Best Foot Forward Vol. 3
Working through it so you don’t have to.
Welcome to Best Foot Forward volume 3, my ongoing series about just getting out there and doing the dang thing, no matter what! In this series, I’ll put my best foot forward and face the extremely first world problem of shooting photos when the odds or conditions seem to be against me.
So what happens when you’re hyped to get out there and shoot, you have the highest of hopes for a great day of photography…like, it may be the best day ever! Well, you get the eff out there with your camera! So that’s what I did.
Let’s run through what was working that day:
The sun was shining (finally!).
People were outside, it was record store day and the streets were poppin’ off!
I had new cameras I’d been dying to try and they were loaded with film (💸💸💸).
But the second I got to my destination (a 15 minute drive) the sun had been swallowed by cloud cover (never to return - seriously it left for six full days), and things kind of snowballed from there.
Let’s talk about what changed:
Inspiration quickly faded, it felt like the moment had passed.
Those bustling streets quickly emptied, guess they bought all the records.
Shooting film (💸💸💸) now felt like a total waste.
So now I was out there just trying to make something happen, as this day was not shaping up to what I’d hoped for. But I refused to let that stop me.
How to make it not suck.
Luckily, I brought my mirrorless as a back up - old faithful that I can use a little more frivolously, without the stresses of still being relatively new to shooting film. It had been a bit since I was out shooting, so there was a bit of rust, but I was determined to shake it off. So, I met up with my best bud, we grabbed a coffee at the Good Luck Cafe (how fitting) and hit the streets.
I had to work that day, the struggle truly was real but I was bound and determined to return home with something, anything that I could be remotely happy with. We walked up and down a ton of side streets looking for inspiration and I think we found some good stuff!
Overall, it turned out to be an okay day - a great chance to just get out and practice, flex different muscles, use my brain and eyeballs in ways I don’t usually do to seek out those things that can work, and try to make it happen.
I was photographing all kinds of things I don’t usually shoot. On top of that, I used the time to try out some ideas I’d heard from others to help with creative blocks in photography (thanks, Lucy Lumen!). So in that sense, the day was a total success!
I just wanted to say another quick thank you to everyone for sticking around and checking out my posts each week.
If you’re a new subscriber or follower to my Substack feed or newsletter, I’m so stoked you are here, seriously. If you haven’t seen the previous two volumes, you can quickly get to them by hitting the buttons below.
All photographs are SOOC, shot on a Fujifilm XT-30ii w/ 18-55mm f/2.8
Stay focused.
I vibe with this. Usually, I'll bring one digital and one film camera. Bringing a TLR takes the pressure off, as there's only 12 shots to shoot on a roll in it. Many times, I'll take 2-4 film photos and then a few hundred digital photos. Sometimes the film cameras don't come out at all...
That all said, you got some good lookin' environmental shots of the city!
Hitting "the wall" as you get out to shoot is the worst! Thanks for sharing your experience (and some great images in non-ideal conditions) and reminding me that it's worth it to work past the doubt when you're not feeling motivated or inspired. Lately I've been talking myself out of getting out there when conditions aren't perfect, so I think I needed to read this!