Finding motivation, let alone inspiration during these extreme weather, lockdown, potential war, COVID times, can be very difficult for some. Add to that a spouse that gets a brain aneurism followed by a stroke, followed by a nasty long to deal with CDIF infection, three surgeries, and COVID-19. That made for difficult times for me. In the past, I was able to turn to photography to rest my mind. But, with everything going on and with work so extremely busy, it has been nearly impossible. I have not picked up a camera in 2 years and a bit.
Things are turning. My life is settling down after a difficult move. Things are settling in. In the last two months, I have judged/critiqued for clubs and in the next week, I will do one more remote session and will for the first time, judge/critique in person!! I am so looking forward to that.
I have dusted off my cameras and lenses and I am eager to get back out shooting. My first foray out will be this Saturday in an easy-to-shoot neighborhood. A camera, a friend, coffee, and a Camera Store. The makings of a perfect day provided the weather holds.
During my COVID break, as I call it, I did very little except for reading some photography books, working on the conceptual aspects and planning of several projects I am working on, and listening to a whole lot of podcasts.
A great street photographer, Valerie Jardin, whom I am sure you are all familiar with (if not, you should be) has been podcasting for 8 years. She finished her show with her final Episode of “Hit the Streets” (https://valeriejardinphotography.com/podcast), Episode number 192 on September 2, 2021.
In that series, there are some excellent episodes and interviews. I tend to listen to them in the car, rather than listening to depressing news when I’m not listening to music. All part of my dealing with the COVID Break. It has been fantastic. There are other Street Photography podcasts I will mention that are also very good, but I wanted to mention this one now as I heard that Valerie Jardin may not keep them available on-line much longer. She suggested they may be gone by the fall or sooner.
All the episodes are available to download for free on her site (link above). I do suggest you grab them while you can. For now, my break is over. I will share some images, even bad ones if they are all I have, after my outing!! Time to get back to work! See you on the streets!
