Be your own prophet

I'm currently reading Susan Sontag's On Photography - definitively a thought-provoking book, to say the least.

In Heroism of Vision, she mentions photographer Edward Weston and his supposedly vision of photography as "elitist, prophetic, subversive, revelatory". Sontag attributes to him the following thought:

Photographers reveal to others the world around them [...] showing to them what their own unseeing eyes had missed

This vision does sound a little elitist, painting the photographer as a prophet.

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While I distrust truth-tellers, I do believe our photography can be self-revealing and we can become our own prophets. Photography has led me to places where I would normally not be and to situations I wouldn't necessarily put myself in.

It makes me feel alive.

I see image making as the excuse to connect with a forgotten part of the world that doesn't seem to affect us (me) anymore. We live in these little bubbles, away from nature, and photography helps me to find part of that lost connection. It's worked for me and that's why I share my work and passion for photography, because I believe it can work for others as well.

An approach to photography not as a means to show anything to others, but to reveal the world to ourselves.

I like driving

I don't mean sitting in traffic on my way to the office. Rather, a peaceful drive through the mountains on my way to a day out making some images.

Behind the wheel, I'm alone and I can't use my phone. I have no option but to go through my thoughts and sometimes, to get bored.

Being bored can be very good for our brain. Sadly, it's also very hard to achieve nowadays: not more than 5 seconds of boredom would go by without me reaching for my phone (I have adopted some measures to fight this terrible habit).

I don't know much about meditation, although it's something I've always been interested in. One day, I might give it a try.

Until then, driving will be my meditation.