I was a mediocre photographer during college and I loved it. I’d spend the weekends wandering around Boston, and I still love flipping through the hard drive of work from those days. Some time around 2011 I stopped and I can’t really tell you why.

A couple months ago I found some old photos with people that meant a lot to me, and realized I don’t have any good ones for more than a decade.

I bought a new body and 24-120 as my D70 was showing it’s age and one of the lenses had met it’s end, but they’re tools.

Mostly I’m enjoying wandering around again, looking up rather than at my phone, bugging my friends and trying to convince their dogs to look my way. I also joined 52Frames, it’s challenging and holds me accountable to doing a little bit every week.

Buying old cameras and shooting with them.

Dad’s sears camera is probably not worth fixing. Get a spotamatic for under $100 and it’s probably the same thing and will actually work for another decade or so.

" what did you feel helped? "

Asking yourself “What kind of system would make you actually want to pick it up and use it today?” before buying a new camera. And “What would make your photography experience more enjoyable?” after taking it on a photo walk or two. And asking “what discouraged you from photography in the first place?” to avoid that discouragement again.

Buy a Nikon, problem solved.

big noisy DSLR

Time

Read photo essay books.

after a ten year gap i challenged myself to do the thing i was always scared of, candid street, got a smaller camera, more discreet, but what got me out the door was a cheap ebay converted full spec camera and shooting in full infra red, big fluffy clouds against a black sky had me going wow at my shots, i went cloud chasing, not thinking of street, but my confidence grew at including people in compositions, then they became the subjet, took it to extreme where i got a 10mm lens and basically can now take your photo and light your cigarette im so close, i watched a guy use the lens i wanted in a vid and he took so many shots in 5 mins, i decided to use the 15 mins between trains i had every day going to work, had so much fun and so many shots i love im a year in and putting together a book. i found having the limited time each day added to the challenge, and there is only so far you can go in that time so calculating which route i would take, sitting on the train looking at the shots, having stuff to work on when i got home all very quickly became part of my routine, those 15 mins were long and boring if i didnt take the camera cos i forgot to charge batteries or was too rushed that day.

i found i was not being challenged enough by the thing i was scared to do a year ago and thats a great place to be, so now im doing long exposure street stuff as a new project while putting together the book, im learning book binding and want to complete the project all the way to a finished product i can keep.

i posted the 15 mins stuff online and had a few followers not many didnt really make an effort to get noticed was more a record for myself, but my new project ive for some reason kept offline, its quite freeing losing that feeling of looking for others approval, and im experimenting more, and i like the shots im producing, not as many not as often as the conditions need to be right for what im trying to achieve but im busy working through a year of shots at the same time so its just right.

A compact camera can really be freeing since they are small and have a fixed lens. Ironically help with creativity since you are limited to one focal length, but the camera is small so you’re more likely to carry it somewhere. There are some good ones out there, although some of them have become so popular that they are hard to find, or are expensive (Leica). Fuji X100 series, Leica Q series, Ricoh GR series. There might be some others I haven’t thought of. Back in the film days there were a ton of compact cameras.

For me, I stopped looking at social media and stopped trying to find a style.

Plus I stopped trying to force myself to take pictures every day like is recommended. To force myself to having to find a picture.

I gave myself the freedom to take any type of picture that I want to take whenever I want. Now I take pictures of what my eyes see. If I see nothing that is fine, I just enjoy being outside or with my wife.

Basically I took the pressure off myself and allowed myself to experiment in any way I wanted to. A lot of times things don’t work but other times it opens up my eyes to stuff I can use in various types of pictures I take.

Basically it put the fun back in for me and that is why I picked up a camera in the first place over 30 years ago.

I have personally noticed a difference in enjoyment when I stopped using a viewfinder. On the DLSR, it was never a choice. The big screen on the back of the mirrorless has some advantages, but there was something about your eye seeing through the lens, and the camera tries to capture that. I don’t get the same feel with the screen back and only part of the feel with the electronic viewfinder.

I might be romanticizing it too much…

You’ve got to have answers for why you are doing it. What is your motivation? What will you do with them? Who will see it and how will they benefit from it? I’m not saying I have good answers for those questions, because I don’t and they differ for everyone and change over time, but you have to have a purpose to give yourself enough drive to actively engage in a hobby and spend time doing it. Personally I used to have good answers for these questions for photography, but over time things change. Some day I may find a new purpose with photography, maybe you will too.

Ive often found going on a trip with a focus on photography has got the spark going again.

Eventually all roads lead to Leica

Spark isn’t controlled by gear. However, going back can be great. I mostly shoot film last couple of years and really enjoy the limitations of older prosumer digital cameras. Right now I’m rocking the Fuji S5 pro, Canon 5D classic and Sigma DP2 Merrill as odd-sensored cameras. I left everything at home to shoot a complete vacation on my ancient 5Dc and one lens. Fun!