Leave the Comfort Zone...NOW!

It's THAT time of year again. Shopping is starting to get REAL fun as is the traffic around here (Washington, DC at the moment). So, obligatory greetings to everyone reading my blog!

I have wanted to write this note for a while now. Some of you already know this little story about my recent trip to South Africa. That's okay. I get better at telling this tale each time and, of course, the point it makes.

I travelled to South Africa last Summer with (many) members of my family for a tour. Towards the end, we stayed at a lodge against Kruger National Park which was located on a very large animal reserve. None of the animals were tame in any way, and it functioned as a safe area for the animals that just happened to not know where the borders of the national park were located. It seems that wild leopards and elephants just wander out of Kruger into local villages and cause a lot of problems. I tried putting this into perspective with my deer I have in my yard, but that just didn't seem to work!

Anyway, each day we went out for a "safari" in a jeep that seated about 10. It was completely open and a little higher off the ground than an army jeep. We drove through areas of the reserve in the morning and then again in the afternoon until after dark to spot different animals. This seemed reasonably tame for me.

On the second day, I noticed that we were starting to get much closer to the animals than I ever expected. We would drive up to an area, follow "spottings" from previous days, follow relays on the walkie-talkies from other jeeps around the park and try to find the more interesting animals they had. This is a good idea in practice. It involves stopping the jeep when you get within a certain distance from the animal (such as a herd of elephants) and then watching. Someone should tell these ground rules to the animals! We would frequently stop and the jeep would soon be surrounded by animals (of a much larger size and danger level) than our jeep, such as rhino and elephants, who did not know not to come closer to us!

As a photographer, I have to say, I was delighted in this. As a person, I felt, however, that I found I was increasingly leaving my comfort zone for what I usually photograph and the conditions under which I normally shoot. The danger faction DEFINITELY weighed in.

One evening, we went out for a drive (some of my family members and my kids and I ) in the jeep to a far point on the reserve. It was a truly uneventful evening right up until the part when we crossed the three lionesses out for their hunt and decided to follow them. For everyone who does not know at this point, I have to make clear that most (mature) animals on reserves see jeeps as a large blob rather than live humans sitting in a vehicle. They do not seem to equate the creatures inside the "blob" as animals or prey (normally). That is why we were driving around in an OPEN jeep. Our driver had a "watcher" with him, a local normally with a rifle just in case of any problems. This particular evening, the rifle was in another car that was supposed to be nearby.

Back to the story.... We started to follow these three (quite large) sister lionesses. Most nights they hunt for practice and do not catch anything, so we were told. We followed them into dark brush, stopped the jeep and watched. They found some warthogs out with their mother, chased them a little, and then things quietened down again. After turning the jeep around into the dirt road, we noticed that suddenly one of the lionesses was running behind us. The jeep stopped as usual and we waited for her to pass for photographs not thinking that she would approach us. A squeelling sound came from behind the bushes we had been watching before and then the other lionesses emerged.

I don't know if we passengers or the guides were more surprised at what happened next. A young, fast-moving warthog decided that a GREAT hiding place to get away from the lionesses would be under our jeep. We tried to pull away from the area, realizing that we were in the center of a hunt and in a lot more danger than should be dealt with. The jeep edged forward until there was a sudden thump, followed by very loud animal screaming under the jeep. The warthog had been hit by the movement of the jeep (slightly) and was now located UNDER THE MIDDLE OF THE JEEP WITH US INSIDE!

I did point out that the wild animals do not "normally" notice people in the jeep. It seems this has one exception... when you are in the way of their next meal!!! Suddenly, three lionesses surrounded our jeep and decided to watch the humans instead, surveying if it was easier to deal with us in a slightly different way in order to extract their warthog. I have NEVER heard people become so quiet nor still so fast. We sat within two feet or so of angry, hungry lionesses faces... three of them around the jeep, strategically placed so that we could not move. Watching them sniff at us was, and still is, as close as I EVER want to get to a lioness. Tense minutes passed with the very loud screaming warthog under our seats. Everyone became aware that the tranquilizer gun was in the other (out of range) jeep.

