Snapshots and Momentum

There is inertia, and momentum, in everything. I see inertia all around me every day, especially at work. Personal inertia keeps people from picking themselves up, moving forward, improving. It is a natural law that keeps the substance around us from randomly shuffling about. For artists, it can be a debilitating force that prevents the expansion of talents and inventiveness. But there is also momentum. Momentum keeps you moving. Makes it difficult to change course. I feel that right now, there is some momentum pushing me in my photography. I think it started in March when I picked up and headed out with some cameras and, more importantly, some film.

When shooting, I always have this sense of excitement and anticipation, but with digital it quickly fades. I shoot, edit, and post - sometimes all in the same day. Each photo and location is a self contained event. But with film, the photography spans over days, weeks, sometimes even months. I make a picture and then wait for development and printing. With roll film, especially 35mm, it might take me months just to use up a roll and so by the time I make the last exposure, I may have completely forgotten how the roll got started. Looking at the pictures made and reliving the memories that they captured helps create a continuum of sorts, it brings the excitement of taking taking the picture and brings it forward to the present. Just when I'm starting to think about packing up the cameras and film because Polly hates the clutter in my corner, (her stuff is clutter, my stuff is "a collection"), I find a forgotten roll of film or finally send off the slides for development. These sidetracked negatives help me remember the events, or places, they recorded in a way that doesn't happen when I immediately pull jpegs out of a digital camera. For me, at least, this second interlude forms an amalgamate experience where I can remember the scene, perhaps idealized, in a reinforced and refreshed way. 

It is no surprise, then, that I get a renewed energy and drive to take the cameras out and use them again. Because now I have a clearer memory of how I actually heard a sunrise or felt the touch of some distant glacier on my feet in a rising spring creek or had a family afternoon without quarreling or any displeasure. And that makes me want to take more pictures.

You see....momentum.



All the pictures below were taken with a Olympus XA rangefinder camera on an expired roll of film bought and processed at Walgreens.

Seaworthy Boats. Sausalito, CA
Shrimping Boat and Dock. China Camp State Park


Dock and Horizon. China Camp State Park, CA

Derelict. China Camp State Park, CA

Uncle and Nephew. Taylor Creek Visitor Center, CA

Salmon Run, Taylor Creek Visitor Center, CA

Sunshine. Heaven.


Chris

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