Day 97 0f 365

New Instagram feature. 

Storytelling. 

Today some international friends, photographers, and videographers contacted me about the new Instagram feature.  If you haven't seen it update your phone because you now have the ability to post multiple photos at once.  A lot of the people that contacted me about this feature were apprehensive or hesitant about this.  I on the other hand love this feature.  It is 1 another way for me to practice visual story telling which is something that goes so strongly with writing which I love to do but at times I don't like to write a lot when I am posting just one photo by itself.

The important part here is that we are going to be seeing the next generation of visual story tellers it may be good or bad for the photo industry or it may spike the demand for content so high that every business will need photographers (wishful thinking)  

Either way I think Instagram has done an amazing job by constantly reinventing their platform and staying relevant to the times.  With this new update I think they have solidified there user base for years to come.  Start telling stories people no matter what you do storytelling is at the heart of communication and entertainment.  

Below are photos featured from a fun hang with friends shooting for Halfwits

Day 96 of 365

Its been a little while since I have been posting blogs.  I have since moved home to Connecticut and most importantly I am trying to establish a different routine from the last time I was home.  The last time I lived in CT it was the summer I was working 3 jobs, construction, Granite countertop installation and fabricating, and stump grinding.  All of these were manual labor jobs I would work 2 jobs every day and then once I was out of work I would hike and take photos for about an hour or 2.  Any days I had freelance photography jobs I would take off from work. 

          In that time I swore to myself that I wouldn't go to any Connecticut bars all summer and I didn't instead I saved my money so that I could road trip the US.  With my extra time I took more photos for more brands and eventually landed a beer sponsorship from Narragansett Brewery so I wouldn't waste money on alcohol.  Now being home this time I am trying to do something similar by not going to bars, waking up early, and running.  I am really missing the social aspect of living in New York which is making it harder not to go out.  Especially in the winter when a lot more of my time is spent inside then I prefer.  The other thing I have been doing is waking up at 5:30 every morning on week days and it feels amazing but that goal was too easy after a few weeks I needed something more, which leads my to why I am writing this blog.  Waking up at 5:30 isn't difficult but figuring out what to do with yourself once you wake up that early is the hard part.  If I sit down and blog or write I will be too tired and I will go back to sleep.  So I started ending my morning showers with a 30 seconds of cold water....felt amazing but didn't make me any more productive.  With all my extra energy and nothing to do with it I decided to start running as soon as I wake up.  I am on day 4 as of now running 4.2 miles on the road starting at 5:45 to about 6:20.  (Yes I am sore as balls) Sorry Mom.  So far it has been amazing for my mental health.  Even just in 4 days of running with no music I am getting into deeper thought much earlier than I normally would and I like that.  Just for the record I am not a runner and I never have been,  and for the runners I do know 4.2 miles is a joke.  None the less its a habit I would love to form so I am going to keep going.  Cheers. 

Day 93 of 365

Home is never the same.  Each return more drastic difference than once before.  The bitter sweet waters of Lemon Creek.  I am now a silent observer in this place, no longer a participant.  

Day 91 of 365

I read something last night that said imagine if there was a Tv show crew filming your everyday life.  In one week that film crew should be able to tell you and everybody else what your dreams are.  That really stuck with me and I know people seeing my life would immediately know my dreams.  It also made me realize I need to shoot with people more and not just by myself wandering the streets but I know what my dreams are and I am actively pursuing them.  There are no excuses to not practice what you love everyday.  Today I took some photos walking between my subways rides in about 15 minutes.  Not every shot is a winner but it just goes to show it doesn't take much time to practice it just takes effort.  

Day 90 of 365

Around the Rockaway's 

Diving.   Lately I've been beating myself up over my lack of diving into the deep end within my work and my life choices.  My work has been steady but I am not working to my full potential like I was this summer.  I was relentlessly pushing myself out of my comfort zone daily and I was happier than ever.  It involved a lot of tough work, weekends spent in and a lot of sacrifice but working like that made me feel great.  You can't fake putting the work in, and I think it's time for me to take the leap of faith into shedding my comforts and going for it 200%.  Trial by fire.  Saturday I went to walk round the beach with a friend to shoot some photos.  It really helped clear my mind, and observe a silence I don't often feel living in the city.  I am excited to push through this next struggle and get back to shooting my true passions in my preferred environments.  

