Everyday is a new inspiration.

So we are 5 days into the new year and my new project I now officially titled: "Gettting back to my roots". So far it has been a slow start in getting inspired to do one film photo a day. For the first dew days it just felt like going through the motions, remembering F-stops, shutter speeds and iso; until today. I am not sure the exact moment or reason but on my walk this afternoon to run errands and move my car (I have to move my car from one parking lot to another twice a week, long story)all of a sudden I just felt like I woke up. I began looking at things differently if that makes any sense. Mind you I was on a walk that I have done a million times.
The first thing I came to was ironically a coors light can half buried in a snow bank. Now let me give you a bit of background as to why this was so intriguing and shot worthy to me. This week is "college week" at Copper Mountain where a ton of college kids run free wreaking havoc, living the dream and consuming tons of alcohol at high elevation. Let me just say that it is very entertaining to watch and also can be an irksome work environment. Anyway, the point of the story is I took a ants eye (low angle) view of this can in a snow bank because in my head it represented a sad yet interesting perspective on my day. Then I continued my walk and as I got closer to the post office I noticed this cute dog, very tame staring at me behind a glass door. At that moment all i wanted to do was capture that pure moment of joy on the dogs face greeting me at the door. But in my brain part of me was saying "nope Jeanine you already took your photo for today. Then the other part of my brain (yes sometimes I have dueling sides of my subconscious; don't we all) said it would be an injustice not to do what you want and to capture this moment. So I did what any undecided artist does, I captured the moment as it should be.
Moral of all this rambling, is that life like art projects are ever changing. You can make a set plan, yet to truly embrace life and in my case my passion for photography and art, one needs to be able to adapt to any situation and say "it's okay to change course, add here, subtract there." Thus, i have come to the conclusion that I am not disguarding my photo a day project but instead embracing the excitement and passion I have come across today and hope to continue to have throughout this time in my life. I will stil keep with the the original concept of taking a photo a day, while at the same time allowing myself the freedom to take more images if the moment arises. Originally, I was going to only use the 3 rolls of black and white I have with me however, due to today's circumstances I will be broadening that part of my project also to include using the handful of slide film rolls I have with me also.
In many ways, today's little epiphany, has been a great eye opener to a new chapter in my personal (and possibly professional) life as an artist and photographer. If this is what my excitement and creative level is like in January oh boy I can't wait to see what happens in April when I go back across the country or May when I am home in my studio! Here's to new experiences, finding inspiration in the mundane and to keep creating no matter what life throws at you.
Fortunately or unfortunately because I am shooting all film I am unable to share my images as I progress. Yet, at the same time that is part of the intrigue about this project. If you are interested in seeing some of my black and white film work check out my Darkroom Black and White film page on my website: www.Jeaninenewell.com Enjoy!

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