I spent almost one month on the road and shot 2700 images of some the most amazing places within the lower 48 in the USA. Now that I am back to the daily grind of work and life in general and I am finding myself missing that cloud I was living on of having epic all around me and nothing pulling at me other than finding that next shot.
I went out this morning and there was a nice sunrise happening and I began to let my mind race to decide where I wanted run to so that I could capture the majesty I saw happening in the sky. I found myself cursing under my breath as looked around and felt trapped within the confines of where I live as the few traffic lights were “out to stop me”, and the buildings, the electric & telephone lines were in every shot that I could see. I pulled over and jumped out of the car to grab one shot when that little voice hit me upside the head and I asked “what am I doing”? I cannot compare where I live to life on the road, and as much as I would love to be in ALL of the majestic places at once when the light is “epic” I realize that I cannot, and even when I was “there” the light wasn’t always “epic”.
I wonder if what I am going through is normal for us photographers, and that is finding that spark to create amongst our daily lives after returning from such a trip. When I got out west I saw those gorgeous mountains up close for the first time I wondered to myself if I lived here would this ever get boring? I remember visiting NY many years ago and wanting to see the Statue of Liberty and no one could tell me how to get there and I thought how strange is that. I suppose though that is normal, people who live in areas take those areas for granted. My wife who grew up at Cape May NJ told me that when she was growing up she just thought it normal to have the beach so close and didn’t think much of it.
That was my weekend thought, Thank you for reading and if you have any of your own thoughts to share I’d love to read them.
Michael Besant Photography 