aows #50

one image at a time

I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and if there’s something I’ve learned about photography, it is to take it “one image at a time”.

I have a new book! “Memorias na néboa” (“Memories in the fog”) is a collection of images made in my hometown. Check it out here!

For the last 3 months, I did all of my photography here in town, within the same 2-3 square miles. I walked the same 5-mile-long trail every single day, camera in hand, looking for something to photograph. Most days, I’d come back home with nothing to show for the effort.

This was quite the change, coming for my 4-month-long roadtrip across Norway. Back then, every day was exciting as I got to visit places I had never seen before. Here, though, I was to see the same spots, the same buildings, the same trees, the same cracks on the road… day after day.

To say that this was frustrating at times would be an understatement… Many times, I wished I was somewhere else, exotic, exciting, breathtaking. It didn’t feel like I was making any progress.

And yet, when I sit down and look at what I did during the past few months, I see it differently. Even though it was hard to see in the moment, even the tiniest things add up over time. One good image every once in a while will eventually become an impressive portfolio, if you just keep going.

Limiting myself to such a small area forced me to pay attention as well. To be more creative with what I had. It’s made me more patient, and more observant.

These past three months made me realize that photography happens one image at a time.

These are some of the images I made this past winter here in rural Indiana.