In school I trained in an engineering curriculum and I’m relatively new to the creativity thing, so now I think a lot about the meaning behind my creative work and how I do it. Other creative people around me have a range of approaches to what they make, and it seems I’m on the more metered end of the spectrum. Sometimes I question my thoughtful approach, and so to be more spontaneous I go out into the nearby environment with just a camera to see what I can find, normally I don’t even have a goal other than just finding a few patterns to go with but sometimes I have nothing in mind when I walk away from my day job into the meadow. Random spontaneous walks with the camera help me to forget the structure demanded by the day job and helps me think in more abstract ways. It also gives me the opportunity to think more about what I see through all the looking that I do.

Since everyone has a phone and they can all make snapshots, I wanted to do more than just that. Part of my walking around and shooting is an exercise in thinking abstractly about what I see because, as you may have read from Myesha’s postings, my tendency is to look at the big picture (landscape) instead of the details. So walking around helps me think more clearly. I challenge myself to find interesting contrasts and shape analogies, and normally monochrome works best for this type of composition because it allows focus on the abstract form instead of color. With all the snow on the ground now it’s easy to walk around the property and find things to make into images.

I’ve always been fascinated with winter — cold winter, not southern us winter. When I lived in Chicago people used to complain about the snow and cold and I never understood why because my favorite times were during snowstorms. Moving back to Houston and 75 degree Decembers was an anti-climax that I couldn’t get used to.

Now we hike in the snow above our knees, and I’m able to combine the joy of sub-zero hiking at night with our son with thinking creatively about imaging.