Alright, hello everyone, from a houseboat. You can probably tell from the ladder or the
decoration around here. I thought: why not?
It's something different. It's unfinished inside but still, it's kind of nice in here and very quiet
Today, I wanted to talk about something
about one of the biggest struggles of many photographers and it's to what to even photograph
I want to share my experience and how I expanded
or I believe that I expanded my photography adding new subjects that I had never thought of
photographing before a few years back
But before we get into today's topic, I wanted to show you also
The new image of the month for the month of August. It's already August
So this one is called "The Nest", I made this image a few months ago in Spain
You can watch the video where I made it, linked there
I think it's a very nice print, it turned out pretty good
it's available for purchase now till the end of the month at a reduced price,
starts at $49, shipping is included in the US
I'm gonna leave the link down below in the description just in case you want to check it out
for those of you who still don't know my story: I used to live in Portland, Oregon
I lived there for 5 years
Until 2 years ago when I decided
well, my wife and I decided that we wanted to travel a little bit more and see other places
So we moved out of there
it was there in Oregon when I got started with my photography, all the
beautiful nature and the wilderness around there inspired me a lot and that's how I got started in photography
99% of the stuff that I was photographing over there had something to do with nature
I'd go hikes or camping or something like that. Portland is a special city in
that is 1 hour away from very beautiful mountains and 1 hour away from the Pacific coast that is stunning
So it's almost the perfect place to fall in love with photography and nature, and landscape photography
So while I was very excited at first about the idea of traveling the US and the world, we moved to Europe after that
I was also a little bit afraid that this would be bad
for my photography, that it'd take a toll in my photography
because I'd leave all the those beautiful landscapes of the West behind
And just go to places like where I am right now, in the Midwest, in Indiana, where there is not much of that here
there are not many national parks around here, there are no mountains, there is no ocean. There is Lake Michigan
It's pretty cool, but it's no ocean. There are no rock formations or anything like that
So I had my doubts about it, if it was a good idea at all
What was I supposed to photograph here in the Midwest or in Europe? For a while It was quite a struggle because I had those
images in my mind that I wanted to make but I wasn't able to make them here because
this place is not the right place for that kind of images
Eventually, I learned to forget about those imaginary images
that I was dreaming of and just embrace the place, embrace the environment,
embrace what I had here and start making something with what I got
Once I did that I started to have fun with photography again
and in some cases even more than I used to have back in Oregon
I made one of my favorite images
here in Indiana, in a regular random park in Michigan City, on a very beautiful day with the right conditions
that image opened my eyes, opened my mind forever
and I finally realized, I know that this is something that it might sound obvious now, but it wasn't for me and
it made me realize that I could make a good image... a great image
anywhere under the right conditions
I guess the struggle never ends, I'm back in Indiana
I've been here for a month and a half and I was a little bit less
But I was still a little bit afraid of what I could make here. What kind of images
I was going to be able to make here: the snow is gone, those gorgeous fields
covered in snow, now they are just full of corn and soybeans
It's very sunny, very hot. The lake is not frozen, there's actual water
all that kind of stuff that made me doubt myself on what I could do here
For example, I went on a walk this morning, there is a path nearby
that goes around the lake. It's very nice
It's 5.5 miles long or something like that and I like to go there every day for a walk
or a run, and I always bring a camera with me
I usually do bring the RX100 if I'm walking
if I'm running I'll just bring the GoPro just in case I want to record a video or something like that
This path goes around the lake as I said, but you don't get
much of a view of that lake. There is a little section, a wooden part
of the path where you can see a swamp, it's not the lake itself
And the rest of the path just goes through private property, people built their homes and houses
right on the water, so there is no public access to the lake
there is not even a view, most of it looks like you know, your typical
neighborhood in a small town in America, you wouldn't even be able to tell that there is a lake there
unless you really pay attention between the houses and see the lake
There is a little beach on the other side that is public
You can go there if you want, but it is really tiny and it's not ideal for photography
Bringing my camera every day with me, the RX100
gave me a lot of chances and opportunities to make images along the way
I couldn't think of anything more typical, not boring, just more typical than that path
where I spend between 1 and 2 hours every day and I was able to make some images. Some days I was
photographing dragonflies, other days it was fog in the morning and I was able to photograph
the sidewalks and the streetlights and trees in the fog, and some other days were just
trying to make images of things that I didn't pay attention to before
for example, I'm working on a little project now
about street signs. I've taken quite a few on this path that I'm talking about
But I'm mixing that up with other images that I've made in the past
from even other countries like Spain and Portugal, with interesting signs
And maybe, maybe, I can make a zine or a book or something like that out of this project
Who knows. But it's something that I'm actually enjoying, something
I'm actually having fun with. And something that I'd never think of
photographing before, and this is the point that I was trying to make here.
When I first moved from Portland to the Midwest and to Europe
I was focused 100% on just going out on hikes, going camping and
making photos of beautiful landscapes, beautiful mountains, beautiful oceans and now I'm actually enjoying
the fact that I can go out anywhere and
still make images that I find interesting and that bring me joy
This has been an amazing realization, that no matter where I am, no matter what kind of camera I have with me
I will still be able to make images and to enjoy it, to have fun with it, to create something
And it has changed the way we travel too
because before I'd just choose a national park, say
Yosemite, and then look at accommodations around there and just
plan the trip around Yosemite
now I look more, we look more for: let's go to
any place, a city or whatever, let's get the accommodation
and then once we have that, let's explore around, what we have around or even
let's explore that town or that city
because sometimes we can find images where we expect them the least
So my message here is, I guess, don't limit yourself, don't set limits for your photography
don't stick to just one photography genre and just photograph anything that might interest you
of course give priority to the stuff that inspires you the most, but don't limit yourself to just that
Photography I believe is something that it could be done, it should be done, daily
it's like a muscle that we can exercise and not get better at it because I don't know if
we can actually get better at it
but maybe we start noticing stuff that we didn't notice before, and that's probably part of getting better at it, right?
This is all I wanted to share today, I hope it's not a very long video
I want to make videos like this more often, maybe twice a week. I like to share my thoughts
I like to share my opinion on this kind of stuff and I'd love to hear from you, too
I'd love to hear about what you photograph, how do you stay motivated, If you limit yourself to just one kind of
photography genre and subjects or if you are trying to be more
varied on what you photograph.
Please leave a comment down below with your opinion. That's all for today
Thank you so much for watching again, and see you in the next one