The weather was nice here in New York for the first time in a long time yesterday. The past few weeks have been a mix of rain, snow and very often, bitter cold. And while I can’t claim to be completely ready to welcome warmer weather, I am hoping the rise in temperature also means a renewed desire to create work.
Winter has always been debilitating to my creative process. So much so that I’ve almost come to expect that I’ll make almost no new photographs between the core months of winter (namely, January and February). Still, somehow I need winter.
As far as seasons go, winter is probably my favorite; there’s something strangely attractive about a season that shuts all of us inside for the better part of its duration. For me creatively, it provides a period of time where I can step back and evaluate what I’m doing photographically and where I want to go. All this time spent thinking seems like a good idea, but inevitably has its drawbacks as well.
My fatal flaw as a photographer has always been too much thinking and not enough doing. I find myself struggling with an idea for days, even weeks, before I ever think to attempt it. Instead I play-out in my head every possibility of what I want the photo to be. When really, if I tried working through the idea instead of just thinking about it, I would probably have far better end results.
Here’s to hoping spring is more productive.
East Harlem – E 111th St and 3rd Ave (2009)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I took this photo while on my way home from Brooklyn at 7am.
Coney Island N (2009)
Sunday, February 21, 2010
I’ve never been one to produce a large volume of photographs. Despite this, when I first came to New York I took a camera with me everywhere. I like the idea of taking photos and capturing the essence of a period of time. Also, it was when everything was still new to me, and I hadn’t yet been jaded to the idea of living in NYC.
Maybe it’s just because it’s winter, but now I barely ever have a camera with me. I have a point and shoot film camera I found when I was home for Thanksgiving. It’s small and convenient so I leave it in my bag, but I’ve probably only taken about 7 pictures with it since December.
This is from this past summer.
The Mall (2009)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
From underneath the Metro North train overpass along Park Ave.
East Harlem – Tree Stump (2009)
Back in October I started photographing the area in and around East Harlem without much of a final goal in mind. I’ve finally started to go through the film, and for the most part, I’m happy with the results.
East Harlem – Grocery (2009)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
While I was home I was talking to my sister (who goes to school for illustration) and we’d both expressed our concern regarding developing a personal “style” or “aesthetic” in our art. We’d both felt it was obvious having a distinctive style was important but, at the same time, committing to one was difficult. With so many options as far as directions to take one’s art it’s hard to say, “this is how everything I’m doing will look,” with any sort of confidence.
For me personally it’s especially hard when I find so many styles of work appealing. On one hand I love the look of clean, well-produced studio shots; still on the other, I’m really drawn to more natural, candid feeling photos.
While I’ve, at times, felt my work to be leaning slightly in both of these directions, I’ve never fully planted a foot in either. Committing is hard, but I know lingering somewhere in between is not going to get me anywhere.
Marlene (2009)