As the lionesses started to close in on the jeep (and us) deciding what to do, the warthog leapt out and fled towards some other brush and trees. Three bodies streaked after it and we watched them catch their meal right in front of us. They dragged it a short way down the road and had dinner, while we still watched. We had been forgotten, thankfully, in place of the pig.

Now the whole point of this great story is not just to tell it to you, but to explain about leaving the comfort zone.

After I returned home and reviewed my photographs I noticed that the ones taken after the night with the lionesses were significantly improved over my previous shots on the trip. It was no longer like a trip to the zoo, seeing the animals, but a keen awareness of the danger involved. My photos were taken faster with better prediction, more variety of camera angles, more range of light, and believe it or not, far less fear in shooting animals other than lionesses! I had left my comfort zone. (Some of the hunt shots are one my Facebook page... Forgive my rapid, darkened shots... I was frightened at the time!)

I have this theory about photography. Writers are always told to "write what you know", just as photographers are told to shoot what they see around them everyday. This is our familiarity zone. We get used to seeing things in certain genre and after a while find our shots (just like writing) becomes mediocre. We get into bad habits of looking at things the same way again and again. I find that this comfort zone in photography is best left AFTER traveling. You go to somewhere, see other things, take photos in different conditions, different light, different angles.... and then when you return "home" THAT is were you notice all the details about your area that were not visible before. Everyone knows the feeling of missing home, no matter how much you may wish to still be traveling. That heightened sense of longing for familiarity lets us appreciate the details, just as the travel changes our perspective and technique. We learn about ourselves. Perhaps shooting what we know is best served by stepping outside our comfort zone and shooting the unusual for a while. We return with a slightly "different" comfort zone and ideas on how to approach our photography.

I do not suggest to anyone to go chasing wild lionesses to expand your zone. I have known people to take up mountain climbing to get better landscape shots. Some people decide to try photography from helicopters, some from lying on the ground. Just mix it up. Step outside your zone and see the world in a different way.

Three hungry large wild cats taught me a lesson. Well, a few lessons that night. One: I don't like being around hungry lionesses. Two: My instincts with shots are sometimes better than my planning. And Three: Heightened awareness of your surroundings does lend to a better photo.

So, in this Holiday Season, go forth, and shoot in different ways to capture your memories of family and friends. When you travel, remember the techniques you use and try them at home. Notice your light. Notice the details. And above all.... have some (safe) FUN!

And by the way... avoid cats hunting at night.

Androids in the Theater

This year has been the busiest year of my life.

Before I begin to explain, I have to say that I deeply sympathize for those adults who actually chose to have a large number of offspring. I only completed the set (of one of each). Truly, my heart goes out to those large families...

This year is the year my eldest child is in his senior classes in High School. For all you non-parents reading this, you may not understand the fear that this inspires in parents. It can make grown adults into cowering, crazy people at the thought that this implies university or college or "other options" in the near future. For me, the idea of college visits and the Great College Search amongst all the USA, was a foreign notion. I had attended university in Australia where I grew up. Entrance was at the whim of test scores and writing your choice colleges on a card. Simple, huh?

I was unprepared for the American way. I thought I was prepared... until the first college visit. And the applications. And the huge number of schools. And the application essay.

But I did find humor in some of the essay topics given to students. Most, however, seemed to revolve around one issue colleges appear to have "planted" in these essays... a general "Tell me about yourself and what influences you so that we can get to understand you better than your test scores".

That scared me. Not for my son, but for myself...

I have been asked by many people over time about influences on my work. I have had other peoples' artistic influences explained to me in detail. And honestly... I had to think about it for a long while. What is it that drives a person to spend their life either writing, painting, photographing... what hidden anecdotes from our pasts lead us towards these choices?

