decades and terabytes worth of images recently, I realized that I rarely take time to appreciate these images. I have thousands of images of my daughter, but I never look at them. They are stored in the dark, collecting digital dust. I want the best camera I can afford, so I can create photos that are forgotten. That doesn’t make sense.

Some of these photos will come in handy when old age catches up and my memories fail me. I prefer not to wait that long.

Despite their neglect, these digital memories mean everything to me and to anyone else, they would mean nothing. Sure, they represent my photography skills that grew along as much as my daughter has grown, but they are not award-winning compositions either. But they mean the world to me. If my home catches fire, the iPad and the hard drives are coming with me. Everything else can be replaced.

These precious digital files captured moments that will never happen again. They tell stories of where we were, how we were doing, and remind us of how blessed we are.

Despite all this realization, I will still take photos, knowing they may never again be viewed unless I re-organize them. I will continue to purchase external hard drives and upgrade my iCloud storage to fill them up.

One of these days, I will have them displayed out in the open in a paper format, be it in a book or a frame. They mean everything to me.