I have been experiencing a lot of visualizations recently and this is the most recent. I believe that we are conditioned from a young age. Our family life, specifically our parents, hold a huge influence on how we behave and the decisions we make. These fresh experiences and morals (or lack thereof) shape us. Our childhood is our essence, this form that we house from the moment we take our first breath. Childhood to me is the foundation, the stepping stones we take for what’s to come. This is only the first half. Adulthood is building off that foundation and giving us the freedom to make decisions for ourselves. Today though we need to take a step back from all of that and just ask ourselves one question. How can we be better people? Greener pastures soon follow.
2020 let's make it count
2019 was a year of change and growth. Falling down and getting back up again. Rinse and repeat. This past year I experienced probably the worst creative block to date. I struggled to create meaningful pieces of work up until about the end. On top of my creative struggles I also experienced a lot of heartache and emotions that I won’t get into here. Above all else though I have to keep my head up in the new year so I can come out stronger at the end of it all. When life gets hard, don't forget that good things come from it to. Be a glass half full kind of guy. Greener pastures soon follow.
Don't miss a moment
Im a big advocate of having your camera on you at all times so that you don’t miss out on any crazy photo opportunities that cross my eye. I took about a month break from photography after my summer session. For about a month I didn’t really take any photos. I put my camera on my shelf and spent the remainder of the summer hanging out with friends and sitting around watching youtube videos. Nonetheless I never stop looking for interesting subjects or cool angles to take interesting photos. I don’t always have my camera on me and in those moment I wish I had carried my DSLR around so I wouldn’t ever miss that shot. Nowadays though our phones have come a long way and take some really nice photos. No matter where you are, no matter where you go you always have a camera on you. Don’t ever miss a moment. Cheers!
Feeling Nostalgic
I’m sitting here in my usual spot moving photos from one hard drive to another but that’s not what this is about. It’s about progress and memories and nostalgia. I am so nostalgic of my old photos just to see how far I have come. I have been sifting through and cleaning out old photos and I can’t help but feel attached to a lot of these photos. Seeing how far I have come is so liberating. Attached is an image I took in Tulou, China. I shot everything at f/5.6 because I hadn’t quite grasped the concept of aperture but to this day these photos are moments captured in time. The feeling is so nice and gave me the motivation to keep going to become the photographer I am today. I am so grateful for all the amazing experiences I have had traveling abroad to present day spending hours upon hours hanging out in the studio to get that lighting just right. I hope everyone is having a great summer! Cheers!
TAKE THE SHOT
Hey! So I know it's been a minute since I wrote one of these but it just hit me today. A word of advice to photographers everywhere and I mean it’s a simple one but “always take the shot” I can’t describe to you how many times I have been somewhere and have been like that’d be a cool picture and just let the moment pass and made some mundane excuse for why I didn’t take the picture. Every single time I walk away from those moments and feel like I did something wrong. So quit making excuses for yourself and just take the damn picture. Have a good weekend! Cheers!
Inspiration
Inspiration is something I constantly come back to because it is such a mysterious thing. Different things inspire different people but we also still want to find a person that understands where we are coming from and can share similar feelings of inspiration and happiness. The whole point of this week's message is just to talk about inspiration and how it makes me feel. Inspiration is something that I still have yet to fully understand and be able to control. The thing is I don’t think you can really control it but when it happens it is such a fulfilling feeling and it puts the biggest smile on my face. Feeling inspired to get up and go out and see the world or shooting film photos or whatever else comes with inspiration. The feeling alone can keep me going and make me feel motivated to get out of bed in the morning, have a cup of coffee, and take on the world. The feeling is kick ass and can be the difference between a good and a great day! Have a great week everyone!
The Next Step
This is something that I want to get on paper and not necessarily reminisce on but something that I can look back on. I recently moved up to College (literally 4 days ago) and can’t help but feel alone. I have this strong feeling of independence. I feel more independent than I have ever felt in my life and because I haven’t started classes I can’t help but feel a little bit isolated. I can’t help but feel like I have been quieter than I usually am. For a good chunk of my life I looked forward to this feeling of independence but now that I am here I am just waiting for stuff to start happening. I am waiting to be joking around with friends and talking about my ideas for photo assignments. I know this is only a temporary feeling and that is what’s keeping me level headed, that realization that once classes start I won’t have to worry about being on my own because I'm going to meet people that I can talk with and hang out with, finding people that share my same interests. This is something I have been looking forward to for a long time and I know I'll get there. This piece in no means is a cry for help it is just something I feel I need to address to others who may be going through the same things or have gone through these things. I am just sitting at the starting line waiting for the green light.
