Day 8, Fears, illusions and happiness

It was 10:30 and still had no taken any picture for today. Honestly, I had a total laziness all day but I I have decided not to fail this time and make a picture a day, whatever it takes.
I did no want to go out to the street and try to snap some street scene, instead I did what I like the most and I needed to do, continue with my project The solitude of delirium so I took my book a little bird body and start to compose the scene. Then I took my camera and start to compose and try to find a good angle for it. Not an easy job, it may look easy have something photogenic and be sure good photos will come out but it is not.

Photography is more than just point and shoot, in many cases is a catharsis or self therapy process, in more simple words a way to express our fears, illusions and happiness and learn to live with them.

From the moment we decide to frame something and take a picture of it, we are granting some importance to that piece of reality over its surroundings. Why we choose that scene depends in our experiences and way of thinking. Why I choose a dead bird? because for me represent the end of an dream, the bird that never learnt to fly, a broken illusion. However tragedies are part of life and deal with them is what make us stronger.

The eternal dream.

The above image was taken specifically for this 365 project. The image below is a behind the scene of the shooting for the The solitude of delirium 

Day 7, this is getting harder

Well, one week after I decide to start this project of a photo per day and is getting harder (which is good). I am falling sleep so no comments today.  Just I hope you like the photos.

Both taken at ISO 1600 and 3200 respectively.

Day 6, when alcohol helps inspiration

Not much to say today, simply that I wrote a poem after long time and yes, it was after drank a glass of wine :D
These hands are from a friend who I convinced to try to write a poem as well and as you can see, she had not finished her glass so her results were no as good as  I expected.

There are some links related to this topic, just google it or check this articles:
Does alcohol release the creative spirit?
How Getting Tipsy May Inspire Creativity
How Alcohol Inspires Creativity
The War on Consciousness BANNED TED TALK

Day 5, a day in The Hague

Well, today was a very nice day walking around The Hague and inside Madurodam from which I have this image:

 1/80 -  f7.1 People waiting for the tram.

I took more but as it was vacation with my son my focus was mainly snapshots with him and random photos of the place. I did not want to spend time looking for a good angle and right moment as my goal was have a quality time with my son.
Photography is very important for me but sometimes is good to put it aside, forget it about it and shoot like a "normal" tourist.

Day 4, Simplicty

Sometimes we look for the extraordinary or something special in order to have a nice photo however if we simply open our mind we can appreciate beauty in many ordinary things. Here some artificial flowers from a friend's house and below a duck from my afternoon sightseeing.

 

Day 3, Travelling...

Today I made a small trip:

Day 2, when the picture is a gift

Today the photo was thanks to my son. At lunch he finished before than me so he took this little angry dog and put in front of me saying " he will watch you until you finish all your food" It make smile and I tough it could be a good photo. I took only three, one horizontal and two verticals all at 1/30 and f.8. and I picked the horizontal as my picture for today. So thank you my son ;)

Later we went to play to a park and again I took my camera to try to catch a better image or see if I could come out with something interesting. During our game he took a piece of a branch and start to act like a ninja, that was really cool, look at him immersed on his imagination fighting imaginary ninjas.
I  took exactly 189 images (due to the burst mode) but my chosen one is this:

Here you can see the other 4 that I like too.

Day 1, so far it looks easy.

Well, here I am with my first photo of this 365 project. I will limit at the most per 3 images per day even I think there will be days I will suffer to make at least one decent photograph.
Not sure what you will want to I write about, the technical details? the reason why I choose that image or what inspired me to take it? But for now, I will write what come to my mind.

 After pick up my son from his summer class I saw this old woman on our way back home. I asked the woman if I could photograph her dog and she gently accepted. The dog was a good model.

This photo was inspired by many of the similar photos I have seen featured in photography online magazines, sometimes I found them boring and sometimes beautiful.

Same as before, I liked the shadows. Enjoying simple things now.

Trying to not f*ck it this time

In my way back to home after have photographed the concert I remembered that once I started a 365 project with my mobile phone. It started well as I was excited about it and was my first smartphone with a decent camera. However, after the initial excitement, I struggled to do interesting images without relying  on the effects or filter that all camera apps have. I did not want to make some pretty images just because of a stupid filter or app but somehow I started to like and wanted to take photos of a fake world, that one with always blue skies, perfect sunsets and nice tonalities but all thanks to a filter. That was not me, well was in part but was not the direction where I wanted that my creativity and art go. So I stopped it.

Now I am carrying my camera again with me everywhere and I decided to take the challenge again and even more, will do it in color. Yes for most of it I will not make any conversion to black and white. If you don't leave our comfort zone then I think you should not call yourself and artist or a creative person. Think about it.

A calm street.

Being a lazy creative person

I have not been taking photos lastly, focused mostly on my poems and other non-photography matters I started to feel myself more as a hobbyist than as a photographer. That thought has been around two months in my head until yesterday that there was a local concert in my district to which I went to take some photos with my old canon 20d and a fixed lens of 20mm.
I always liked to photograph concerts, especially of extreme metal, but this was band Claymore played in broad light :/  I took no more than a hundred shots, I think that if in the days of film we had 36 images per film roll and with two or three rolls we were able to have around 5 good images why not should Ii try to do it again. 

Is not new that with digital we take more photos than we really need so literally we are just wasting the life cycle of the camera and being lazy creatively. Shoot 5 images per second or more per every possible angle is nonsense. Explore your subject from all angles is great but think twice before taking the picture, just like that you will be more critical with your composition and improve your skills.

This is my selection:

 

Inspiration is a bitch.

Inspiration is a bitch. She must be taken, exploited and used as much as needed because there will be times when no idea will come. Days when your canvas will remain blank waiting your brushes be driven by your hand.

Those days are hard. You have something in your head but don't know how to transform into a painting, photograph or a sculpture. You walk around, sketch but all is garbage.

Some try help with wine, beer, drugs, sex, yoga, long walks to sort the ideas but all is useless. You end tired and hopeless, questioning if you deserve to be called an "artist" or if you even are one and not just a "wanna be".

"Inspiration" won't come to you so easily. You must pay for it. Pay with your insecurity, fear, happiness and dreams. You must sacrifice your time with friends, boyfriends, family and your time to be with just with yourself" only after that you will be able to create as God. Creativity will flow through hands. It is a force that pushes you to paint, write, sculpt, photograph, etc at any given moment. You will express whatever you have inside your soul as joy or doubts. It won't be rational anymore, now is time to let your feelings be exposed without fear.

But as she comes, she goes. She serves for a limited time only. You cannot retain her. She is not yours and never was. That is why when she is pleasing you make the most of her. If you are weak or not ready for the intensity of her grace then don't force it. You may hurt yourself and your beloved ones. But if you are ready then don't rest. You will be on ecstasy and your creations will have magic.

After she is gone you won't be the same. You will see what you have done and finally will have some inner peace. You will be able to recognise your own demons no longer needing to run away from them and that will set you apart from the rest of men and women.

She has shown you a door of infinite options. Now you need her again and start over.

a Brno woman - Katerina

Lastly I have been trying to take photos in a different way that I am used to. From the back background and with studio lights to a more natural and relaxing environment. 

This session was unexpected. She is a photographer too and I was her model that day however by the end of the session I took my camera and we switch roles.
The session was short and fun and these are her selection.