Get closer to photography

As much as I enjoy my photography. It seems to me every once in a while there is an apparent reason to stop. Yes, stop shooting photographs. As I write this article, three weeks have passed since I pushed the shutter release. Don't get the wrong end of the stick, I haven't forsaken it. Only last night I spent hours messing around in Photoshop. This is the endless learning curve in post processing that most laymen clearly don't have a grasp of. However, understanding photo manipulation is a necessary evil. It is nothing new of course even though some people think it belongs to the digital era. It doesn't. I digress, perhaps a subject for later? Back to why my photography has gaps. It has nothing to do with reasons you might think. No one to photograph? Maybe, but I enjoy, and get a lot out of photographing myself. So not true. What about nothing to photograph? I'm afraid it's a no again. Taking pictures in my studio of still life, flowers for example is a big part of my thing. So on this aspect again not true. As the summer months approach a feeling incurs that of street photography. An art I feel is dying. Just think about it. A whole world of people just screaming out to be photographed. Maybe not entirely. Unfortunately we live in a world of mass surveillance, cameras on every street corner, in every business, indeed every doorbell. Everyone and his dog continues taking photographs using cell phones of every place, person and thing. Millions every hour all with the capacity to be beamed across the globe in seconds. Did I only mention photos? What about videos some might say are even more powerful. An unremarkable result of this digital epoc is people's paranoia. It's truly a reason I believe street photography has taken a backseat. I define street photography as I see it, as I understand it from great photographers gone by. Number one, 35mm camera. Full frame or crop sensor. Usually small, easy to carry and inconspicuous. Number two, a 24, 28 or 35mm lens. In other words, wide angle. Number three, hyperfocal focusing. Number four, get close. And finally five, plan ahead, be aware, be fast. This as you may think has nothing to do with any reason why I had a sumesta from photography. And you are right. So why is he talking about street photography? Well it's simple. I'm planning, it's subconscious, all good photography is. You shouldn't have to think about it too much. Again an ability comes with practice. A contradiction of cause but isn't everything? I am planning my street photography, getting into a psych with confidence to be able to do it. Today I really wanted to shoot in the studio. However I couldn't. It isn't because I'm lazy, uninspired or distracted. It's because sometimes we need a break and plan other projects. I have to call it a project as I treat my photography as work, a job. To sum up, I love photographing people the most. Photography of still life as I call it gives me an opportunity to drift away to a universe of my own. A realm unlike any other. To be frankly blunt it's my unique place and I don't want anyone else in it. The streets around my town of Blackpool, Lancashire hold many opportunities but at the same time olude to unpredictable apprehension on my part. Shooting the streets is again calling me. Armed with Olympus OM2n, 28mm lens, black and white film not to mention a bucket load of faults, confidence I'll embark. The need to photograph will be heightened by the abstinence. Get close, get closer but be invisible.