I Am Accustom

to talking to myself. It is not a crazy thing to do. I am just merely looking for my "eureka!" moment. ^^

"Wanderlust Series" - Eureka!

Tenleytown, Washington DC. 20171117.9492

Canon 80D || 22mm (EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM) || Singh-Ray IR 690 Filter || 10 sec • f/5.6 • iso 100

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I have to admit, I am enjoying the time I am taking to compose the image.

Since starting digital photography after graduating college (in college they only offered courses in film photography as a way to focus on the technical aspect of photography), I developed a habit to shoot fast and keep it moving, accumulating a lot of photos in a day. The reason for this was because I did not have a solid editing process in place at the time, which took me a few years later to develop since I had to learn what I liked and what I found interesting (which was colors and tones - I like making them Pop! heh, so dirty), and I just wanted to accumulate a lot of photos and then figure it out later. I struggled in the beginning with my editing process because I thought there was a standard for editing, but later learned that you set your own standard. And with the help of Lightroom, I did just that.

I still shoot fast, but accumulating a lot of photos was wearing me out creatively I now realize, so when I shoot long exposures now I am learning to be more selective with my scene and patience. I find myself lost in the process and it is awesome. With Eureka!, I took like 10-15 minutes trying to secure the right composition. The key to composing this image, was of course the light, but also more importantly, the cross of the church in the background. I centered my image around that.

The challenge moving forward, as I continue to walk and explore DC, is to walk and shoot in new places. I have concerns for my safety when shooting outdoors with expensive equipment of course, but I have to work on this mindset and just, go. I just have to find a balance and get myself out there. It is a limitation that has always been on my mind and the main reason I never did long exposure before. But life has a funny (or poetic, albeit ironically) way of reminding you that you still have something to do and kicks you in the ass until you get it. At the beginning of 2017 I was in a rut creatively, but this new process has awaken that passion (thug passion lol) which I thought was long gone.

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