Permission Granted

I have spent the past twelve years trying to "get it right" in the camera.  Technically speaking I have succeeded...at least most of the time.  I have mastered f stops and shutter speed, ISO and the rule of thirds.  I know what makes a good photograph.  I know how to follow the rules.  But the time has come to let go.   To throw caution to the wind and find my creative voice.

It is difficult for me.  I have always had a need for affirmation.  To know that what I was producing in the camera was acceptable to others.  Finding my creativity means shutting out those voices.  Learning to listen to the inner muse.  Some days it is like holding a door shut with both hands and all of my strength while the traditionalists tug and pull on the other side trying to get into my head.

Taking on Project 365 has saved me from myself.  It has become about so much more than the discipline of taking a picture every single day and following a theme.  It is a license to dream.  To look at the water drops that have collected on the screen enclosure in the early morning light and wonder.  Wonder would happen if those back lit drops were sent spinning out of focus?  Or how it might look with the water in the background partially in focus or the green shrubbery?  What if?



Sometimes it works.  Often times it does not.  But I am learning to measure success in the trying.  In granting myself permission to let go.  In wondering what if.  It is getting wet and dirty in the process.  It is learning to not care what anyone else thinks.



And it makes me smile.

Link to Project 365