January 2024 - Rolls 149-152
I have to be honest: I am so relieved to have finished writing about my photos from 2023. When I began writing these blog posts back in August, I was full of energy and inspiration, writing multiple times a week and blowing through the initial rolls of What My Left Hand is Doing. As time went on, though, I began to face burnout from so much thinking (I haven't written this much about anything since college) as well as a lack of time during the busy season at work, and I started posting much more infrequently. To help myself continue to write, now that I've finally finished talking about the photos from 2023, I am going to adopt a new approach with my work from 2024. I'm going to write one blog a month, describing the previous year's month of shooting, giving a general overview of what I did and occasionally doing a more in-depth discussion about a photo. I think that this format will allow me to keep up with my work while continuing to fulfill my goal of providing context for the photos I take and post. Let's get into it!
As I mentioned throughout my different posts this month, I was experiencing a certain level of burnout as the year came to an end. I was able to find inspiration at several critical moments in December (the subjects of my last two blogs) but as 2024 began I could feel my creative energy subside and dwindle compared to the beginning of the project. This scared me a little, so the first few times it snowed heavily—so far a rarity that winter—I pushed myself to get out and shoot a couple rolls of film. This was admirable for my work ethic, but I only ended up with a few photos that I like, I think in a large way due to the fact that I did need a break. I should probably have waited for something to specifically inspire me, like perhaps a change in the weather or a beautiful lighting condition, but I was impatient, choosing to go out in weather that does not often bring out the best in me. Because of this, most of those images I made don't speak to me, but I at least have three that prove that I wasn't totally wasting my time; I was still able to find a few solid compositions and subjects that fit into my vision of the Ordered World.
Bowman Cemetery, South Bend, Indiana.
Miami Village Church, South Bend, Indiana.
Winter—Mishawaka, Indiana.
If I had been just a little more patient, I would have encountered the perfect lighting that would draw me out despite the burnout, and also despite the bitter cold. Towards the middle of the month we got hit with a week of temperatures hovering around 0° F, and it was in the midst of this week that we got the most clear, beautifully sunny day I could have asked for. I had been wanting to photograph downtown South Bend from a certain direction at sunset for a while, and the -4° cold wasn't able to stop me from running out into an abandoned parking lot after work and quickly shooting most of a roll of film. My favorite photo from this moment was absolutely worth my time; golden sunlight contrasts with the blue-shadowed snow and highlights the tallest buildings of downtown, which I placed to the side of a central telephone pole to create a pleasing composition. After I warmed up sufficiently in the car (which did take a moment, as even a short time out in that cold is dangerous) I drove in the general direction of home, looking for anything else that I could easily photograph to finish the roll. When I drove by the sign for Bonnie Doon, a local fast-food chain, I knew I had found another ideal subject, and I stopped there and shot my last four photos. The evening turned gorgeous in a way that only a sunset on a clear day can, with a bluish-purple glow behind the sign that sets the scene perfectly and compliments the colors in the foreground. When I developed and scanned the film the next day, I knew that I had taken my first outstanding photos of the new year, which buoyed my spirits considerably!
Downtown South Bend, Indiana.
Sunset—Bonnie Doon, Mishawaka, Indiana.
The final roll I shot in January was on a sunny Sunday, when Malia and I checked out the Mishawaka Res, a park not far from where we live. In typical me fashion, the best photos from this roll are not actually at the Res, but in a field close by, which caught my eye as we passed it on the way in, leading me to stop the car on the way out and tramp through the snow to see what I could do. These three photos form a sequence in which I get closer to the giant telephone poles and parked train at the far end of the frame in each shot, each showing a different foreground as I moved in. First there are clusters of grass which poke out here and there, then the shadows of power lines crisscross the ground, and finally all these give way to the pure brightness of almost untouched snow, clear in the sunny weather. If I had to choose my favorite of these I'd say the closest one is the best, as it includes details like the graffiti that are harder to see in the others, but I think all of them are strong in their own way! With these photos taken my mini arc of January was complete, having moved from anxiety over not wanting to shoot to finding more situations that inspired me, keeping me going and fueling my creative fire once more. It was a good sign of things to come, and of course I'm happy that I got some good photos to kick off the new year!
Near the Mishawaka Res, Mishawaka, Indiana I.
Near the Mishawaka Res, Mishawaka, Indiana II.
Near the Mishawaka Res, Mishawaka, Indiana III.