This photo was shot on a day I was completely uninspired. In fact, I only shot it because I had been in beautiful rural Pennsylvania for a few days working and hadn’t taken any photos at all! Each morning and evening, I went out for a walk on seldomly frequented roads. In fact, the cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully the weekend I was there, and that’s what I was hoping to capture,
Alas, the morning I was to leave, I finally did head out with my camera, tripod and the sheet off my bed. I almost forgot my remote but managed to retrieve that after I walked out the door. Expecting to do something with cherry blossoms in the background, I was quite disheartened to discover that morning that the blossoms were done blooming! All the trees were no longer glowing in pink but simply covered with green.
There were beautiful farms and houses along this road that I walked, but nothing was inspiring me. When I got to the end of the road, I turned around to walk back–I was heading to the airport about an hour later. This little alcove in the woods caught my eye. There was nothing particularly special about it–just a little opening with some nice light. No cars had driven past in quite some time, so I set up my tripod by the road, took off my shoes and socks and wrapped the sheet around me.
Unfortunately, the camera wasn’t giving me previews of my shots this day. Perhaps my card was too slow-it’s an older one. At any rate, by watching the histogram, I knew that the lighting was close enough to right. Shooting in raw format, it’s easy to fix if it’s a little off.
However, I didn’t know if I was even in focus. I tucked the sheet into my black tank top and wrapped it around me. I may or may not have brushed my hair that morning-I certainly had no makeup on.
This shot is actually the first of the poses. I just liked the angle of it, and the way the sun was coming in to the photo when I finally saw it on my computer screen. Here’s the thing, though. I was still unsure of what to do with it. With the pose, it felt a little bit fashion-y to me, so instead of having a flowing “gown”, I decided to make it more like something Morticia Addams might have worn.
The flowers were actually taken at sunset a few days ago in front of my house, and the “fog” is smoke from our grill. Once I thought to add the flowers, it all fell together.
My whole point to this story is that if you’re a “creative”, you need to create something. Anything. Even when uninspired. It may turn out crummy, and maybe you’ll hate it. But maybe, somehow, it’ll morph into something you’re really proud of.