Halfway through it, life in 2020 has turned out to be very different from expected in so many ways for reasons that are both obvious from an external perspective as well as major changes in my own life. I have hit major life milestones recently of purchasing my first home with my wife and celebrating our first anniversary. Working during the existing crisis and not having the ability to travel outside the local area has made capturing new images, visiting locations I had plans for, and finding inspiration to publish more work has been impossible.
The rollercoaster of a year that has consumed our existence feels like it will never calm, but I am trying to find a way to get back to the basics of those things I enjoyed before and preparing to be back to normal once it is possible. Even with all of the major changes recently, typical ‘summer suck’ from passion for photography, and COVID-19 wrecking plans in the short-term I don’t see myself going without photography for very long!
Entertainment
While in mid-March it was an easy and important transition to a sedentary lifestyle outside of work avoiding others, that can’t always be the way we function. I started quickly getting back to the outdoors exercising for keeping in shape. Though there aren’t places in the neighborhood that are great for photography and the parks/trails were closed I will be able to get out soon without being winded by a short hike! Photography trips will hopefully replace some of these workouts as a way of doing something healthy on mornings and evenings.
The other nice thing about combining fitness and photography is they both help with my self-improvement goals. A life made up of staying the same forever and not growing mentally and maintaining the body isn’t ideal. Hiking trails on foggy mornings with a backpack for a few hours allows me to exercise the legs while putting the mind to work looking for compositions!
Even when it has not been or will not be possible to go out and do my own photography it has been great to be able to see other photographer’s work past and present. I have discovered several new artists during the downtime in quarantine, and their styles of processing and composition have helped keep me interested and excited about creating more in the coming months.
Art for Walls
As I mentioned earlier, my wife and I recently moved into our new home. While we had some existing art for putting on walls it was decided that printing some new images was also in order! In addition to other pieces that are not landscape photography which we both enjoy (she is a talented calligraphist) we have a handful of local pieces to mount on carefully thought out wall spaces. Having my own art on my own walls has felt like a massive accomplishment.
Printing work for my own walls is great on its own, but I am lucky enough to have friends/family that also really like some of the images I have taken over the years. Continuing to share those prints with them and then seeing those on walls whether they are new or have been there for several years is something I will always find a large amount of pride in.
Community
Photography has many different components to it. One thing that I find most beneficial alongside the craft itself is the community built around it. Having friends that I can connect with online or meet up with in the field to practice our own photography and talk about the various news, styles, skills, etc… is such a huge part of what keeps drawing me back to photography.
The photography community helps to inspire me to get out there and create. There have been plenty of times that new approaches to the art have encouraged a trip to a local area or further out into the world to grow in my own ways. Sharing my own work, ideas, and writings has also been a big piece of my photography journey whether as small as commenting on social media all the way to posting on this blog or on PetaPixel’s.
Concluding
I hope to continue practicing and participating in photography long into the future throughout whatever life throws my way. This year has had its own changes and challenges that have changed the amount of photography I have been able to do, but I am still finding ways to stay connected to my passion for the art. I also hope to come back to doing more trips and sharing far more images in the future here as that again becomes possible! In the meantime I will continue enjoying the hobby in its printed form, staying involved/up to date with the community as much as possible, and getting to local areas for wonderful hikes!