“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
Inspiration can be elusive. I found this especially true these past 2 years when travel was limited, contact with other people was restricted, and I seldom ventured beyond my own neighborhood. Familiarity can dull vision, dampen perceptions of our surroundings, and blunt the ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.
So I have struggled to keep my observations fresh in an effort to find inspiration in my all-too-familiar surroundings. One action that has helped me is perusing photography books or magazines to see the visions of other photographers. Recently, a good friend generously gave me a subscription to Black+White Photography magazine, which is delightful, and - yes - inspiring. The magazine inspired me to choose one of my black and white pinhole photographs for this post.
The photograph is a double exposure taken just below my house, showing a well-known trail with blooming arrowleaf balsamroots superimposed. I captured the image using a Zero Image pinhole camera and T-Max B&W film. The photo transforms a scene (well, two scenes) that I see every day in the spring - the trail through the high desert grasslands, fluffed up clouds, and the showiest spring wildflower - into something surprising, different, artistic.
I continue to invite inspiration into my life. But, I also just keep plugging away with my cameras. And, occasionally along the way, inspiration finds a way in.