ten on twelve on thirteen {ten on ten}

Ten on ten is my favourite exercise. I get some of my best personal work out of this practice. But alas, not this month.

I've been feeling uninspired lately. My personal work has been flat, boring, devoid of emotion. The same shot, my kids, snap snap snap. I have an idea of what I'd like to achieve, and then it comes out just, meh. I've been thinking about how to remedy this, How to get back to that place where I pull images onto my computer and then catch my breath because the colour is just so and the light and shadow and the feeling makes my heart swell.

But so far, nothing. Just meh.

I think, maybe the solution is to shoot more, in a more focused way.

This is my third year in a row doing a 365 project. Sometimes I pick up my camera to get the day's image and I'm just going through the motions. I'm just picking up the camera, aiming at my kids, and not thinking much.

I wonder, if I approach my daily practice of making images the same way I approach client shoots, that is focused, centered, and with a gameplan, will I get that spark back?

I hope so.

I thought about this yesterday when I was doing my ten on ten. (Which I had forgotten about on the actual tenth, and then when I decided to do it on the 12th, I spent much of the day in front of my computer, so this is less a picture an hour, and more a bunch of pictures of an hour. Anyway, I'm not aiming for perfection.) So, yes. I thought about this. About focusing on how I want to compose, on catching emotion and light.

I didn't quite get it here (partly this is because I was concentrating on shooting with one part of my brain, and concentrating on not letting Hugo fall into the pool with the other. And guys, my brain just not that fast.) But it's a start, right? Today Mr. Chef is off work, and maybe we can get outside, and he can be the lifeguard while I get behind my camra.

Or, alternately, the other solution is a new piece of gear? (Things are aaaaaalllllways the solution to life's problems, yes?)