I love landscape photography. I know, it's difficult in today's world to take a photo that someone else hasn't already taken. And make it look different, or maybe even better. I'm okay with that. I will continue to try and improve my own techniques and style. It is twice as difficult when you live in an area like where I live. A suburb of a major metropolitan area, in a desert. Especially when desert landscapes don't interest me that much. At least not all of them.
A friend of mine came into town last weekend. We took a dream trip up to northern Arizona and part of southern Utah. It was mostly desert. But it was desert that every landscape photographer dreams of. I took a hundred good photos, a few bad ones and a few great ones. The trip was awesome.
There were four days of shooting and traveling. And there were four days of good company with someone that loves the camera as much as I do. I've been taking my time developing the photos since I came home. I think it is because I want them to last. I also haven't cleaned the red dirt off of my camera, lenses or any of the other equipment that went with me. In fact, I haven't even opened up my camera case. Why should I? I am home. And I am feeling the big letdown.
I love my home. Our house is safe and comfortable. It is cool in the summer. The people I love the most are here and I enjoy being with them. But it is uninteresting to my camera lens. I doubt there will be any fine art photography happening here in my family room. So I am already planning my next trip. I feel the need to go again. I feel it after every great photography trip. I suspect it will always be this way.
So today I will open up the case. Clean everything, charge the batteries and put it all back together again. The whole time I will be dreaming of the great landscapes out there. Later this evening I will do a little cyber scouting. A week from tomorrow I have to be in Show Low, Arizona early in the morning for my day job. That means a Sunday travel day. Maybe a sunset at the lake I know up there. Or a hike in a canyon.
Whatever I decide to do it will feel wonderful. A break from the routine in a beautiful area. My viewfinder to my eye. How lucky am I to have a day job that takes me on these wonderful adventures? I will do my best to make it wonderful, for I know when I get home I will feel it again.
I have been developing some ideas of getting out of that funk a little more quickly. When I work out the small details I let you all know. In the mean time tell me what you feel when a photo shoot ends. Or a trip that you've loved. How do you keep the camera interested in things that are there every day?
