More Equipment
I drove over to work after breakfast and put together a couple of web pages for what reason I am not sure, but I did it, old protestations about coming in on weekends notwithstanding. It seemed right. The rule should be do what feels right, I suppose, but it's easy to kid yourself. When I was finished I walked the two short blocks to the Chinese community street fair now in its second day and shot some pictures. I had a camera, of course, and a couple of extra rolls of film in my pocket, a bare bones rig suitable for short trips to the store (and a weekend visit to the office), much less, certainly, than I was packing yesterday, what with the extra lens and the fifteen rolls of film and the notebook and the pen and the lens cleaning equipment and the camera cheat sheets and, for all I can recall, various packages of necessary medicines, an apple or two and a short barreled shotgun.
I felt good, much better than yesterday. Fewer people around, maybe because it was noon today and I'd wandered over after 2:00 in the afternoon yesterday, and the feet felt better and, well, I felt like shooting. The "seeing" was better. And I had one of those barbecued meat on a stick combinations (chicken) that I turned my nose up at yesterday. It was cheap and good. How can you screw up chicken? (Yes, I know. Overcook 'em and they're a disaster. Undercook 'em and you're a disaster.) There were three barbecue places set up side by side and I think they were having their own little price war. This is good, I thought. Shooting pictures is good, I thought. It is good that the sun is shining.
So I finished the Solano Stroll photographs this afternoon. Interesting. In going through the negatives I realized how far I've come. In looking at my first two or three years worth of negatives I realized I was all over the block looking to find my subject matter. What in the hell was it that I wanted to photograph, anyway? Odd to see it laid out on the table. Over time I've become more focused and the images have become more focused.
They've also gotten somewhat better, technically better, but they've a long way to go and I'm realizing again having this photo site up can be used as a tool to make it happen. I look at the exposure, the color, the balance, the angle, the expression, the composition, the weird shit that clutters up the background, and I think, well, try this, try that. You know, tomorrow. Next week. In another year. Maybe I even want to do better, do it as opposed to talking about it. Give me an excuse, at least, to acquire more equipment.
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