NOT comfort zone

removed account4 · Oct 16, 2014

years ago i started a thread that pops up every once in a blue moon that involves
comfort zones. everyone has one. maybe it is the solitude of photographing in
a quiet landscape, or working with an experienced ( or inexperienced ) clothed ( or fabric free ) model ( thanks Ed Sukach! )
or maybe your comfort zone is food or urban/street-stuff .. or color, or b/w or family photos or ?

what this thread is about is when was the last time you photographsed OUTSIDE your comfort zone ... how did it go? do you do it often? why is it outside the zone?
will you do this again or do something else? we all need to get "outside" to get better, doing the same thing well, it gets boring ...

===

i guess i'll start --

my comfort zone is shooting architecture ( trained in it ) and portraiture ( trained in it ) ... for work i am commissioned to shoot the built environment and portraits.
and it usually requires dependable equipment ( reliable, working order, shutter speeds are known &c ) and fresh film + prints on fresh paper
with fresh mainstream developers that are a known quantity and reliable.

i'm outside my comfort zone too often it seems ...
i use "trash ready" (thanks ian! ) supplies ( film paper liquid emulsions )
extremely expired. well used, spent, developers ( coffee and USED print developer ) and old nearly broken barely-working cameras.
and when it comes to prints, i try to make prints from found objects.

it is usually hit or miss. like anything .. sometimes its in spades, sometimes its 25 rolls of film that i should probably throw away.
i won't stop doing it, and will do it again tomorrow ... why? using equipment that isn't reliable, materials ready for the waste heap &c
forces you to do more than press the shutter. maybe when the images are processed as a negative they turn into something else? maybe
you concentrate on composition more? maybe you are more in the moment, and realize how special ever exposure might be when dedicated to film ( or paper ).
its outside the zone because ... inside the comfort zone is exactly the opposite of entropy.

Rick A · Oct 16, 2014

I have become bored with conventional photography, especially dark room work, of course I've only been at it for over 50 years, no wonder. I have been trying to explore my emotions and how to make MY emotions show in photos. Since that isn't going very well, I am taking a short respite from my cameras and persuing carbon transfer printing. It's slow and contemplative, and frustrating as hell for me, but I will not quit. It's also hunting season, so I am spending time in the field with my daughter--Annie freakin Oakley, she's a lot better shot gunner than me, tally so far, the kid has 7 pheasants to my zero. I get to eat them though.

snapguy · Oct 16, 2014

no comfort

There I was in Newark New Jersey with a Nikon F and a Nikkormat and a press card around my neck and supporters of the losing candidate for mayor were yelling "kill the press, kill the press." They wrecked two live TV cameras worth $15,000 each and the Newark police escorted myself and others out the door. That was about 1970. Does this count?

removed account4 · Oct 16, 2014

snapguy said:
There I was in Newark New Jersey with a Nikon F and a Nikkormat and a press card around my neck and supporters of the losing candidate for mayor were yelling "kill the press, kill the press." They wrecked two live TV cameras worth $15,000 each and the Newark police escorted myself and others out the door. That was about 1970. Does this count?

as jerome horawitz used to say, " why certainly "

hdeyong · Oct 17, 2014

I shot somebody's wedding once, 36 years ago, as a favour because they didn't have much $$. I've never been so out of my comfort zone in my life.

darkosaric · Oct 17, 2014

Outside my comfort zone is color photography. When I have color film in camera (or making snapshot with phone) I always have fear that I will make a shot and I will see that it was a mistake not shoot this picture B&W negative. Two cameras does not count, because sometimes moment is a very short, no time to grab another camera that has B&W negative in it.

@jnanian: how often do you do street photography, is it outside your comfort zone as well ?

removed account4 · Oct 17, 2014

darkosaric said:
@jnanian: how often do you do street photography, is it outside your comfort zone as well ?

hi darko,
i used to do it often, but now rarely do it .. i am not very good at street stuff but its still fun .
im sort of uncomfortable doing it, but not in a fish out of water sense
but one of the reasons i don't do it often i have been accosted by people + harassed / threatened, so i try to be invisible as much as possible not photographing people without consent ... but that said, last weekend i was at a state fair and did some there with a little agfa box camera ( the year before as well with a half frame ) and maybe the time before that it was with a 4x5 graflex slr that i schlepped around the streets of bescancon france.
i sometimes wish i could snap my fingers and be 5 inches taller, and irish looking so i would blend better where i live, or i lived someplace
where i didn't stand out as much, i'd do it more street photography

pdeeh · Oct 17, 2014

I'm surprised you think of all the expired stuff as out of your comfort zone jn - you do so much of it after all!

Now what might really be out there is to shoot a very straight pro assignment whether architectural or portrait on some of that aged stuff and process it in one of your strange goos ...

removed account4 · Oct 17, 2014

pdeeh said:
I'm surprised you think of all the expired stuff as out of your comfort zone jn - you do so much of it after all!

Now what might really be out there is to shoot a very straight pro assignment whether architectural or portrait on some of that aged stuff and process it in one of your strange goos ...

hi pdeeh
i think you right
i do it all the time and it is a case of being too comfortable with discomfort.

i've done the things you mentioned ..
the newly weds and the "bat mitzva-ee"
were extremely happy with the results

Thomas Bertilsson · Oct 17, 2014

I get way out of my comfort zone when I shoot automated cameras, because I'm so used to shooting entirely manual cameras, like my Hasselblad, Pentax, and Leica cameras. It has taken me almost two years to get used to a Canon EOS-3, and I've sort of learned how to use it like a manual camera...

