Learn to turn the world off. That’s the lesson I’ve been trying to teach myself for ages now. Be a part of the world around you, be present for those most dear, but learn to recognize the importance of being alone in your own world and mind.
I just finished speaking at the recent Shutterfest 2022 photography conference held in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. It’s one of the nation’s best photography conferences with some of the leading artists in our industry. However it’s the community that brings me back every year and every year I try to find new ways to exceed everyone’s expectations. That was the trial that brought me back to my mantra of “turn the world off.” This was my fourth year teaching and sixth year in attendance at this conference. I decided this year to make myself more available to the students during the after-class-hours events and sessions. This meant that my available time to photograph on my own with friends and talent, was severely limited. However I thought I could find a hybrid – a middle ground to see if I could do both. I did and during each event, I never felt comfortable. I felt like I should either be out of the way and let the students photograph, walk among them and look at their images and bolster their confidence. I also continually kept looking at the talent (friends in most cases) in the bay and feeling like I was letting them down, because I wasn’t standing in front of them with a camera the whole time. Each night I thought “I didn’t do my job – you’ve got to be better than this and get the images AND teach.”
Then a few days later I find myself sitting in my home office, looking at the images that I barely remember capturing and realizing that I did indeed, do one valuable thing that made the whole thing successful:
I learned to turn the world off.
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Model: Breezy Thistle
Dress organized by: Janelle Folk
Background by: Intuition Backgrounds
Gear: Canon EOS R5, RF 50mm 1.2, Adorama Flashpoint XPLOR 300 pro
Settings: F 5.6, ISO 200, Shutter 1/160
Photography and Photoshop art: Reality Reimagined
#fineart #fantasy #photography #fashion #realityreimagined #intuitionbackgrounds #shutterfest2022 #canon