When I first starting picking up a camera (my well loved old Panasonic GF1) and posting my efforts on Flickr, an inordinate amount of my photos were from ground level or of my boots. Remember “Worm’s Eye View” and “From Where I Stand”? I was ALL over those groups.
I still do get down to ground level when I’m shooting, although I’m a little creakier getting back up than I used to be. And my boots are still a big feature. But lately I’ve been pointing my camera skyward more often. It could be because there has been so much rain where I live that when the sun shines I automatically lift my face to it, and thus my camera!
But it’s also that looking up feels somehow more expansive …. if I’m at ground level or looking down at my feet all the time, it can contribute to a more introspective view. Not a bad thing, but staying in that headspace doesn’t allow for broadening my vision, my feelings, my camera lens to something wider, more inclusive, more OPEN.
The photographs I make, outside of client work, are often deeply tied to where my heart or head are at. When I am quiet or introspective, my images tend to lean downward. And when I need to shake that, my face and my camera lift. Do you find something similar? Do you shoot images that reflect your current state of mind or do you perhaps you choose to shoot something that takes you out that state of mind?
cheers,
kim
