I’ve just returned home from a 9 day vacation up at Acadia National Park in Maine. Merri, Gianna, and I stayed at my parents place in a town near Acadia. It was so nice to just rest and relax.
Ok this has been stagnating for a few weeks in my queue, so I’ll finish this off, since I have a couple more photos to share!
Today I was minding my own business then stumbled across this blog post. I loved the article, but I realized something.
I realized that I have been slacking lately. I haven’t even been shooting every day. I have to work harder on establishing a better routine. I’ve essentially finished de-cluttering my house, so I have less on my mind now. It’s the perfect time for me to get back on the Project365 horse.
Changes to my current routine
Start taking different ways to and from work. I’m bored with what I see daily. I walk a total of a two miles on the way to and from work. But those two miles are old hat to me now. I’ve been walking those same bits of street for coming up on three years now. I know I need to force myself to find beauty in everyday items, but I also need to jumpstart my return to my project365. Making my commute a little different won’t hurt at all. At some point I’d like to get a flash, which will also help spice things up. I also want to travel a bit more, even if it’s just weekend trips in the car out into the western parts of Massachusetts. I forget where I read it, but the quote goes something like this: “Want to take more interesting photographs? Put yourself in front of more interesting things.” There is definite truth to that.
You should shoot what you are passionate about, and I’m passionate about Italy. My goal is to get there in the spring, and spend at least 3 weeks there. I am going to aim for the end of May, because the weather will be awesome, and the flights won’t be so bad at that point. Maybe the beginning of May. Sadly I can’t afford to be there 24/7/365. That being said, I could make better use of the car that I now own and head out to more rural and beautiful parts of Massachusetts and up to New Hampshire and Maine. In fact, this weekend I’m heading up to Acadia Nationa Park in Maine for a week of vacation. I hope to have some good photographs to show off from the trip!
Other ways to stay motivated
Since reading the article by Alexandre Buisse I have been brainstorming ways to stay motivated for my Project365. I’ve come up with a couple of ideas, but I need more! (any suggestions are welcome!)
If anyone has any suggestions of other methods to keep motivated, I would LOVE to hear them. I need all the help I can get!
Todays photo was shot in the morning on my way to work: 36mm, f/5, 1/640 second, ISO 200
The end is near!
The end of my quest to remove clutter from my house is near. For the last few weeks I’ve been trying to remove clutter from my house. I started with the low hanging fruit, the items I haven’t used in over a year. I haven’t brewed beer in a year, so I sold my beer brewing equipment to my brother for $70. I have dropped off books at a charity. I have donated clothes to charity. Now I’m getting to the tougher decisions. I have golf clubs, that I haven’t used in over a year, but I do enjoy playing, and when I do play, it’s pretty expensive to rent clubs, plus they are never very good. Mostly however, I’ve only played pitch and putt for the last couple of years, so maybe I should just keep the pitching wedge and the putter and sell the rest? Or is it just simpler to sell the full set and rent the 2 clubs when going to play pitch and putt. In the past I would keep the clubs in the trunk of my car, but for the last two years I didn’t have a car so they sat in my house. Now, I have a car again, but the trunk has a stroller in it most of the time, and we’ve added a baby backpack to the trunk as well. I also have a bit of camping equipment stored underneath my bed. I have a 2 person tent, a sleeping bag, a Thermarest
Can minimalism and photography mix?
From what I can tell, most professional photographers have a large set of equipment. Most have one or two camera bodies, many lenses, many flashes, stands, tripods, and a bunch of other gadgets. So, can someone be a successful photographer and not have a huge assortment of equipment? I’ve been thinking about what would be my optimal set of equipment. What would it contain? I think for the most part, a photographer could get by with:
I don’t think this is such a big set of equipment. I have most of those pieces already and most of them fit in my Crumpler
I think it can.
I think this is a fairly limited set of equipment for a professional photographer. I understand the desire to have backup equipment in case something breaks. For the most part, I think you’re better off with just the one camera body. Maybe if you are doing a shoot with a model, and a rented location, and things of that nature, you might need backups on hand. If your only camera was to break everyone would be left sitting there, and you’d be out a lot of cash. That’s not at all the type of photography I want to do. I prefer being out in nature and traveling. I’ve seen some photographers use two camera bodies so they can quickly switch between wide angle and telephoto. I do admit this is by far faster, and keeps you from having to switch lenses so much. In my mind, minimalism requires you to make trade-offs like this. If you don’t have a car, you have to walk more places, or take public transportation, or ride a bike. You make the trade-off between convenience and saving money. This is the trade-off between convenience and compactness. Sure it would be convenient to carry all that in the case that you might need it, but it also limits the places you can go. If you are carrying twice as much stuff, how far do you really want to hike? Can you quickly carry your equipment onto the plane? Or do you need your assistant to help you out? I’m willing to make those sacrifices.
Todays picture is of my mother, and my daughter. It was taken with my kit lens, the 18-55mm that came with my D5000.
42mm, f5.3, 2/5 second, ISO 200
I spent a lot of time today sitting next to this mini-jungle at my parents house while I was feeding my daughter. I like the way the light shines through the leaves.
She’s been good today, has been sleeping for a couple hours at a time since about 10:30. I’ve actually been able to get a full work day in! Thanks little girl!
Not much else to say, I have to get ready soon to feed her a bit, then head down to NH. I’ve already packed up most of the car, I just need to finish my workday, and get going around 5pm I hope!
Woot!
35mm, 1/250 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 200
Had a good easter today with my family here in Maine.
Gianna was feeling a little sick last night, but is doing better now. She’s been eating well, and is nowhere near as fussy as she was last night! I’m glad, for a bit I was worried that we were going to have to go to the hospital, but the doctor said that if the infant tylenol i gave her was lowering her fever, and it stayed down then she was ok, otherwise, hospital. Her fever has been down ever since!
We even went out for a nice walk this afternoon around the block. It was so nice out, over 70 degrees.
I really liked the look of this fire hydrant. They had painted it relatively recently, but its still peeling and cracking in places.
35mm, 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200
Hello, I'm Josh, just your average guy learning photography and trying to create a more minimalist, location independent lifestyle. I hope to hear from you!
