Finding inspiration at a familiar location can be challenging. Having been to MSA a few times, the “angle options” have started to wear a little thin. I was browsing an old catalog not too long ago and was reminded of how easy it is to fall into the trap of shooting the same, steady shot year after year. It does look good, but, I’m not a huge fan of repeating myself, so I went out of my way to try and do something different. I can’t say it worked, though I certainly have some new-to-me shots from today, so that’s a small win. In my own disinterest re: shooting the semi-stock framing options, I went out of my way to create my own and/or just slowed things way down for some unreasonably slow, hard-to-repeat pan shots i.e. 1/15 on mostly everyhing…foolhardy really, but sometimes you just gotta see an idea through. That said, my hit-rate was low, my feeling of cleverness was fleeting, and when I got back to my computer, I was overcome with a swelling feeling of, “Ohhh shit. Did I even get anything remotely good or interesting?” We are all our own worst critics, but still, I was legitimately worried. Admittedly, I took things a little too casually (which I had every right to do, I’m on “vacation” dammit!), I have a standard to uphold! Thankfully, I didn’t pooch the day too badly, but I’m without a doubt looking to redeem myself a little bit tomorrow. Getting back into the swing of Squidding is a little tough sometimes. Below are a few selects that struck my fancy after a day of trying to be too clever.
