Creative cobwebs

There was a period when I stopped playing guitar for a while. I just got caught up with a number of things and was working a gazillion hours a week with little to no free time. When I finally got around to playing again, I knew what I was doing but I could immediately tell I was horribly out of practice. I played the right notes but they’re just weren’t clear. Even more telling, my phrasing and rhythm were just plain bad. I needed to woodshed and I knew it.

Getting back into practicing photography after what seemed like an endless deep freeze of winter feels the same to me right now. I just wasn’t into going out and shooting during the lousy winter months, fighting the cold winds and awful roads. Besides, winters around here aren’t very pretty, more mud and frozen rain than beautiful snow draped mountain scenery. The city streets aren’t much better. Plowed snow ends up taking away valuable parking spaces up until the spring thaw. So I thought I would wait until I was good and ready.

I’m ready now, but I feel that I’m not very good at the moment. All of that time away from a viewfinder has made me a little rusty. I always sort of took pictures in my mind as I was driving around. Just visualizing how I would take a photo of something, if I was taking a photo of something, even though I was just driving by. Kind of keeping the mind working at least. But the actual physical process of finding a subject and taking the photo takes a little time for me to “get in the groove’.

For a first outing, I came across some antique stores a little late over the weekend, just as they were closing. So I was forced to shoot into windows from the street. That’s something I like to do anyhow but the bright sunlight, although a welcome sight, made for some contrasty light. I just had to shoot with a wide-angle lens right up against the glass to eliminate reflections but that also limited what I could shoot and compose. As usual I worked with what I had, in subject matter, light, and camera gear and hope for the best.

I hope to start practicing on the art a little more in the next few months and break down those creative cobwebs.