Let It Be a Mystery
Trying to think about my photography kit. I have so much gear that I can’t begin to use it all, and I’ve had to reexamine what, why, and how I photograph. Free time, funding, location, and material costs are all things that have changed and that I’ve had to navigate.
A lot has shifted since I first ventured out with a 5D and a 35mm f/1.4: from when I would make large negatives, to living near a lab instead of having to mail everything, and from having space to build a darkroom to not having it. Moving from assignments to art, to hobby shooting, to personal archiving, even the reasons for working change—shifting from wanting to be an artist to just wanting to take pictures.
I love photography and taking pictures. I don’t do many assignments or make as many prints as I would like, and I need to work on my zine more as a personal archive, just to get the images in print and cataloged.
What I love is walking with a camera, framing compositions, being creative with a medium, and sharing it with others doing the same. It’s an extension of living, a visual conversation, and my most at-ease method of communication—that’s what I love.
What’s brilliant about photography is that you can make a deep photo study about a really small place, and that small place could be anywhere—in the middle of nowhere or in a corner of a massive city.
Some of us work jobs to fund our photography, while others get to be photographers. In the end, it’s not that important. That’s where it gets pulled into the arts, commercial work, or a hobby, but that can change what someone does and why—and that’s dangerous. It’s hard to be so free that you know what you’re doing. And if you did know what you were doing, I’d probably step in and say, "Wrong, you’re doing it all wrong." Let it be a mystery.
Figuring out what camera you want to use is a question that’s as deep as explaining what you’re doing, why you're doing it, and what you hope to accomplish with your precious time.
To-dos: Build out the darkroom utility space; archive negatives and move them to storage; send a few zines to print.
