Personal Work

I was chatting with some good friends this morning about 'photo failure'. We as photographers get really down on ourselves sometimes. If color isn't right, if the shot isn't framed perfectly, if we happen to get a glimpse of some other work that is supremely amazing...we cringe and we beat ourselves up for it, and so we get down.

I hate feeling down. I decided a long time ago to not look at what other people are doing. I decided to focus on my own work and work hard at it, improve what it was I was seeing through my own lens and find who I am, and who I want to be.

The problem? I don't like a lot of the work I do, especially personal work. Oftentimes, to save money I shoot my personal work on off brand film. This usually means the color is kind of whacky and the grain is chunky chunk, or I have a local 1 hour lab process my film, so the photos aren't as clear or sharp as my client work.

So they sit.

They sit also because I am busy with all five of my jobs as Jothan likes to calculate them all for me.

Then today, the discussion with my friends got me thinking...and looking...for awful photos. You know what? It was hard to find some. I found photos I loved. Even in bad lighting and off film and horrible processing. I still think they are lovely, they are personal, they are my heart, and I love them. I love the way I see through the lens and these photos only make me want to capture more and more.

Hope you enjoy these today. They were taken for SassyScoops at Sammy's Cafe in Pleasant Grove I truly feel all of my work shot for SassyScoops is personal, and I love the opportunity it gives me to shoot products, food, and people in a new light. You will see that the film stock and color as well as processing are very different from my client work. It is almost night and day...and yet I still love. It is a messy kind of love, and artistic kind of love and I am going to embrace it forevermore.

Here is to more personal work shot in 2012, and more showing it on a regular basis.

Oh, and I miss summer. You?

**Get geeky: Shot on a Nikon N80, 50mm 1.4 lens at 1.4 with Fuji 800 Consumer Film processed at Walgreen's**