Today I woke up with coves where usually my eyes would be. Just walking to the shower and getting back to dress up made my muscles shiver and the head was pumping like on the Black Eyed Peas song Pump-it. It sounds like a very bad hang-over isn't it? But I swear I went to bed at 10:30 in the evening and slept non-stop for twelve hours. Or at least I think I did... am I sleep walking?
I had no other choice than surrendering to the "Voice of my body" screaming I should stay quiet. Some days I wonder if I will get back to the old shape and find it difficult to keep love & compassion towards the doctor that mistakenly diagnosed me. But quickly I got reminded of a few points:
- I am a lucky rat: if you believe natural selection I wouldn't have been selected.
- Humans are most of the time, nice. I can still remember the young guy that diagnosed me perfectly
- Its almost spring
- Whenever you are forced to hang on your couch, you can be lucky enough to read a good book
And this is exactly what I did. I started to read "Within the Frame" from David du Chemin, lent from a friend. This book about photography is simply amazing. I have the impression that he took all the words from my mouth and all ideas from my head. If you read that book, you don't need to follow this blog any more because the guy says exactly what I am concluding day after day. He says everything! He just speed-up me, putting me into a kind of time tunnel, five years from now.
The book is not a technical one, the book is philosophical, subjective, open minded, receptive.
But of course I am learning a lot... the book just made everything go faster!
One of the ideas that worked for him and he suggests you to practice is to look into the frame and before shooting, visualize the image onto the sensor. See if you are going to show exactly what you want to show: move a bit, recompose a bit and try to always visualize the scene being reflected on the sensor. NAME IT: name your subject, the felling you want to pass, the emotions, everything. Make it more concrete so you can better show it.
So simple is that, and so effective.
But photographing is a bit more than this tip. Together with this one, you need to think about 20 different variables in a fraction of second. To be a photograph you need to think fast, decide fast and adjust your camera fast and this is one of the difficult challenges and what requires lots of consistent practice.
And now up! Get back to life, move your .. eerrr.. legs and back to work!
Hope you are feeling better. I love all the signs that tell us that spring is on it's way. When I first moved to England I found a little sheltered place in a park where someone had planted bulbs in a perfect circle. When the crocuses came out, it looked like a magic fairy circle.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your book!