Reasons for shooting images alone

- I was talking to a photographer friend one time about shooting. And he said what he likes about shooting is for the one 1/25th of a second he's in perfect control of the world. He likes looking through the viewfinder knowing that he's organized it exactly the way that he wants it. And he gets that for just a tiny fraction of a second. But, you know, you gotta get it somewhere. Apparently. We all shoot for different reasons. And we all take different things from shooting. It is a somewhat kind of altered state that you get into when you go out shooting.

When you're really in a groove, you're focused on light and line, and organizing the world around you. And also managing the technical aspects of shooting. It is seemingly with automatic cameras and whatnot just this thing that we do. But it's a lot of work internally to have it all going well. And for that reason, I think most of the time it's really important that you go out and shoot by yourself. At least the actually shooting part should be by yourself. If you wanna get a bunch of friends together and say hey let's go shooting, that's fine. You can carpool to wherever you're going.

But I really recommend that when you get there you split up and you stay as far away from each other as possible. And I think this for a few reasons. And a lot of this has come from observing myself while shooting, but also observing students while shooting. If you're walking around with someone else, you can't help it you feel a social obligation to them. Maybe you can help it. Depending on the relationship with the person, or your particular psychosis. I don't know. But I find that if there's someone else around some part of my brain ties up with going well I have to be sure that they're having a good time.

And that I'm talking to them. And that I'm watching what I say and not offending them. I don't know there's just this social place that you stay in. And it keeps me from going into the internal state that I really need to be in to do a good job of shooting. So, first there's that part, but then there's also this kind of competitiveness that you can't help have. You're walking along, and they stop and take a shot, and you stop and look at it, and then you're in your head because you're going oh that is a good shot why didn't I see that? How come they saw it? Oh my gosh, they're a better photographer than I am.

Ah, I've gotta go practice. Or whatever. Suddenly, you're not seeing anymore. You're arguing with them in your head, or maybe not arguing, but you're worrying and all sorts of other stuff. Then you get home, and you've all got pictures of the same thing. Which is weird enough, but then you can't help it you're going oh theirs are better than mine, and your self esteem doesn't need that. So, for any of these reasons, and all of them put together. I really really recommend keeping photography as a solo activity when your practicing, and until you understand your own process well enough to know when it's okay to be shooting with someone else.

I also recommend, and this is also just my own personal thing, and your relationship to sound may be different. But I also recommend not going out with headphones in your ears listening to music while you're shooting. A lot of people think, oh but I like the atmosphere that music gives me, and so on and so forth. And maybe that works for you, but I would argue that we don't just see with our eyes. When you're in a space you need all of your senses going. You take hints from lots of different places. I learned this one time actually when I'd broken my glasses, and ended up at the glasses shop to get them repaired, and I couldn't see anything 'cause I couldn't wear them.

And I couldn't hear that the receptionist was saying that I was next. Because I couldn't see what I was doing. I needed to be able to see to focus my auditory attention. And I think there's something about that with photography also. I need my ears going that's sometimes how I, how I notice something. But it's also just how I get a feel for the bigger environment, and that informs my shooting. I don't know how, but it just does. In a lot of different ways. So, I don't know basically I'm saying just don't have any fun when you go shooting. And that's not what I'm trying to say.

But do pay attention to the things that influence your emotional state, and the state of your senses when you're out. Having other people around, having music playing in your ears. Those kinds of things can distract you, and cause you to lose focus. Maybe you're not as sensitive to it as I am. Maybe you're a better shooter than I am. But at least experiment with that, and see where you're own personal tolerances lie.