As a photographer, I almost always have a camera with me. It’s the tool I use to make visual notes of the things I see and experience--much the way most people use a pen and paper. Sometimes I am “serious” with the camera, trying to stretch the way I see and make images. Other times I just goof around, take snapshots, make record pictures.A friend once said to me: “Keep photography fun.” It’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten. I do everything I can to keep from feeling like photography is just something I do because it’s my “job.”
For years, a Leica M camera was my carry-all-the-time tool. The Leica was small and inconspicuous and generally didn’t interfere with me having a life. Lately I tend to use a pocket digital point-and-shoot for my everyday journal-keeping. This camera isn’t as fast as the Leica M, but it’s so darned easy and convenient to carry, I can take it with me on bike rides and hikes. It’s in my pocket when I work in the garden or walk down the lane to visit with the neighbor.
As I drove home from a shoot in Sun Valley this past weekend, I stopped in Umatilla, Oregon for gas. Towering above the main street of town was a huge sign, probably 50-feet high, a cutout of a cowboy. I pulled out my pocket camera and did a corny self-portrait.
Back home the next morning, I went out to the barn to feed our sheep and chickens. There was nice light skittering across one of the walls of the barn, and patterns and shapes that appealed to me. I pulled the camera from my pocket and the critters waited patiently, while I had Fun With Photography.
