A mere three posts in and I have run into my first creative block. I had a plan: Take glamorous shots of Florian's birthday and brief New York foray, edit and post those photos Sunday afternoon, and then move on to Soft Grunge, a monthly Park Slope concert series.
This did not happen. But in the name of self discipline and keeping promises, a post will still be made. A great photo can be the result of a perfect moment, the right lighting, or a real connection with a singular subject, but more often a great photo is the result of hundreds of acceptable or sometimes horrible photos, meticulously pored over and then edited to achieve a result that looks effortless. Creativity can be spontaneous and beautiful but it's frequently a tedious slog that gets us to a beautiful result.
Inspiration. Perspiration. Etc.
I did attend Florian's birthday, a friend of friends, who I had never met in real life but had long admired from his work on his photography site Stolen Photons. Florian is a Dutch polymath, professor and photographer, writer and translator who recently traveled across the sea by container ship. (He is actually not Belgian, but I stand by my pun.) I had a lovely time at this event, but I learned an important lesson: Being sufficiently exhausted is functionally indistinguishable from being drunk, and a steady hand is nearly impossible after several sleepless nights of high humidity and disturbing dreams.
Case in point: This photograph almost captured the pixie glow of another guest lit by her iPhone except of the many, many pictures I took, THIS was the most in focus.
lit by cellphone
Finally, my wifi went out twice during the creation of this post. I returned, retyped, continued. And now it's done. Inspiration. Perspiration. Etc.
Please check out Florian's work, one photo posted below. It's truly inspirational (perspirational?) and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Florian "Life and views from the bridge and from our quarters" -- Stolen Photons