Old Habits Die Hard

It's a hard thing to get past the barriers you have unknowingly put in your own path. One thing I’ve discovered during this On A Roll photographic challenge is that trying to do something "new" is a bit of a chore. We all have a comfort zone. For me, it’s a set way of pursuing and capturing images, especially when it comes to looking for subjects in a certain way and in familiar places. This project has been very revealing to me. I often tell people the hardest thing to teach is how to "see." Now, I am struggling myself with how to "see" anew, to find a new perspective from what I routinely do. Breaking my own rules, patterns, and habits has brought a new awareness to my search. It’s forcing me to stretch and to hold back from what I would normally shoot as an “acceptable” image (is this really the time to be trying something new). Maybe that is why since I loaded the film for this roll on June 26, I have only taken seven shots. I’m hoping this new awareness brings a freshness to this generation of photos. We'll see.

A stretch for me that almost worked.

June 2010