Last year there were a number of things going on in my life that took up a lot of my free time and killed my spirit. One of the first causalties was my blog...I didn't want to post to it anymore and I deleted the original "Lost In Kaneohe" blog from Blogger. Luckily I was able to use the same title again when I re-activated my Blogger account.
Another thing that really suffered from the events of last year was my photography. I didn't feel like shooting last year and didn't go out to many photo meets. Although things are not that much better this year, I do know I need to relax and unwind more...a lot more...and getting re-involved in this hobby is a top priority for me.
The year started out on a sad note with the death of my maternal Grandmother. That event really got me thinking about how short life really is and I decided I get in touch with myself and re-evaluate things. I realized I needed to invest more time in my photography and try to keep this blog going.
So I got in touch with Kenway Kua, a friend and fellow amateur photographer who lives near me and asked if I could join him one morning to shoot the sunrise. Kenway is in the process of doing his third 365 project this year and has been a good role model for me because he really loves to go out and shoot.
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| "The Meister" enjoying the morning. |
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| The sun peeking through the clouds by Chinaman's Hat. |
I had a great time shooting the sunrise with Kenway and it made me realize how much I miss shooting with others. I also found out I almost forgot how my camera works...I forgot to focus for the first few shots and I forgot to check the camera settings to be sure they we set right for the conditions we were shooting in...the ISO and White Balance were all out of whack. But eventually things came back to me and I managed to do okay for the rest of the morning.
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| Chinaman's Hat is also known as Mokoli'i. |
We had a nice breakfast at the Times Coffee Shop in the Temple Valley Shopping Center. It was great to talk photography with someone again...I haven't done that in a long time. And it was nice to catch up with Kenway again. After breakfast I went home to start processing my photos.
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| I noticed my processing is really different from before. |
It had been a while since I did any editing with Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS3 and I felt kinda lost at first...I even had to look in a few manuals to reacquaint myself with some of the controls. After a few false starts I found my processing rythym and started to come up with some decent, if not different looking, images. For some reason my images kept coming out greener and greener and I thought they looked pretty cool. I used to try to make my images look as realistic as possible, but now it seems I just go for a look that I feel is right for the image. Am I finally beginning to find my own personal vision?
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| I kept trying different things as I processed this set of photos. |
Chris... it is so good to see you blogging again. You know, I think you have the heart and soul of an artist and many of the deep inner struggles that often plague them. I know and understand, better than you might think. Sometimes it is very overwhelming, especially in this day and age of constant online activity. I have slowly been learning to make peace with the ebb and flow of it all and love this post so much because it is just full of peace. It is SO difficult to find a balance..isn't it? Did you happen to read the interview by Glen Dewis, from Scott Kelby that I blogged about yesterday? I was amazed at something he said. That even HE struggles with his work, gets frustrated and ends up hating it sometimes. That was pretty eye opening for me and made me realize that we are, our own harshest critics, really and truly. I hope you might find time to read it.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the blogging world. I know I"m a little behind here, but I do see a new trend already and I look forward to following. You take care of yourself, Chris. It's a journey for sure...and even the struggles have their purpose.
Hi Roni. Thanks for stopping by the blog. Yeah, I do find on-line activity overwhelming (especially facebook, but that's where all my friends and family hangout) and did try to just drop it from my life a few times, but then I felt isolated and wanting to get back in touch again. So, like you, I've been trying to find a way to balance it with the rest of my daily activities. I need to prioritize things a little better...value the things that matter and push the less important things to the side. I need to change my outlook on things.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for letting me know about your previous post (sorry, I haven't been checking your blog lately...wow, you actually know Kalebra Kelby?!? That's awesome!!!) and did read the Scott Kelby interview. I was really surprised that he feels that way about his photography...but then I realized that's how I feel about my photography most of the time. After reading the interview (and feeling like there was some kind of a cosmic connection between my and Scott Kelby...LOL...) I finally joined NAPP after putting it off for 3 years.
Yeah, I think my blog is going in another direction...or maybe it was always directionless...I don't know. But as long as I keep going out to shoot with Kenway the blog will have a regular theme.
Thanks so much for the welcome back. Yes, it's a journey...a long and winding one...