Capturing Quiet

considering whether photos need a purpose

As much as I love travel photography, it can’t be an everyday practice. Even if I could, I wouldn’t travel non-stop. I love coming home and being in my safe space. Lately my photography has just been happening on walks instead of selecting and scouting locations. Just walkin’ and snappin. The images I’ve liked from this process tend to be simple compositions with nice shapes and negative space. Maybe a pop of color. These photos feel quiet. They capture that peaceful state of mind when I just go for a walk to get out of the house.

I don’t think I really know what I want my photographs to convey. I try to come up with ideas for projects. Maybe a subject that inspires me, or a genre I want to try. But it often feels forced and inauthentic. These images may not be pushing me towards a greater artistic vision, but they do feel authentic, conveying a slice of the world through my eyes. Does photography need to be much more than that?

I’m reading Maggie Smith’s book “Dear Writer” right now, and she said that she tries not to think about what her poems are doing as a group when she’s drafting. She doesn’t want to “scare them away with reductive thinking”. Maybe it’s okay that I don’t know what these photos are doing right now. They don’t need to be edited and sequenced and culled before they even get out of the camera. Holding on to the need to make something “great” is only hurting my creative process. The images feel good to me as they are, and if I find a purpose for them later, they’ll be right here.