Washed ashore, image #SL-9619, Little Cayman Sand Point
Warning: Unfiltered, unorganized thoughts shall follow….
I am pretty surprised that I don’t live closer to the ocean. For as much time as I could spend there, I am probably suited to live in a sea shell. Then again, how would one keep the inside of a sea shell clean? Sand, debris, rotting fish? I suppose that is silly to be concerned with such things, you should see my office – sans rotting fish. Maybe I need a wave to come and wash the contents away? That leads me to think of what would I do if all the photographs within were washed away? Would I start over? Would I take a different path?
I love the seashell reference. I’ll have to ruminate on how practical that would be for photography. 😉 I visited a “Tiny House” a couple of years ago, all of 84 square feet. It was small, but not small enough to carry on my back.
I’ve had those thoughts too, especially since my sister has been looking to buy a house. At first she was wanting to live in the city but I was asking her why not live a bit further out on the water? Nice rambling 🙂
Since I’m in the process of switching computers and have spent days (running into week now) transferring and backing up files, I have asked myself the same question. It would be disastrous to lose the images in my portfolio, but really….why am I hanging on to years worth of raw files?! I do know the answer – so when I get asked “do you have…..” I can say yes. But how bad would it be to say No.
If I had to start completely over I’d be a minimalist – in home and career.
Beautiful photograph, Mark. Be careful what you wish for, or even consider. I had a friend who was having some of those kind of thoughts and his house burned down. Maybe we all have these thoughts sometimes and if we look at them and find out why, maybe we can make a change before our doubts become reality. I know it is easier said than done in some cases. Sometimes these thoughts are harmless or even constructive too, but they can potentially have real outcomes.
Thank you all for your comments here, and the feedback on the image. I wanted to do a post with this image but didn’t develop a lot of words about it. So I just typed what came to my mind. 🙂
Lovely photograph. I also love the ocean and spend a lot of my time there with my camera. Cheers Steve
Can’t say that I love the ocean as much as you do, but I supposed that if your stuff got washed away, you’d start anew, perhaps in a different direction. Maybe the next time, the office would be filled with pine cones and the sounds of crickets! 🙂
Well, thanks for the warning! 🙂 As my work has required to travel a lot, I get to experience these different areas. I find what I like and dislike about them. And, I almost always ask myself if I could live there. The answer to that is knowing that there really is no perfect place. Maybe, where we are at the moment is the best place to live, which is living a nomadic life.
I’ve wondered also what would happen to my images when a wave washes things away. Like Earl, a few framed prints or books will probably stay around longer than any hard drive. I sometimes wonder if one of my children or grandchildren would pick up a camera later in life and be interested in the images on my hard drive. I presently have a granddaughter who has turned an interest to photography through a class in high school. And, I must say she is darn good!
By the way I love this image and it’s simplicity!
I would certainly miss some old photos, more for the memories the represent then anything else. I’d continue to take photo because that’s what I enjoy doing and it’s not about building a body of work.
For most of us in this digital age when we die that “wave will come” and our work will disappear into the bits and bytes of the universe.
Perhaps a few printed copies of a photo of mine will survive or a family member will save digital copies on an external hard to gather dust on some closet shelf until they forget what was on it and format or dispose of it.
I don’t really feel sad about that…I will have gotten my pleasure from it at that point. 🙂
Such a lovely soft photo, Mark.
Beautiful photo Mark.
I like the idea of starting over once in awhile. I’ve been going through some of my older stuff lately and realize there’s very little of it I would miss should one of those waves come and wash it all away.
Good thoughts, Mark (not mentioning the great photo at all 😉 ) – what would we do if what we did and created was taken away? I think about this sometimes and my answer is – I don’t know. I’m kind of person who needs some (quite high] degree of certainty to make decisions so it’s very probable that I would do the same things which I know that I did well previously. On the other hand trying something totally new which may lead to new experience and even a change in our lives is very alluring. But of one thing I’m pretty sure – I wouldn’t change a thing in my personal life.
I love the ocean as well. Just got back from a (non-photography) vacation on Orcas Island off of Washington State and I kept wondering why I don’t live there, or anywhere next to ocean. I could take pictures all day long. Well, the price of housing with an ocean view is one reason anyway.