Traveling Light

What started as kind of an “accident” (as most of my brilliant ideas do) has now turned into an everyday practice with purpose.

I do my “field work” as I call it early in the morning and typically in the same 880 acre park. Because my dog is always at my side we’re limited to the paths we can travel (i.e., dogs are not allowed on the wetland/forest trails). Since I don’t like weighing myself down with several lenses I found myself along the same five or six trails and shooting with the same lens almost every day (usually my telephoto). One day as I grabbed my camera to jump in the Jeep I realized I had my Lensbaby on my Canon. Too lazy to run back inside and all the way upstairs (I said I was lazy), I decided to shoot with the ‘baby that day.

And guess what? I saw the same path thru totally different eyes. And my images that resulted reflected that.

So now before I leave the house I think about which lens or camera I would like to travel with that day. And I can only take one lens or one camera. It is amazing how restricting myself to that has changed how I see things. I am forced to “make do” with what I have that day. And, yes, there are days when I know I missed a great telephoto shot of a pelican because I’ve only got my macro. But I have captured a fabulous shot of a ladybug’s face sitting on a yucca plant.

A landscape will look totally different to me if I’m shooting it with my Polaroid as opposed to my wide angle. Some places just lend themselves to a certain look I know will be captured on film (or digital). There is no mistaking a Polaroid landscape ~ it just cries out to be shot in Polaroid. The same path will look completely different when I shoot with a Holga as opposed to a digital. A wildflower takes on a different personality when shot with a Lensbaby and even another when I add a 10x macro filter. A sparse meadow with dead trees takes on a haunting feel when shot with a toy fisheye.

Shooting with a different lens or camera every day has breathed new life into the same territory ~ and the same me. I’m not a tech savvy person; never will be. (I’ve got Photoshop CS2 and know how to do six things in it.) My interest lies in seeing the world as a beautiful palette and painting an image I can share. The “one lens/one camera” challenge has quite literally opened my eyes and tested my artistic senses. I like to think that I’m learning to stretch my abilities and develop a more discerning feel for not only my cameras, but how I view the world.

I see it as a metaphor for life. I can walk thru life doing the same thing in the same way each day; or I can step outside the box, (so to speak) challenge myself and try on a new cloak. Doing so has quite literally shown me that seeing the world thru a new eye every day is exciting and exhilarating; it is challenging, fun and mind-expanding. I am never bored; I greet each day with anticipation I’ve never known. Each day holds the promise of discovery.

Traveling light has taken on a new meaning for me. Light as in a beacon guiding my life.

I’m thinking it’s a Polaroid morning…