I challenge you all to take a new perspective on things as we enter a fresh New Year! I do love a new year – a time for new beginnings, a clean slate, a challenge to ourselves to do things we may not have gotten to in the previous year, a chance to shake the dust off and reinvent our lives! And, to all my photo friends, students and folks who just like to look at things, do it from a new perspective! Whether you are high up, or lying on the ground and watching the clouds sail across the sky, try to look at life from a new perspective.
I am reminded of the photographs of a Russian artist from my History of Photography lectures. Aleksandr Rodchenko had such a disdain for the “normal view” photograph that he referred to these images as “belly-button shots.” These are the normal views taken with a waist-level viewfinder.
“One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.” – Aleksandr Rodchenko
So, rather than looking at your world from 5’5”, 6’0”, or whatever height you are, imagine a world from other angles and views. And, of course, if you haven’t already figured it out, this applies not only to photography, but how you might decide to approach life in general!
For all you photographers out there, this is also a great time to commit to a project. Maybe the 365 project – a shot a day for the year, or a weekly blog post, or a couple big projects that have been rattling around in your brain, well, put them on paper! Write out your ideas, sketch (stick-figures count for photographers!) your comps, and get busy! I’m taking my own advice and I plan to keep up with my weekly blog as well as tackle and complete a couple big projects that I have rattling around…first of which, the specimens! I have a bone graveyard in my basement right now, so it’s time to put all that collecting to good use!
Here’s to a happy, healthy, prosperous and adventure-filled 2016!
“We must revolutionize our optical perception. We must remove the veil from our eyes.” – Aleksandr Rodchenko