Oh yeah, this is how I stay inspired.
Beautiful park.
Just shoot into some light, you know?
This is Douglas Park.
Look how small this bike is.
That is the smallest bike ever. I mean, compare it to my hand. It’s like nothing.
But anyways, on to the point of this video.
How I stay inspired.
Look at this.
It’s beautiful.
You’ve got that nice light reflecting off the rocks.
I DON’T NEED PEOPLE ALL THE TIME
The first thing I do now is I don’t worry about photographing people all the time anymore.
I can worry about photographing some rocks with light hitting the side of them.
That definitely helps.
And another thing I’ve done is battle the fear of missing out.
FOMO.
There’s a little dog over here.
See, that’s cool.
You just never know what you’re going to run up on.
I just fired off like five shots with the Ricoh GR III and now I’ve got to wait forever because I want to chimp.
It’s been buffering for like 15 seconds.
Here we go.
Yeah, I mean, it’s not bad.
THE PHOTOS I THOUGHT I NEEDED
Anyways, fear of missing out.
When I started doing photography, I always wanted to make the best use of my time.
I’m a productive person.
I don’t like wasting time.
So when I was doing street photography, I had this perception in my brain about the kinds of photos I needed to take.
And those photos were always where all the people were.
Down by the pier.
People doing crazy things.
Loads of people walking across the street.
That was the type of photography I was convincing myself I needed to make.
And ultimately, what ended up happening is I would never go to a beautiful place like this.
I had that fear of missing out.
If I was here, what was I missing somewhere else?
THE QUIETER PLACES MEAN MORE TO ME
What I eventually realized is that places like this actually mean more to me when I’m taking photos than the pier does.
I have more of a connection with this park.
This is basically my local park.
And ultimately, one of the things that helped me get over that fear of missing out on the bigger and better things was embracing the magazine mindset.
When I’m making a magazine, I don’t want the entire magazine to just be bangers.
I need slower photos.
The slower photographs make the pacing of the magazine more interesting.
It’s like an action movie.
You don’t want to see shit blowing up for an hour and a half straight.
You need some downtime.
Give your eyes a break.
I look at a magazine the same way.
THE SLOW PHOTOS MATTER
So now photographs like this have a purpose for me.
Slow photographs.
Look at these turtles down here.
There’s somebody sitting there with what looks like maybe his grandchild.
It’s just a slower moment.
And these types of photographs are important to my workflow because I need that downtime in the magazine.
Once I realized that, it allowed me to slow down.
Take a break.
Embrace these more peaceful photographs.
And that’s not only good for photography.
I think it’s good for life in general.
EMBRACE THE SLOWER MOMENTS
If you’re anxious and you’re always in a rush to do things, always thinking you’ve got to move on to the next thing, there’s something good about embracing the slower moments in life.
I’m sitting here talking and I’m looking down and seeing all this potential for photographs.
I don’t even know what kind of plants these are.
But look at the shadows.
Look at the reflection in the water.
We’ve got some turtles.
Some sun flare.
Maybe I make a photograph.
Who knows if I’ll ever use it?
It doesn’t really matter.
That’s basically how I stay inspired.
I go to slower places.
I mix it up.
I NEVER REGRET THE WALK
I’ve never regretted going somewhere to take photos.
Think about that.
Have you ever walked somewhere to take photographs and afterward thought, man, I really wish I hadn’t gone there?
I don’t.
Even back when I had that FOMO, if I went to some neighborhood that didn’t have all the action, I still don’t remember regretting it.
It’s always a good time.
There’s always something.
Oh, there’s a bird up here.
I thought it was a crane.
No, that’s a blue heron.
Look at that thing.
That blue heron is on the hunt for some fish.
That’s cool.
SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SLOW DOWN?
I’m going into crop mode now.
I’m switching between 28, 35, and 50 just to give myself some options.
And shout out to Ricoh.
What other camera can you do all this with one hand?
Oh yeah.
I’m feeling inspired about this.
Let’s get that 50 crop.
This is exactly what I’m talking about.
I just rattled off like 50 photos of this blue heron.
And that’s definitely the type of photograph I could put in the magazine because it’s specific to this moment.
I came to this quiet park.
I wasn’t surrounded by hundreds of people.
I wasn’t worrying about what was happening down at the pier.
I was just here.
Looking around.
And because I was here, I noticed the bird.
That’s the whole thing.
I don’t really care about FOMO anymore.
I’m not worried about whether something better is happening somewhere else.
I’m trying to pay attention to what’s happening right in front of me.
That’s where I find the inspiration now.
Embrace the slower moments.