I was born in 1970. Growing up in the 70's and 80's in Australia was culturally "interesting". (I write this smiling to myself.) It was time coming and going of the age of Disco. It was Boy George, Spielberg, Cold War, and Reaganomics. I watched Michael Jackson's career go solo. It was the range of time from "The Partridge Family" to teen idols Michael J. Fox and Johnny Depp. Australia fed off the culture television and movies of America. We also pulled from the music of America and Britain. But it also was a time of vast cultural expansion in Australia in music, art, film, literature and much, much more.

I do not know where it started really. Maybe it was the small artsy community I experienced around Hunter's Hill and Woolrich. Maybe it was the poetry readings, artists' parties and other events I was drag to as a child. Perhaps it was the exposure to a large multicultural community and seeing the complexity of the world through different festivals.

But three things in my youth stand out more than the rest. One is my Mother's interest with Art and my family history. Another was the influence of my Great-Aunt and her travels. The third one was the movie, "Blade Runner".

I am aware that at least two of these things seem connected. My Mother wanted to be an full-time artist and encouraged me with a camera from an early age. An artistic family is always helpful. I have talked about her influence before.

My Great-Aunt Marj was also my Godmother. She was glamorous and outgoing.. two things I was not. She traveled the World, bringing me back each country's doll, and sending me postcards. That started my collection of postcards. They seemed little windows of the perfection of places. I was fascinated with postcards as a child (Okay, I still collect them even today!). It was like a way I could share journeys with her and see different things. I would imagine what it looked like just a little left or right of the picture as I stared at them. My Aunt's stories of her travels never seemed to match the perfect postcards she sent. They were always more gritty, more exotic and more personal. It made me thirst for pictures like that.. the not-so-posed, interesting photos that give you a sense of a place.

I was one of those poking, asking, annoying kids. I liked the muddy, sweaty, quirky places. I loved the city and found it "beautiful" especially in the imperfections of change. Even then, I found the more interesting country spots to explore and wonder at as well. I also loved nature and science.

When you put these ideas together with the whole development of special effects that came into movies during that period, it is no surprise that "Blade Runner" made a huge impression on me. It was not the usual sci-fi movie of clean corridors and cheerful endings. It didn't have aliens that made you run or made you cry. It was very "human" (yes, I know it is a movie about androids!) and set in shadowy, culturally-mixed cities of the future that showed the dirt, pollution and crime that cities deal with today. But that wasn't the reason it made such an impact.

For all those readers who have seen "Blade Runner", I suggest if it has been a few years, watch it again. For those of you who have not, I have a couple of words to give you an idea of the movie (besides the great acting). It was well ahead of it's time in cinematography with wonderful visuals and scenery with such attention to gritty detail. The light and shadows of the city are marvelously contrasted. But the best contrast was between the wealthy, organized, crystal-clean areas and the much poorer, working areas with their polluted rain, bounty hunters and busy streets. Not that I am for pollution or messed-up cities, but it was a fascinating film. The beauty was all in the details.

I think that was when I came to appreciate the details. I know it seems strange to find a film as an influence for a photographer's work. I can cite many artists in photography , painting, sculpture, etc, that influence me in some fashion or another.... but I still come back time and time again to "Blade Runner" and it's cinematography.

I must admit to a dabble in landscapes and portraits, but my first love will always be the more strange and humorous, real world the majority of this planet deals with daily.

Street Art is a more candid and personal look at the human experience, I find. I still love to wander cities and country areas alike and just shoot at the things going on around me that characterize and differentiate places. There is such beauty in the human experience, such stories, and such expressions beyond portraiture and studio photography. Well, each form of photography has it's strengths and things to recommend it, but I love Street Photography. The beauty of the everyday experience.

And I still recommend checking out a copy of "Blade Runner"...even if you watch it just to see a younger Harrison Ford and sit back in your chair and remember the days when Molly Ringwald was still in "The Breakfast Club" instead of playing Mother roles!