Needing Light

I’ve said it before. I don’t feel very proficient with my photography skills. I used to. I even had a Dark Room. Back in the days before digital, if that tells you anything. As a matter of fact, digital photography was in its infancy (for the average consumer/photographer) and I was of the opinion that digital photography would never prevail over traditional photography. How wrong I was. Anyway, I felt entirely in tune with my medium.

Fast forward 10 years. Oddly enough, knitting and dyeing yarn brought a desire for photography back into my life. I wanted to document my knitting progress. I needed to photography products for sale. And the urge for creative expression through photography has reemerged. I’ve been talking about this a lot with some friends, who concur that my current feeling of inadequacy is due to fear.

Why is fear a re-occurring theme in my creative life? They are totally right of course. Close friends usually are right when it comes to things you don’t want to admit about yourself.

So, how to overcome this fear? How do I move past this feeling of inadequacy? I just have to get out and shoot. And I’m starting today. I will start to carry my camera with me at all times. This might be a little difficult, as it is a larger camera. I’ll shoot anything I get impaired to shoot. Maybe I should say “photograph” not “shoot”. That just sounds horrible. Although it is a proper term.

I’m feeling incredibly energized about this. Very excited, and of course scared, but ready. Tonight I’m meeting a friend who is going to model for me so I can get some shots of sock knitting. And this weekend I’m going to build a prop area. This will be a place to setup and photography my yarns and rovings. I have an idea for the type of standard images I want to have for displaying these items. I’ll also be going out this weekend on a photo mission. I don’t know where or what I’ll take photos of, but I will find something.