I admire your writing about a single image so detailed and am inspired to try it myself, because I believe you that it has an effect on your own photography.
Write, edit, write more, edit……..it’s so important to get those old neuros going! I am now faced with removing old essays and rewriting them. But it helps so much to be able to verbalize what you’re thinking.
I believe you. Writing is something that doesn’t come naturally to me to be honest, but I guess it is as you say, you just have to keep going. Thank you for the nudge!
Your practice reminds me of dream journaling. Every detail matters, so each morning, as I journal my dreams, I describe the time and setting for each dream. E.g., "It's just after sunset, and the clouds are painted mauve and orange. I'm standing by a white stucco American Foursquare house with a large overgrown lawn edged by mature trees."
As you do, I try to use neutral, descriptive framing. I think it does help my photography.
I was intrigued by mention of your practice of first a long observation of a subject followed by detailed writing on it to follow up. That sounds like a great way to train your mind for writing (says someone who isn’t a writer, a big caveat to my comment ☺️).
Boy, you really are inspired when it comes to describing things :) Thanks for sharing your routine. I haven't read Chekhov. Now for a silly question - do you think I should? :)
This is what I love about Substack - your essay and the ones I'm writing, too. It's the one place where image and words can come together in ways that enhance each other. For me, I've been discovering new things about the work I'm making by writing about it and the writing also makes me think about the images (and especially sequencing a small group of images) in new and different ways. Thank you for articulating this push-pull relationship so clearly.
Very insightful. To begin at the end, I also read aloud and cut out half, most of the time. I write fewer words than you, derived from two concerns (I refuse to label them as fears for multiple reasons). One, I talk a lot and have been told I drone on. Two, I perceive the world as having a short attention span. These generalizations mean that, as of today, I wouldn’t write what you have written. But perhaps I should. Or at least set aside these concerns and write with more abandon.
As far as subjects to choose, I choose different ones, but I appreciate yours. To be fair I choose many things. Including subjectless imagery. My meandering interests might align with yours, diverge, and come back later, or not. But what you share about both verbally and visually is interesting enough either way that, despite the fact that I read far less each week than you do, I come back to your letters repeatedly.
This letter is no exception. So thank you for writing it.
I admire your writing about a single image so detailed and am inspired to try it myself, because I believe you that it has an effect on your own photography.
Write, edit, write more, edit……..it’s so important to get those old neuros going! I am now faced with removing old essays and rewriting them. But it helps so much to be able to verbalize what you’re thinking.
I believe you. Writing is something that doesn’t come naturally to me to be honest, but I guess it is as you say, you just have to keep going. Thank you for the nudge!
Your practice reminds me of dream journaling. Every detail matters, so each morning, as I journal my dreams, I describe the time and setting for each dream. E.g., "It's just after sunset, and the clouds are painted mauve and orange. I'm standing by a white stucco American Foursquare house with a large overgrown lawn edged by mature trees."
As you do, I try to use neutral, descriptive framing. I think it does help my photography.
I was intrigued by mention of your practice of first a long observation of a subject followed by detailed writing on it to follow up. That sounds like a great way to train your mind for writing (says someone who isn’t a writer, a big caveat to my comment ☺️).
Boy, you really are inspired when it comes to describing things :) Thanks for sharing your routine. I haven't read Chekhov. Now for a silly question - do you think I should? :)
This is what I love about Substack - your essay and the ones I'm writing, too. It's the one place where image and words can come together in ways that enhance each other. For me, I've been discovering new things about the work I'm making by writing about it and the writing also makes me think about the images (and especially sequencing a small group of images) in new and different ways. Thank you for articulating this push-pull relationship so clearly.
Very insightful. To begin at the end, I also read aloud and cut out half, most of the time. I write fewer words than you, derived from two concerns (I refuse to label them as fears for multiple reasons). One, I talk a lot and have been told I drone on. Two, I perceive the world as having a short attention span. These generalizations mean that, as of today, I wouldn’t write what you have written. But perhaps I should. Or at least set aside these concerns and write with more abandon.
As far as subjects to choose, I choose different ones, but I appreciate yours. To be fair I choose many things. Including subjectless imagery. My meandering interests might align with yours, diverge, and come back later, or not. But what you share about both verbally and visually is interesting enough either way that, despite the fact that I read far less each week than you do, I come back to your letters repeatedly.
This letter is no exception. So thank you for writing it.