Subject matter wise, I get a little hurried when I shoot figure work. I haven't in some time now, because I haven't lined up any shoots. Been too busy working on other things. Some day I might get more used to it, slow down, and focus better on the task at hand.

I also am seriously stressed when there is more than one person in the viewfinder. I love to make portraits, it's my strongest passion in photography. But one person at a time is how I see the world usually, crowds are difficult for me. I'm not pursuing doing couples or group shots either. But sometimes they happen, and I have to steel myself and just do it. They never turn out very good.

Weddings. Never again. Yikes. Unless they are really low key and relaxed, and people are relaxed about the outcome of the photographs. Then I might bring a camera and shoot just for fun.

pdeeh · Oct 17, 2014

I'm extremely self-conscious, and I find using a camera for more than a snatched shot in a public place extremely stressful. The bigger the camera the worse it feels - so if I'm out and about in view of other people, then it's the XA or OM-1n only. Even handling the GS645S feels too conspicuous.

There are some places I'd love to use my home-made 10x8s, but that's simply out of the question.

"Street photography" is almost beyond me - and I see shooting "from the hip" or otherwise covertly as being inauthentic for me to do. Irrational perhaps.

The last time I actually did "street" as a planned excursions was about two years ago. The venue was a night-time carnival parade. I'd been trying to do something for a couple of years at the same event but it had been unsatisfactory. The third time I knew exactly what I was going to do and how, and I got some shots with which I was very very pleased indeed. But it's not my thing really. Hence the preponderance of trees as subjects in most of my little snaps ...

Vonder · Oct 17, 2014

I'm not really a people person either, like many here. I got out of my comfort zone and shot weddings for a while. I didn't choose to stop, market forces went the other way, and the business collapsed. Now I shoot real estate professionally. There are STILL people involved, realtors, property managers, and bums - err, tenants to deal with. I do all my "pro" work digital. If I want out of my comfort zone I'll shoot a house on film. Haven't yet, but I keep threatening to.

Pioneer · Oct 17, 2014

Anything with people in them is out of my comfort zone. But the photographs with people in them are the most interesting for me. So I am trying to do things that include more people.

I know that sounds very simplistic. I have been able to push myself to take photographs of people at events. I can even get out on the street and do some people photography, though I usually work with a 90mm. I am certainly not a 35mm or wider street shooter. Portraits are even more difficult for me though group portraits are just doable. Individual portraits are very tough because it is a very intimate exercise between me and the person sitting. For me to do it right I need to be able to get comfortable with that person, get to know them, see their eyes and get a sense of their personality and character. I wouldn't do well doing portraits as a business. First, I would be continually uncomfortable and second I would be so unproductive I could never make money.

I doubt it takes a very big leap to understand that photographing nudes is so far outside my comfort zone it is unlikely to ever happen.

cliveh · Oct 17, 2014

I think I would be most out of my comfort zone if being told to photograph a specific subject. This hasnt happened for many years now and unlikely to. This is probably why I never enjoyed paid work in photography and only enjoy it as a hobby.

frank · Oct 17, 2014

I read somewhere, and it may even be in someone's signature here, that a comfort zone is a nice place to be, but nothing grows there.

winger · Oct 17, 2014

My comfort zone has very few, if any, people. My non-comfort zone would be doing portraits, or heaven forbid, weddings. Though I've been conscripted for a couple of those (and got some good images), but I'm just NOT a people person.

frank · Oct 17, 2014

While I was single I could spend however I liked but after marriage and kids, I needed to find a separate income source to support my photography hobby. This led me into weddings and portraits which typically include people which my nature/landscape personal photography lacked. It took some getting used to but I was motivated, and so now people photography is not so far outside my comfort zone.

Financial considerations also caused me to shoot entirely in B&W (home developed and printed) and stop the more expensive E6 commercial processing.

eddie · Oct 17, 2014

My comfort zone has enlarged as my fear of failure has diminished. What I mean is, even my failures have taught me something. Often, they lead to new ideas and projects.
The projects I'm working on now (all born of failures) have forced me to learn new things. It helps keep things fresh and exciting...

Thomas Bertilsson · Oct 17, 2014

eddie said:
My comfort zone has enlarged as my fear of failure has diminished. What I mean is, even my failures have taught me something. Often, they lead to new ideas and projects.
The projects I'm working on now (all born of failures) have forced me to learn new things. It helps keep things fresh and exciting...

What a great way of looking at things! Thanks for the reminder.

eddie · Oct 17, 2014

Thomas- I need to learn how to draw (sort of) for my next set of no camera/no lens photos. The failures are piling up, but so are the revelations.

removed account4 · Oct 17, 2014

eddie said:
Thomas- I need to learn how to draw (sort of) for my next set of no camera/no lens photos. The failures are piling up, but so are the revelations.

yep

for every failure it leads somewhere . ( and with photography it is usually to the bank )

Valerie · Oct 17, 2014

Anything I'm going to show someone else is WAY outside my comfort zone. Anything with people (outside my family) is WAYYY outside my comfort zone. Anything I'm doing for someone else is WAY WAYYYYYYYY outside my comfort zone.

But I try to do it anyway.....

eddie · Oct 17, 2014

Valerie said:
But I try to do it anyway.....

If you try, you may fail. If you don't try, you will fail. Keep on tryin'...

Valerie · Oct 17, 2014

I completely agree!

eddie said:
If you try, you may fail. If you don't try, you will fail. Keep on tryin'...

frank · Oct 18, 2014

From Henry Ford I believe: You think you can or you think you can't, either way you're right.

NOT comfort zone

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