It probably goes without saying, but I quite enjoy photography. If that goes without saying then I’m not sure as to why I’ve started this bit of writing off  with the statement, but I couldn’t think of anything better as a start and so I chose an obvious statement.

So I enjoy photography and I enjoy the process of learning and doing and learning through doing. I’ve still quite a lot to learn and I hope that that always remains the case. I don’t want to get to a point where I’ve nothing left to learn in photography as then there’s nowhere left to go. There’s no growing from that point; well maybe there is, but I feel that it is unlikely that if I found myself in a position where I knew all there was to know about photography and, by extension, taking a photo and how I can do better at taking photos I’d be able to learn more.

Well there probably would be more room as what is knowable changes but I’m going way off topic here.

I went to Avalon on Saturday night to do some promotional photography and that was fine. There were some issues but at the end of the day I’ll work with what I can and I’m pretty sure more of the photos are fine. It was a nice drive to the slight detour to Barrenjoey Lighthouse and it was a nice drive home. It was a late drive home too but it was really smooth. Few times I had to stop in traffic and so I got home shortly after midnight.

Anyway the shoot itself was mostly uneventful. As said, some issues but I’ll work with what I can, but ultimately uneventful. I think that was beneficial as it was pretty straightforward and I got to move around the space pretty easily. Had to stay a while so I could capture the room with a good amount of people in it and so I did, which also was fine. Just spent a bit of time reading in the band room as still not feeling confident in being around large amounts of people when not taking photos and… yeah.

Anyway, at one point when I was among the crowd trying to get more photos some guy asked me to take a photo of him and his mate. It was sort of a demanding ask and I said no. I was asked again and once more I said no. I was asked a third time and a third time I said no, but this time added that I was working. The guy and his mate walked off and as they walked off he called me a “Fucking loser”.

Now I won’t deny that I may have misheard, but I’m quite certain of what I heard. That said, I was more surprised than anything else. The kind of surprise when you think something along the lines of “Did that person really just say that because they couldn’t handle someone saying no?”, because that’s roughly what I was thinking.

I was there to work. Just because I have a camera doesn’t mean I’m interested in taking a photo of someone and it doesn’t matter how much they ask. It really annoys me that people think that that I would be. I don’t care about you; accept the no and leave it at that. Don’t get shitty just because you can’t handle a basic form of rejection.

I’m often blunt and sometimes abrasive, though seldom intentionally. I like to be left alone and be invisible when I’m working in a gig setting and I usually prefer to be left alone unless I’m familiar with someone. Admittedly this isn’t always the best thing for photography, especially in a social setting. That said, I think that if someone is working and you see that, and then you decide to interrupt them working so you can get a photo of yourself, unless you know it’s related to what the photographer is doing, the photographer has every right to reject your request and possibly tell you to piss off., which I kind of wish I did but it was probably better that I didn’t because saying no three times is a bit more diplomatic.

That’s the main thing I wanted to talk about here. There isn’t much else to say as ultimately it’s a minor thing. I thought it was silly and pointless and it made me glad that I don’t hang around certain groups of people.

Eventually I headed on home and the drive was around an hour. I think slightly longer, but overall it was an easy drive. I got home slightly after midnight and dealt with little traffic. I was concerned about the drive home; mainly regarding how tired I was but I did alright. I was prepared to pull over to stretch and try and wake up a bit if I started feeling too tired, but it was just easy the whole way. I was alert enough and… yeah.

I enjoy photography a lot and I enjoy learning and developing and (hopefully) getting better. I think there’s a lot of undue praise for my stuff but if people like what I put out there, then I’m glad as it means they’re getting something from what I’m doing.

Beyond all of that, I don’t know what else there is to say, really. I think that some people have difficulty taking “no” for an answer, but that’s not something new. I also enjoy driving to places to shoot and I enjoy working in photography. It’s something I’ve wanted to earn money from for a long time so I hope this really starts to take off.

I still think photography is a valuable art form, but then again, I think art in general is a valuable thing. There are so many places it goes and so much we take form it, and I hope that it continues to inspire.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 31:49:94

This was slow and I feel it could’ve been much faster.
A lot of the slowness came from me thinking about what I was writing.
I was trying to make sure that I was articulate whilst also fighting a need to lie down and rest and it didn’t make for a good combination.

I do think that this reads okay, however.

Written at home.