Writing About Your Photographs Everyday Will Focus Your Work
Don’t overthink, just do. Get outside, make an image and process it with words.
I’ve been working on a photography project this summer that I am calling But When It Rains… The project is about Albuquerque’s relationship with water, storms and drainage. I am approaching it very differently I have previous projects.
Instead of just shooting the photographs and then building a story around them I am posting a photograph daily to Instagram and my blog. With each post is a few sentences that talk to my state of mind and a little direction for how to think about the image. (Here, the sentences are in the caption fields of each picture.)
What Wasn’t Working
For the past 13 years I have worked in the civil engineering industry and as I started the project my writing sounded like it. My paragraphs were long technical all about infiltration and water quality. The industry side of me was trumping the photographer in me. And I wasn’t happy.
I was overthinking what the project should look like. Black and white has been my go-to for the past few years. I love the way it takes away the distraction of color and amplifies textures and, sometimes, emotion. But the photographs for this project weren’t working that way.
What I Did Instead
Both my writing and my photos were coming up short. I didn’t want to abandon the work I’d done and I knew I could turn the project around. I stopped filtering ideas prematurely and let thoughts flow. Crucially, I’d let them exist on paper before deciding if they were worthwhile or not.
It turns out I had some good ideas in there. I just needed to get them written down and let them breathe.
After keeping at it, I had a few photographs and a bit of momentum. Alongside the thought, I wrote a sentence with each post to Instagram and Tumblr describing the project.
I never intended to share the new approach — or its products — with anyone more than a few like minded photographers but that feedback from friends and photographers was positive and I felt some welcome accomplishment. I was encouraged to step out a bit more.
Keeping a Streamlined Process
Early every morning before work, I leave my house and hunt for photographs. I like the early daylight. Some days I have a plan of where to go others I just wander.
Every evening, I download, make some quick selects, edit the shots from the day, and then sync the selects to Lightroom Mobile.
As I am out shooting for the day I stay aware of my thoughts. When my inner-dialog satisfies what it is I am getting at, I pick up my phone, pull a photograph out of Lightroom Mobile and share it … alongside what is on my mind.
Where I Am Now
Every project has an arc. At the far left is the idea and the far right is the end result. I have found it best to focus more on the far left and let the far right stay blurry.
I started this project focusing on water quality issues and even though that is still part of it today I have shifted toward thinking more and more about water management. That shift is because of the inner-dialog I have maintained. As But When It Rains… moves toward that right side I’ll have to start to look at where the project will land.
Finding that landing point is often hard, but maybe I will come up with it through honest conversation with myself and continued written notes? Right now, I’m right in the middle of it all, still working it out and very content.
Justin Thor Simenson is a photographer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is editor of Gig magazine. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.
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