Words

it probably seems strange. to have a blog that is, at least so far, almost entirely focused on photography that has no photos. but it’s a conscious choice.

as i discovered early on in my journalism career, photos have a way of telling the story for you. the right photo can do more to convey the message you’re sending than anything less than a mountain of words could accomplish alone. that is what drew me in to photography in the first place.

what’s so bad about that? nothing really, except that the point of this blog is to force me to very consciously walk through ideas in a way that creates a catalogue of the thought process, of the becoming. i could easily just slip a couple of photos in here and force future me to come to my own conclusions about where i was at mentally when such and such happened. but what good is that?

i chose not to include any images in my photo-focused blog because i don’t want to allow myself any crutches. i need to feel the full weight of the learning process and to spell it out line by line without visual aids, such that my ramblings about the learning process become a part of the learning process.

stock henry and i have been talking back and forth a lot about commitments, about what is essential and what is a distraction. i told him that if the blog is becoming a distraction that he should let it go and focus on those things that are more presently useful for him. but the truth is, without a script there is no movie. without notes, there can be no study.

after about a month of daily blogging, i think i am finally realizing how useful it is. how important words are, even for a visual artist. if i can’t tell a story with my words, then how could i possibly hope to succeed in telling a story through any other medium?