It is amazing what a change of scenery can do for a photographer’s perspective. Recently, I made the two-hour trek to Cincinnati for a weekend so I could visit a good friend and hopefully renew myself creatively.
In a nutshell, I succeeded.
Before this short journey, I was in a photographic funk unlike anything I had experienced in more than 30 years of pursuing my life’s calling. I hadn’t ever been so close to letting my passion die as I had been in the couple of months leading up to tis short journey. The weekend, though relatively unspectacular, served as an inspirational booster shot to my lagging motivation.
The plan was to begin the weekend with a creative portrait shoot of three women for a new business they were developing. The images were to be used in their advertising and marketing, but two of the three women backed out at the last minute and the shoot fell through. (It actually has only been put on the back burner until everyone involved can coordinate their schedules and arrange for a new date and time to shoot.)
This unexpected twist didn’t sit well with my friend, Mark, who, as their marketing director, has a vested interest in the images we were going to create. I think he was also afraid that the cancellation would impair his effort to help relight my photography flame, but I assured him it would be OK.
Instead, we drove across the river to Newport, Ky., and spent a few hours shooting the Cincinnati cityscape at night. Granted, it wasn’t one of the evenings when the downtown businesses left their office lights turned on, and there wasn’t even a Cincinnati Reds baseball game taking place at Great American Ball Park to give it reason to be lit up for the night. But it was certainly a good start to my rebuilding process.
Not only was I able to clear my mind of all the clutter that had built up and was blocking my flow of creativity, but I was also able to help Mark gain a better understanding of color temperature and white balance as he shot alongside me. I love teaching about photography, and Mark has always been my star pupil.
That night, it took forever for me to get to sleep. I stayed up tweaking my recently redesigned logo, working on some business card ideas and best of all, taking notes about photo concepts and ideas that were flowing through my previously blocked mind.
The next evening, Mark drove me to some scenic overlooks just north and east of downtown Cincinnati before we headed downtown to Fountain Square. The city was hosting a weekly series of concerts there, and there were more than enough people for me to practice some street photography.
Though I had never heard of this week’s a featured performer, a Miami-based singer named Cris Cab, plenty of people on the Square had and were extremely excited to see him on stage. Cincinnati was also playing host to the quadrennial World Choir Games, and the local group performed as a warm-up to the featured act. All of that gave me an opportunity to create photos of many different people in a variety of situations, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Sleeping was difficult again that night, so once more I channeled my creativity toward the planning and idea-generating side of this business until I could keep my eyes open no longer.
I left the following morning feeling loaded with inspiration and ready to put my new ideas in to action. As much as I would have enjoyed staying in Cincinnati for another day or two, it was great to get back home to my family. And boy were they were glad I returned with a renewed energy for the art I love.
