Thoughts for the Night | My take on Photography

By Saturday, February 07, 2015

Night time is my favourite time. I love the simplicity of it, the peacefulness and space. It allows me to open my mind and think without bother, without interruption and without annoyance. I for one am not a morning person by far and so I know for a fact that I would much rather spend hours within the night being productive than in the early light of the morning. Living in a house with younger siblings it is also my time to be alone without a little 8 year old barging into my room with a million questions. This is also the time in my day where I feel most creative. Then is when I think of photo ideas, projects to complete, stories to write and things within my personal life. It's peaceful.


As you can see from the photograph above, I happen to always find that within the depths of the night my camera and mirror become my best friend. Also my window, as it creates a canvas of reflection to shoot in front of. Not pointing at assumptions that I'm 'vain' but rather appreciative. Regardless of the fact that I'm just sitting in my pajamas pointing a camera at a mirror and posing, I still feel a sense of creativeness. In my mind I'm thinking of camera settings, which lights should be on or off to create the best effect, the surroundings and what position to place my body in to create an image rather than a picture. That is simply my opinion though, a lot of artists would disagree. Nevertheless I find fun in it. I like to be creative even if its just taking a 'selfie' or a proper photograph like the one below. When taking this image I was envisioning the outcome, I wanted to embrace the human body and thoughts of the word 'naked' in a polite and sensitive way. This was a shoot for a project that I thoroughly enjoyed doing. I'd like to someday turn this photograph into some form of writing to express my opinion on photography even further. Overall though I had the same creative thoughts going on in my head in the middle of the night when I took that self portrait to the middle of the day, in the rain, shooting in a forest with my best friend. The content of a photograph doesn't represent the amount of skill and creativeness used to produce it, it just defines the type of skill and creativeness - in my opinion. 


Now I wouldn't say I am a great or a professional photographer at all, I would label myself more as a creative enthusiast or something along the lines haha. I use photography as a way to create and I embrace that thought. Yes it does take a lot of skill to shoot beautifully and I look up to those who can shoot far better then I can, yet it is a learning process and I am learning. Like a lot of you out there are. Just embrace it. Spend hours in the night thinking, or wake up at the crack of dawn. Take a photo. Capture life. ENJOY. 

J.R xo 

(Second photograph modeled by Kathleen Buttigieg. Both Photographs shot by Jennifer Rogers)


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