A Deeper Look
Every time I try and write this one I always stop myself and thinking this is to much, this is all over the place, nobody is going to want to read this jumbled mess and I have decided today that maybe it doesn’t matter. My writing is not very structured and I know that I think I just need to accept it and continue moving forward because being structured isn’t me so if people don’t like it then they probably aren’t to fond of me to begin with but that’s not what this piece is about. I am going to be starting up at App State next week and beginning a new journey, the next step in becoming a better photographer and growing as a person. So to prep myself instead of stressing over packing and thinking about everything I need to bring I am working on myself. I am working on inspiring myself and maybe not coming up with ideas of what I want to do necessarily but to really just engulf myself in reading, drawing, or just being creative. I want to be inspired by the things around me and the internet is an amazing place for it. I have recently joined tumblr and have just been searching through images whether that be commercial or fashion or nature or just people tooling around with a camera whatever it may be I am taking a peak. I am really trying to feel inspired and feel confident in what I want to do. I am listening to new music I am reading photo prompts, I am looking at the world from a perspective that is my own and that is a creative outlet of going out and taking photos. I feel like my main purpose in life is to share my perspective in a way that is different from everybody else! It is one thing to say yeah I have an eye for photography and another to actually to get your gear together (physically and metaphorically speaking) and go out and shoot some pictures. I am still working towards that and seeing the world for what it is. I have come to the conclusion as a creative that sometimes the most beautiful things aren’t beautiful at all. I think realizing is a big step as a photographer because sometimes you can look at something and think “I don’t like that” but when you really stop to think “why doesn’t this appeal to me” is it necessarily because it’s bad or is it because it isn’t pleasing to the eye?” so coming out of this kind of soul searching journey my goal for myself and my goal for other creatives and just people in general is take the path less traveled and find beauty in things where there is no beauty to be found.
China Trip Summer 2018
Currently am sitting in Starbucks aka Xīngbākè in JinJiang, China. Just drank a Caramel Macchiato because everything else here is garbage. Been here about 2 weeks. First 3 days we spent in Xiamen which is always fun ate at Coyote this yummy mexican place and also met up with Joel and Peju and had dinner with them which was really nice. It was good to see them also still kind of boggles my mind that he lives here kind of forget that he works for AMG as well. When we got to Jinjiang it was interesting for about 2 days before we all lost interest and ended up laying around the apartment while Dad was at work. We live day to day trying to figure out things to do whether that be go grocery shopping or running around Jinjiang aimlessly for hours before hopping in a DiDi (Chinese Uber) back to the apartment where there is actual air conditioning and we can blow all the sweat from our bodies. On Saturday we are headed to Thailand where we will be spending 2 days in Bangkok and then flying up to Chiang Mai for the rest of the week. No plans have been made other than wanting to zipline through the jungle and taking tons of cool pics in the process. I will keep you posted in the meantime please enjoy this shirtless man trying on glasses.
-Jake Weidman
Independent Coffee Run
So I discovered an old blog that I used to have and I found this post that still relates to me today!
As you are reading this I am currently sitting in a coffee shop. I am listening to How Come You Never Go There by Feist. Something about the atmosphere of a coffee shop really gets to me. It helps me clear my mind sipping on the bitter taste of a nice cappuccino. Take a seat, put on some headphones, and let your mind roam. The mixture of coffee and music together can be mesmerizing and relaxing. Enjoy this time you spend on your own. Independence. Taking this time out of your day to go and just collect your thoughts and think about all the good things in life and if you can't find it you're not trying hard enough. I guess what I am really trying to say is that everyone needs to relax once in awhile and just enjoy the small things in life.
Motivation & Happiness
Recently I encountered someone on the internet with a very negative outlook on life. It was to the point where it got a little too deep and he mentioned something about how being motivated and being happy is just fiction. Not his words exactly but something of that nature. This got me thinking what urges us to be motivated? What is it that keeps us going? The truth is I don’t know entirely. I think my take on the situation is somewhat similar to photography. We can all look at the same building but our perception of that building is completely different because each individual has a different perspective for how they see the world. It just so happens that this guy is very close minded. Is that biased? I don’t know. I think that happiness comes from the people that you surround yourself with and what you are willing to expose yourself to. With motivation comes choice. Sure anyone can sit around all day and watch shows on Netflix but to get up and experience the world around you is something that is beyond explanation. Passion urges us to do things we wouldn’t necessarily be willing to do. Find the thing that you love to do and hold onto it because it’ll lead to a good life, a happy life. There is no fiction in motivation, there is no fiction in happiness. Life is what you make it.