I am usually a pretty focused individual. Able to work on a task from start to finish, or at least multi-task my way through it from start to finish. But every once in a while, I get distracted.
For the past few years, the things that have been distracting me are almost entirely photo-related (I’m talking 99.999% here). I am working away on some engineering task and suddenly it hits me, a fabulous idea for a shoot. Much like when I am inspired, I feel the urge to go out and shoot something. But this is different because I can’t just leave where I am and what I am doing to satisfy this craving. Instead I jot down a note, a title of a series or a bit of a session plan. Enough to get the idea out of my head and in some more tangible form I can shove into my purse to later be better described in my Idea Book.
Sometimes I even find myself getting distracted during my shoots. This normally doesn’t happen when I am shooting clients as I get so excited about them and the shots we are able to create that even when I get a little distracted, it is still about them and their shoot. No, I tend to get distracted during my own shoots. I will be out shooting something specific, like a museum or zoo during a trip, or friends at a party and then find ‘something shiny’ to shoot, something I find special. To be honest, I don’t even realize I have done it until later when I am reviewing the shots. My friends or family will look through them with me and see zebra, leopard, rusty thingamabob, lions, tiger – wait, what was that in the middle?
I love it. It reminds me that I really do love what I do. If the fact that I could (and have) rambled on for hours on end about technical and not-so-technical aspects of photography or the degree of fun I can have with my Idea Book and a free afternoon didn’t remind me enough, then this does. The little glimpses into new shots, new ideas amidst all the ideas and shots I was already working through that day and all of the ones already logged in my Idea Book. They remind me that there is so much more to shoot and so many more moments to capture.
The above photo is one of those moments of distraction. I was shooting away in my backyard, a personal shoot for something completely unrelated. I turned around and saw the sun peeking through the lattice, and the dried up vine hanging on my fence. There was no choice – it had to be shot.
