So school started last week and boy oh boy am I inspired. I honestly thought that a class once a week for 5 hours only wouldn’t take up much time or mental resources but I also forgot how when I get focused I become one track minded. During only our 2nd class meeting I was hit with a wave of inspiration in the form of my portfolio idea pitch.
Basically my professor would like us to hyper focus our portfolio for this class into themes, if you will. Instead of showcasing the best of your work ever, or even in the last year, he wants us to narrow it down to a theme or idea and express it and even tell a story if we can.
It wasn’t until I was sitting in class thinking over in my head how the hell I was going to pick a theme out of thin air that somehow showcases my love of cemeteries, long exposures, and pretty things. And then dawned on me, all this time I’ve been doing photography, I’ve never (with a couple strong exceptions) really tried to SAY anything with my photography. I see a beautiful cemetery, I shoot it. I see pretty nature, I shoot it. This is the pitfall of photographers like me who don’t shoot portraits. With portraits you focus on capturing the personality of the person rather than creating just a plain ole pretty picture. With landscapes, or inanimate objects, its sometimes a little less obvious what your goal should be. Sitting in class listening to everyone pitch their portfolio ideas it sank in that my work up until now has always been pretty superficial. The only things that haven’t been superficial are things that have been close to my heart, or things like my book project.
And then it hit me.
This class is the perfect opportunity to finish my book project, or at least get it started in a very real way. My book project has been an idea percolating in my head over the past 7 or so years and its one of the few things I’ve done to this date that actually MEAN anything. I can finally put my talents to use to actually say something through my work, not just show you a pretty picture.
Long story short I pitched my book idea to my professor and he loved it (keep in mind, last week when I was scared of him and his ideas) and we bounced a couple ideas off eachother. I’m really excited to share my progress with you guys but until I start shooting and getting it ready I’m going to hold off on the exact details of what I’ll be doing. I’m really excited to be finally doing this though because I found it pretty hard to focus on doing the book project on my own but now that I have help this could potentially turn into a real book project in the future, its definitely something that I’ve always wanted to do and get published.
So anyway, I just had to share my little tidbit of happy news before my next class meeting and a new wave of inspiration slams me. :)