Think...but not too much.

It's been a good while since I've had the time to sit down and write a post, not to mention its been a long time since I've felt something worth putting out to the world. Whatever, this blog is a work in progress like anything else, so bare with me. Currently my mind is on the idea of how much thought you give to something. This last weekend, I let my mind get the best of me and let my thoughts run wild for no apparent reason. Granted, bourbon fueled some of the thoughts to amplify a bit more than they should and if you're one of my friends/family who lent an ear and some wisdom I greatly appreciate the thoughts and honesty. Frankly, what was pissing me off had nothing to do with photography but it did involve a girl and hindsight being 20/20 it wasn't a big deal by any means...what was a big deal was the fact that I thought about it way too much. 

Naturally, like anything in my life I find a way to relate damn near anything back to the art of photography and creating. As I sat thinking, thinking and overthinking the less time I spent acting upon anything, so the ideas just kept spinning around and around leading me nowhere but closer to the bottom of a bottle of fine bourbon and annoying some people. If I would have just acted, or kept on moving then things wouldn't have been so...shitty. With photography, it is really easy to sit on ideas for days, weeks or even months. As creatives, we get these incredible ideas and tweak them in our heads about the best way to portray whatever it is we are about to shoot. Then we keep thinking, thinking and overthinking and eventually the idea stops seeming so good. Either that, or the idea gets replaced by another idea and that one is beaten to a pulp. All the while, these two ideas which could have made for a great series, project or single photograph, remain just ideas. 

Now, if our creative and crazy heads would have just told our minds to shut the hell up and do something, we could have great, or not so great pieces of work. If it's great, we praise ourselves and get hyped on the feedback we get and myself, I get a little cocky but hey, at least I admit it. If it's not so good, we dwell. We crucify ourselves to an almost unhealthy point because our work is extremely personal if you're doing it right. The trick is to try and realize why the end result didn't come out as originally thought out to be and make sure those mistakes aren't made in the next project. It is easier said that done but if you can swallow the pill, the medicine will kick in. Again, here it is easy to think way to much when all that really needs to be done is further action. Creating is a process, a process that is never ending. There will be highs and lows but have patience and for the love of the photograph, just keep creating. 

As far as the image attached to this, to me it is the definition of patience and persistence. It was freezing when this was taken and this fisherman stood scary still for the duration of the image. Sure, he probably thought about getting out of the water, or why he was still fishing or if the milk in the fridge was expired... It could have been literally anything but he stayed in, pole in hand and kept fishing.