Day 89 of 365

Today was a great day but a little bit of a rough night.  Unforeseen variables are a true test to ones character.  How do you react under pressure in unfavorable circumstances.  One thing has always remained true for me..."there is always a way."  If you want it bad enough you will make it happen.  It is all in the doing.  Tonight I decided to get some extra work done so I went to school and scanned some old film I had laying around.  I knew the shots I had left to scan were total shit but I decided to scan them anyways because I could use the practice and its nice to have them archived in a digital space.  After scanning a few photos from my favorite day of the summer came up.  It was after a long day working 2 jobs.  I was just able to catch the last of the sunset and hop in the water.  Where I swim in my hometown is in the middle of the woods so everyone heads out before sunset so they can see there way back luckily I don't mind hiking in the dark and I bring a headlight.  It worked out perfectly though I had the place all to myself and I prefer it that way.  This swimming hole is my favorite place in the world.  It's the only place where time doesn't exist for me, where stress isn't a thing.  It pains me to see that people come there so cheaply driving instead of taking the 30 minute hike and leaving there beer cans and garbage behind.  Precious things never last unless good people react under pressure. 

Day 88 of 365

"The Devil won't keep till morning."

So much of learning anything is simply in the doing.  I went for a little photo walk this morning at 6am it was nearly too dark to take any photographs, but I believe there is never nothing to photograph and that if you look hard enough something will present itself.  You're not going to make every basket, but you at least have to shoot if you want to see any improvement. 

Day 87 of 365

An Irreplaceable Friend.

Today was Dakotas last full day on earth.  He was a loyal and as friendly as they come.  We spent this morning cuddled up together in my bed with my arm around him.  His warmth was comforting.   He was a thoroughbred with a thick coat and a thick heart.  A legendary pet who once fell 20 feet through a roof only to get up and walk it off like nothing had happened.  We spent summers by campfires in the back yard he'd stay by my side till 2 in the morning in hopes of catching a stray beer or hotdog.  The later I'd never give you, the first...well we had some times didn't we old friend.  To be there, in endless kiddy pools, in every hose, broken attic floor, by my side at camp fires, and at the top of the driveway, I'll never leave my sandwiches on the edge of a counter again.   

I already miss yah Koda.

Day 86 of 365

Had a killer day skating around Manhattan with my buddy Mike Eggleton.  Reminding myself today to not live in the future or the past but to just focus on the present.  It's easy to not realize how great moments are when they are happening.  Today was a good one.  

Day 85 of 365

Avoiding romantic thoughts. 

If there is one thing I learned from my friend Maciek "Upartus" is that you cannot be romantic about taking photos.  Your photos can be romantic but you cannot be romantic in your process.  Before I met my friend I used to wait until a specific time of day to shoot, I always wanted clouds and if it wasn't the perfect combination I didn't like to shoot as much.  I'm sure this lead me to missing a lot of photos it also didn't benefit my skill at all.  Learning how to find beautiful light in all different settings and types of sunlight is essential.  As a photographer everything starts with your knowledge of light, once you know light in a general sense only then can you start to learn more about other things.  I tried to learn light from a text book but it never made sense to me the analogies and drawings all felt like a foreign language only by shooting a real lot did I start to understand light.  Thats where the romance needs to end, to be a master at anything I believe in the 10,000 hour rule that it takes that long to master any subject.  You cannot fake the 10,000 hours and I don't care how naturally talented someone is if you don't put in your hours you wont make it.  No text book can ever be a supplement for real practice. 

 

 

 

Day 83 of 365

Yesterday I forgot my phone charger in Connecticut and I went back to New York without it.  I went to bed without my phone and still managed to wake up on time and I had the most productive morning I have had in two months.  I got everything I needed to get done and more in record time.  I didn't sit in bed looking at my phone for 30 minutes dragging ass while I could have been getting things done.  Instead I jumped out of bed, made my bed, cleaned my apartment, did the dishes, edited photos and ate breakfast in less than 20 minutes.  I guess I know the source of my lack of productivity.  Don't let your phone distract you.  There are too many fleeting memories out there that can easily be missed.   

Day 82 of 365

 

I have a soft spot for taking photos in my home town.  I find capturing the beauty there to be extremely rewarding.  Being from New England I feel that I live in the greyest town in the US and it has made me love gloomy winters.  It's a preferred lighting style and color pallet that I like to photograph.  The suburbs are a calm place but there is so much to photograph there, so many nuances that are not at all obvious, and difficult to photograph which is why I find it so fulfilling.  My only issue is dealing with people that ask me what I am doing, stop there cars to stare at me, or ask me if I am lost.  Fuck I'm walking around with a camera photographing snow I'm not doing surveillance.  I get that one guy walking around by himself looks sketchy but once you see my camera please move on.  This is like my version of a run or yoga, or meditation and its one of the only times I can truly concentrate, which is never easy when my mind is on other people questioning me. With that being said I still like photographing my home town and I would really like to explore photographing the suburbs more.   

 

P.s. if your house is in these photos thank you I really like the way they look in one way or another.  

 

Day 81 of 365

The worst path you can take is an easy one.  If there is no resistance there is nothing gained.  Diving into 2017 with an intention to make big changes in my life for better or for worse I am diving into the great unknown.  In pursuit of becoming my own boss permanently.