Peace-of-mind for photography

[Prime]

I live in a pretty crazy part of Florida, which can be a crazy state. I feel frustrated by all of the insanity (I won't go into it all), and I'm wondering how the life here might be affecting my photography. Do you find that the place you live in affects your photography? If so, how? Thanks for any help.

 

[bmac]

Well, I live in the South bay area (Silicon Valley) of Northern California. The one way that living in this area effects my Photography is that during the winter months, there is no chance to shoot on weekdays! It is dark by the time I get home from my hour long 17 mile commute!

 

[Sean]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bmacphoto.com @ Oct 19 2002, 03:37 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Well, I live in the South bay area (Silicon Valley) of Northern California. The one way that living in this area effects my Photography is that during the winter months, there is no chance to shoot on weekdays! It is dark by the time I get home from my hour long 17 mile commute!</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Here in New Zealand the atmosphere is very laid back. I think that helps keep me in a great 'frame' of mind when I go on outings. One way NZ affects my photography is lack of selection on gear and overal expense. Take any supplies or equipment in the U.S., double the price and add another 30-40% and you have the cost of it here in NZ. Oh well, guess I can't have it all! I figure when I'm about to purchase my 8x10 outfit I'll take a trip back home to the U.S. and get it all there...

 

[avandesande]

If you have read Weston's daybooks you will note that most of his most famous photographs were done when he was beset with financial and family troubles.
I live in NJ, and seriously considered moving to New Mexico. We got to Florida to relax! However I have come to believe that the photographic frontier is right here in the metropolitan area. Although I feel that I am really up against it (two young children as well) it makes value my time more and look harder.

Aaron

 

[Jim Chinn]

I think no matter where you live there is a certain amount of insanity from time to time. I live in Nebraska where there is certainly insanity (5 murdered in bank robbery 100 miles to the NW and the 11 bodies found in a grain car in Denison, Iowa, 70 miles to the NE in the last month), but I don't think it matters to my photography. I grew up in the Great Plains where the beauty of the scenery is subtle and the people are freindly and warm if you are honest and straight forward about your intentions.

A lot of my work consists of more detail and abstract images, and a continuing body of work on the interface between the rural and the urban. I also am doing more portraiture work and do more indoor studio type work during the sometimes extreme winters.

If I had grown up in Northern California or New York or lived there now, my work would probably gravitate and center on those subjects. I suppose the pace of life where you live matters also. there is probably quite a difference between working the streets on NYC and shooting an endless horizon and sky with only a few thousand inhabitants within 100 miles.

 

[Wim van Velzen]

Prime,

I have exactly the same feeling. I live in a very urbanised part of the Netherlands and as a landscape photographer I can't get myself to photographing the urban scenery. It is most of the time simply ugly, cluttered and congested. Maybe that would be a great theme, but for me photography is a bit of escapism as well.
I like the old towns though as a background for weddings and portraits. I am planning to go to Leiden when there is a forecast for a bright cold winter morning.

Most of my landscape work is done on holiday in Scotland or elsewhere on the British Isles. I just love the rest, wide horizons and tranquillity.

 

[Marsh]

I used to say "that in order to be a landscape photographer, the first thing you needed was a landscape. " By that I meant you had to be inspired by the natural specticle around you. Something on the order of the Grand Canyon or the slot canyons in Arizona.

Living in the wilds of NJ I just couldn't get up the inspiration to do lanscape photography here. But as I aged and began to really look around, I found that inspiration comes from within rather than without. There are grand senics if you look deep enough all around you.

Your desire and current outlook and as well as your psychological mood will influence the image you are taking today and tomorrow you will see the same landscape in a whole different context.

 

[BobF]

Well I live where some of you would desire to be, Colorado. But I find I am leaning away from grand landscapes and towards the good within the chaos that covers most areas.

I am not sure why, but I think a lot of my reason is that so much has been done before and done better than I can seem to do. I can't say that I don't try the grand landscape when it presents itself but I am always actively searching for that small micro scenic within the urban or even wilderness areas. I guess my favorite thing is to find something beautiful within the junk and make it seem as though I am hundreds of miles from that trash pile next to it.

I recently made a trip from home to LA and made a point to stay away from all major highways and parks. Partly because I have already been there but also to see what else was out there to shoot and different ways to capture it. From what I have developed so far I was not as successful as I would have hoped but at least it is mine and not Adam's or Muench's.