© Ben Anderson
If there’s one thing which torments me more than anything else as a ’serious photographer’, it is finding time to go out and chase my project aspirations.
My wife and three children all vie for my time (and rightly so, they are after all the most important people in my life), as does my busy corporate career. This means that I’m often left with only snippets of the weekend or the hours after darkness available for shooting, neither of which lend themselves especially well to involved and engaging project work.
The flip side of this situation is that when I do get out there it is all the more satisfying precisely because I know just how difficult it has been to find the time to get the shots that I want.
And now I’m attempting to shoot with a large format camera – could I really make this any more difficult for myself? I guess I must be addicted to having some kind of obstacle to overcome (or something to moan about!).
I’d be interested to hear from you if this sounds at all familiar.
I don’t even have a family and I’m in the same situation.
Certainly over the past few months its been getting dark early so after finishing work I’ve not felt like wandering out on my own with expensive kit. So its only been at the weekends when I get the chance to head out to shoot something.
However as the nights get longer, I’m hoping to get out occasionally during the week, after work.
Comment by Nick P — March 13, 2009 @ 10:28 am
It sounds excruciating similar! While I thoroughly enjoy photographing my family, and want to create projects within that, I also have a drive to photograph the world outside of my home and to find some projects out there.
Having two kids, 16 month old twins no less, means that I have essentially one day a week (or about 5 hours when all is said and done) to explore. It’s not nearly enough time. I’m hoping that as they get older I will somehow make more time, but until then, I scrape out what I can find… which isn’t much.
While I love the look of your large format images, I have absolutely no interest in trying to haul that AND a double-wide stroller. I don’t know how you do it, but then I don’t own a car. In fact, I’m trying to move to even less gear and a system that is compact and fluid. Last year most of my pictures were taken with a dSLR in one hand and the stroller or baby in the other — forget large format — autofocus was it!
But you’re absolutely right: the priority is family. But that doesn’t, and shouldn’t, erase our other passions.
Comment by Waxy — March 13, 2009 @ 10:32 am
No pain, no gain Ben …
You answer your own question in your third paragraph. The satisfaction you get is worth all the efforts you are making to create the balance in your life that allows you to take pictures, regardless of the format.
The biggest obstacle is time, and more than anything else, time is what you need to shoot 10×8.
I’m starting to despair of photographers who state they “took a quick, 9-shot burst”. (What, the 9-shot Decisive Moment?)
What you are learning is a true craft – and what you producing already speaks volumes.
Tim
(OK, usual used fivers please, non-sequential serials, 2nd bin from the left …)
Comment by Tim — March 13, 2009 @ 10:41 am
I know exactly what you mean ! And I can tell you that LF is not doing you any favours – I also started with LF recently and let’s just say that your output drops
but it’s worth it – when you hold those chromes in your hand afterwards, they are so physical
Comment by Tobias — March 13, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
I think we all go through this, especially when trying to balance other factors. Myself, I have a day job, a MA to complete, lovely lady, a dog and travel oh and a second job which is photography.
Ideally i’d love more spare time, but sometimes think the challenge actually helps me produce better work in a short period of time, although recently i’ve been too rushed to get the job done and it has shown..
What I have become good at it working out what is more important and then assigning time to each task. Daniel, you have 7 hours free today, get in the car and head into the bush and see what you can shoot.
Comment by Daniel — March 16, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
Daniel, I do agree that when time becomes a valuable commodity one’s ability to utilise it effectively improves substantially, but damn it must be good to have a clear run too.
Kiss those 7 hours a day goodbye if you ever have kids
Those 7 hours will be the ones where you are asleep.
Comment by BennehBoy — March 16, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
Wife, 2 kids, 1 job…plus I home school one of my kids. My wife is a full time teacher and full time student and hasn’t been any help at anything at all for years…it’s all on me.
Which explains why I just took up LF. Too much spare time on my hands, apparently.
Comment by Steve M — March 17, 2009 @ 1:27 pm
Hi just bumped into this now – forgive the late comment… I don’t have a family, and I am in the same situation! Add to it the fact that I live far North, and you’ll get the picture of my last couple of months… Dark dark dark. (To be fair, the summers are bright and long, though…). And I totally can see how shooting large format in darkness isn’t maybe the most attractive of all occupations… until I recently discovered the technique of painting with light. Damn, if only I had discovered about it a few months ago! Now it’s almost too bright to do… (Soon the sun will barely set, at night…) But there’s an idea for next year’s long and dark winter…
Comment by csant — May 9, 2009 @ 8:19 pm