STREETLOGS
Hello it's been forever since I've written here but we're back!
I recently started documenting my photo walks in a youtube series!
I've been trying to find a way to be more consistent in going out to shoot - even if's just capturing ordinary scenes around the south bay (which can feel quite suburban despite the large concentration of tech companies). Some goals with this are - to learn and improve as I go, to be present, and most importantly enjoy the process!
Check out the pilot episode here!
current focus
Current focus - just being?
So between 2021 and early 2023 I was focused on putting out thematic projects involving sequences of images captured over separate occasions. It led to a lot of growth as a photographer as it required myself to be conscious of the flow of one photo to the next in order to tell a story and required maintaining consistency between photos. However, I felt as if my style hasn’t matured enough and decided screw it - I'm going to put all projects on pause and just focus on shooting & and draw out everything I can from each photo, regardless of the context.
Style is king and story should come naturally. I wanted to retrospectively observe my subject matter and how I handled tones & color to see what I'm instinctively drawn to. Don't overthink, it just feel it out - that's always been the creative approach that has served me best. With the drawn out projects I’ve tended to fall into the overthinking trap.
The problem with those projects was that over time, my style would keep progressing and photos between two different shoots would lack consistency, thus bringing down cohesiveness and causing myself to lose interest in continuing the project. I also realized that I'm goal oriented to a fault sometimes, which as a result I had to get myself focusing more on just being present and creating - rather than building up and then shooting down ideas in my head.
I'm still in the space of just shooting a bunch and pushing my curation and editing skills to the limit. I don't see myself going back to longer term specific projects for a while. Just trying to maximize the number of ‘usable’ photos from a single outing. Ironically, I've been seeing more consistency in my work now than I did when I was working on thematic projects. Most of my photo output these days is on IG but I will continue to trickle in work on this site so stay tuned!
Also been dipping my feet into videography recently, it’s been a nice creative outlet especially when traveling. It has its similarities to photography but I find it different enough where I can approach it casually without a perfectionist mindset.
28mm
end of the road // shot on the ricoh gr ii, 2023
Some people who exclusively shoot primes will claim to "see" things in that focal length. I’m pretty much onboard with that statement and I also do think those that have put in the time can do that with more than one focal length.
It's been four years since I bought my first camera and started very intently putting in the time to improve my eye as a photographer.
I mained the 35mm focal length for the first three years and then switched to the 40mm which I vibed with even more after. The 35mm was wide enough but lacked the distortion which gave the wideness a sense of movement and character. I can also see how these qualities for others may make the 35mm the perfect focal length. I went to the 40mm as a result of finding myself totally lacking any sense of fluency with the 50mm but wanting a bit more crop than the 35mm for the more subject-oriented abstract photos. However, the 28mm has always been there as a secondary due to the versatility of the focal length and the pocketability of my Ricoh GR ii.
I’d be lying if I said my excitement for the 40mm hasn’t declined this year. This year, I’ve been frequently more satisfied with the frames I’ve captured on the Ricoh than my Fuji setup with the 40mm whenever I take both on a photo session.
More and more, I've been considering actually just maining the 28mm as I'm finding myself unintentionally finding frames by utilizing the key to bringing the 28mm to life: immersing yourself with your environment. As someone that prefers "messy" compositions over a perfectly upright and lined up Wes Anderson composition - finding an approximate balance in the imperfections rather than having everything perfectly composed and clean.
Right now I just wanna jump in the deep end and shoot exclusively 28mm for a bit. Part of this is coming from a personal dislike for having to switch lenses while out & about - possibly a topic for another time.