You walk around a town like Princeton NJ on the way to a somewhat formal architecture photo shoot and come upon a red painted dumpster. Walking around yielded these great images, at least to me. The first reminded me of a flowing red river, the second like some sort of snake-like creature rising out of the mud on an alien world.
While going around a normal, red dumpster can really reap photographic benefits if you spend 5-10 minutes. Of course, this assumes you enjoy these sorts of photos and enjoy looking odd.
This brings me to another point that nobody will probably ever read. (nobody reads these posts anyway) I used to worry about my photos and who might like them. Who would look at my work? Is it good enough? Am I just a nobody who takes weird photos and people just pat me on the virtual head? So maybe 4-5 years ago I decided to just say “F it”. I’m just going to take what I want. I don’t have copious amounts of time to drive to neat locations, as I work 40+ hours a week mostly remote and have family responsibilities. So I take photos of whatever I come upon. I don’t do lots of big photo trips. I don’t take many nature or landscape photos. Not that I don’t like them, I just don’t gravitate towards them. I don’t want to do wildlife or bird photos. God knows the world doesn’t need another photo of a duck or an Opsrey. They also don’t need another photo of a sunset behind a lighthouse or the moon setting behind NYC. So that means I don’t need to buy a giant lens or a new body. I make do with a 10 year old cameras a my main squeeze, an Olympus E-M1 Mk2. I bought a Fuji X100VI in January to have something smaller and more capable, which has been a nice addition. But I do not yearn for a full-frame body, or a new body, or a giant lens.
I’m much happier taking my odd photos. And enough people like my work that I amd satisfied.
