Missy & Matt: 1 fps

I am now just beginning to piece together the feelings relating to key concerns and questions I am facing in regards to this year of weddings and engagement sessions.  Mainly about how I approach my imagery, how I handle the visual repetition and how I am learning to place that into my educational insurance bank (that is already pretty extensive).

But the most important thing for me is to remember that it is there for me to draw on, all categorized accordingly like an old-fashioned rolodex. If I am not open to thumbing through it, then I am merely left with a sense of mundane feelings and a loss of artistic vision.  Thus, an unhappy client.

I have not fully digested what exactly I need to do with my recent reflections mainly because wedding season is just now winding down.  And the winters months are not just spent lying on my back catching up on sleep (although there will be plenty of that, thank you).  It is well spent thinking about how to approach these issues I am facing (artistically) and how I can improve upon them for next year.

The image I am posting is another good example of what I am writing about.  The Bean.  The dreaded Bean.  Been there, done that.  But I did have a little spark of inspiration in my step that day.  I was feeling pretty good.  As Missy, Matt and I approached the Bean, I just assumed I would default to the same exact way I slap my clients in front of it, hide in the bush in the exact angle where I have sat hundreds of times and click the button.  Wham, bam, snap, pack up n' go.   

It was slightly chilly the day we shot the session.  As we walked under and inside the Bean to get away from the cold, I looked up and saw their silhouettes reflected in the kaleidoscope.  What is different for me in this image is the entire photograph is the reflection.  Even the lower silhouette at the base is not a picture of them, it is a picture of them reflected in the mirror of the Bean itself.

I must have seen this before?  I have walked under this thing a zillion times.  But my point is, I was open, visually, and desperate for something different other than what I have done before.  And while this image might not be "unique," it is unique for me, and that is what this is about.  I was starting to feel that sense of dread, but I was open, willing and pressing for a twist to inspire me.  Shaking things up is what it is all about.

So maybe I am starting to articulate what my reflections are about.  And quite possibly this winter will be well spent turning turning the box sideways so 2011 will be fresh, and filled with happy clients.