The Hallway
Sometimes life feels like walking down this dark hallway. You do not know where to go, how long it will take and how many obstacles are in your way. You have to have your goal in mind, keep on going and not give up. When you see an exit sign in the far distance you know that you are on the right track and that whatever you wanted to achieve will be accomplished soon.
This is how I felt when I started to do this year's taxes. But after many days in the dark, locked away from humanity, forced to sort out receipts and to add up all these numbers the end is in sight. I am sure I will be able to finish the bookkeeping tomorrow, relief myself and make my accountant happy.
This is how I feel about this blog as well. The difference to my taxes is that I enjoy posting it. It actually is a great exercise for going into the unknown since I never know in the morning what I will write about in the evening. I also do not know what picture to take. But I have my eyes and ears open all day. Sometimes I am worried that I will not have an image I like for my post but then I remind myself that I was able to pull it off in the last 80 days. Why would I not be able to do it today? If this blog has taught me one thing then it is that taking images comes easy to me. I feel more and more that I could be sent into any situation and come out of it with some really good shots. I feel that this has helped me already when I shoot commercially. I am much more calm and less nervous because even when things are not easy and do not seem to work out I at the end things will work out.
A friend of mine assisted this photographer who defined a professional photographer as,” Somebody who is able to work under difficult circumstances.” There is a lot of truth in that. In photography as in life things go wrong so often. To call yourself a professional you should be able to roll with the punches and come up with alternatives if what you trying to do is not working. Over time and with experience you find out that you will be able to deal with whatever gets thrown at you. Then you can relax, concentrate on having fun with the process and apply the same idea to your life.
It is not easy to come up with a great shot on a daily basis. I am not even trying to achieve that. I do not have the time to run out and look for images. I came across most of the images on this blog by running errands, driving to a shoot or going to the gym. Since I have no idea what to shoot or write about when I get up I am able to let things just happen and very often surprise myself.
This approach shows me that there is always a reason why things happen in a certain way. I have a conversation with somebody and get inspired to write about what we talked about or out of whatever reason I have to change the plan for the day what leads me to come across something I shoot and I come up with a story that works with that image. It feels like the blog knows what it wants and I am just here to help to realize it.
An interesting week lies ahead of us. On Thursday I am flying to a friend’s wedding in Las Vegas. That will be a great adventure and I am so excited to go. New York is an amazing place to be but an even better place to get back to. I will have my camera and my laptop with me and keep on posting on a daily basis.
So stay tuned for more images and stories about photography and life.
"Hallway" Williuamsburg/Brooklyn 03-23-08 at 11:08 PM
Please check out my website at carstenfleck.com