Establishing a new routine
My opportunities to make personal photographs continues to grow, as I learn to embrace retirement. I shot my last paid gig early in May. Since then, I have slowly established routines around making photos for myself.
One project, about which I will write more later, is making cyanotype portraits of people in my community.
The rest of my photography, all personal now and none for pay, is taking shape around the opportunities I create or am presented with, week by week.
At least once a week, I take a long walk in generally the same area, which provides me with the opportunity to photograph similar scenes over a long period of time. Some of these found photos are shown below.
I also get out about once a week with the intention of making long exposures, some with a tripod and some while moving the camera. So, exposures from 1/4 of a second up to 8 minutes. I think there is only one example from the past weeks.
Then there are the more unique opportunities to make photos. In this collection of images, those occasions included kayak paddling on an extremely foggy day, attending a concert celebrating the 100 year anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth, and travelling to North Vancouver to see the photography of Greg Girard at the Polygon Gallery. This combination of found and intentional images makes up the bulk of this post.
Making personal photos always used to fit in between paid work. Since retiring, it has been really great to make personal photography my focus.
Thanks for looking…
A note about this image: Last week, I took the opportunity to make photos as Ryan Oliver’s quartet performed at the Coda club in Victoria. I wanted to make photos that felt like the music and the images from the era when Coltrane was writing and performing. Alas, there was no cigarette smoke to add to the atmosphere, yet the light worked well, as did the XF50mm f/1 lens. Just looking at this, I can hear “A Love Supreme” in my head…
NB: Images captured with Fujifilm cameras, primarily the X-T5 and the GFX100 RF.
