I seem to be working in bursts at the moment. I ground out a couple of stories over the last couple of weeks, and I have three in progress as I write this post (at work, admittedly). Should I really be editing instead? Absolutely. Am I editing instead? Nope.
Some of that is because I have picked up one of my hobbies a bit more: photography. I shoot 35mm film on a trusty old Canon SLR, and I’m starting to play with lens filters a bit for effect. I already try weird films and enjoy cross-processing, so this just adds to my fun. I would not regard myself as a serious photographer—I have no formal training. But I seem to have a decent eye and developing technical skills, so it’s enough for it to be something I enjoy.
And I love the process of developing my own film. It’s never perfect, but there is magic to it. The loading of the developer drum, the timing of each of the chemicals, all of it leads to the magic of pulling the roll out once it’s done and seeing just what exactly I have. I shot a bunch of 110 recently, so I’ll be doing that on Saturday.
I also discovered that we have a camera shop in town, so I’ll be exploring that. Looking for some used lenses, especially a 24mm or 28mm FD mount so I can get a wider angle on my outdoor shots. I have some ideas for this winter and am eager to have the gear set.
It would be easy to mistake writing as just another creative hobby for me, but it’s the thing that I consider myself to be: a writer. I’m not a photographer and I know it. I take pictures. And, really, the way I write is an analog to taking pictures: I try to capture a scene so I can have my audience picture it. One is just much more serious than the other.
Which leads me back to the burst of three stories I have in progress right now. Saturday will be for film. Guess what I’ll be doing Sunday!
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