No More Titles

     Today was a benchmark day, and that could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. I woke up and paid my bills, nothing unusual about that, the unusual thing is, that I hit my financial barrier with paying those bills today. What that means is, that I'm at the point financially where I need to start looking for a job. The party is over.

     Here are the two ways you can look at it. It's back to the grind for me, and all my creative endeavors didn't pan out or, It's back the the grind for me, and all of my creative endeavors haven't panned out yet. I'm going with the latter rather than the former. I have made significant ground in my writing, and I tried doing it in a way that, if it hasn't been done, it hasn't been done often enough for it to be a  thing yet. New experiences take time to catch on, and I knew that going into this. This is all going to lead to another topic that I want to discuss tonight, so remember this moment. My skills at editing video have grown. They aren't perfect, but I'd say they are pretty good, and I'm getting videos that look better and better. Oh, and I may have finally fixed the audio problem with TPR, so no more videos with weird static or beeping sounds, not to mention that knocks and bangs. You won't see that until the 27th though.

     I picked the camera back up, and have been doing things I never dreamt of doing with a camera, and I will continue to push my ability with it and grow as a photographer. I have a photoshoot tomorrow evening, which should bring some of my ideas to life. I'm going to have fun with it, and jus enjoy the moment of capturing and image that has only been in my head. It's going to be amazing.

     Now for the thing I wanted to get to, and how this all ties in. I learned of a woman photographer the other day. I was skimming through Twitter, and came across Emma Watson's post about this remarkable photographer by the name of Francesca Woodman. The images she shared were outstanding, and I needed to know more about this woman. That is when I learned that she had committed suicide in 1981. Once again, I missed something that I wish I hadn't, but it isn't entirely my fault. You see, Miss Woodman was doing things that were unheard of, and her images were way ahead of her time. She would mostly do self portraits, or use other female models, and take photographs of them mostly nude, but with their faces obscured. She would also use that technique that I have been using lately, with long exposure shots, causing the woman to blur and what not. I think that is what attracted me to these photos, but she was doing it at a time, when you couldn't see the image until it was developed. I have the luxury of being able to instantly see what trial and error looks like and how I can change direction in a second.

     She was 22 when she jumped from a loft in New York to her death. It was a result of failed dreams. She had just ended a relationship, and was having trouble getting people to look at her work, because the couldn't see the brilliance in it. This is where I am now. No, i'm not saying what I am doing is brilliant, but maybe some day someone will see it that way. I'm just relating as to how hard it is to find your audience. There are so many other things out there that are of the norm, that when you do something outside of that, people tend to look away from what it is, to something that just is. You have to have a loud voice to get passed that, and I just don't have that voice, and neither did Miss Woodman. I pulled some of her photos to share so you can see just how magnificent a talent she was and what this world lost.

     That final image with the plate is her. I won't tell you what the images represents, because I think that is subjective, but I will say that there is a reason that her photos are being shared around social media at this time. I'm sure she would like you to interpret them for yourself. See the story that you see in them, and how they relate to you. That is what I'm trying to do in my photography. I don't know if my intent for story telling comes off as much as her's does though. I guess I will leave that up to the people that see my photographs.

     Directly after reading everything I could find about her, I went on Amazon and ordered a book of her photography. I want to study what she did, even in what few images that will be available to me in that book. I think we have a similar sense in that, we want to use photographs to create emotion and tell a tale. I have been titling my photos, that's just my nature, but I'm going to stop doing that from now on. A title can direct the narrative, and I want the image to speak for itself. So, if you are following my on the CSP Instagram, you will see change starting tomorrow. No more titles, only hashtags and credits if credits are due.

     I don't know where I'm going to work, or what I'm going to do, or how I'm going to go about even finding a new job, but I do know, that I won't stop creating. I have a lot of stories to tell, and I have so many ways to tell them now. Peace in and goodnight.