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 Why to Recharge?

Cold October morning in the Bavarian Alps

Life has been a mess to some of us the last 2 years (2020/2021). Not only due to an infernal pandemic that hits our world itself but it brought up primeval feelings in some of us that common life in our fastly living society can not be all the adventure that the universe has promised us to be. We've seen a big area of human rights smashed down for political reasons, established for hundreds of years in, sometimes, bloody fights. We've had to watch how the protection of sick people we love was raised to such a high extend that their actual sickness treatment came to a deadlock because healthy people made politics. We've seen friendships going apart and false prophets arise (no matter which side).

All this leads me to the conclusion that there must be ways to break out of the routine and to detach from those dark energies that have been concentrated. Not a new concept for sure but often a small discovery of some simple written lines helps to see the picture with different eyes and forms guidance beside the way, for you and also for me.

 

Keep it simple and enjoy the moment

Back in mind that we are all searching for little spaces to rest and recharge from the struggle around us, gaining new strength and sights on things that we want to change or keep, this blog is about changing the mindset by sensing moments in nature. If you've ever asked yourself what it is that keeps you from living now, then it's mostly a fixation of either the past which seems to be brighter or darker than your life is now, or the uncertain future.

The part of anxiety about the future is much more prominent than hanging on to old days. It is because we've already lived the past, managed it somehow, learned our ways, gained sth good or sth bad from it which formed and defined us to the persons we are now. We are forced to see the future with the toolbox we've learned to use in the past and to be honest, most of us used the wrong tool for the job most of the time to gain a fulfilled self awareness. We can only try to change our mindset now and try to learn new things to be aware of a future that might be come but the future only can be guided in some way but never be controlled. There are too many external parameters and variables that could change our plans, but we can adapt new and more knowledge to deal with it and making living in the present more valuable.

 

The beauty in things has to be found

Don't get me wrong here! This not an anti-society, anti-capitalism or anti-whatever blog. Struggles can be manifold and resulting in different impacts on our mood. The aim is to find a way to deal with what comes and turn it into a valuable tool to manage self-time, reconsidering decisions or judgements and building a broad and stable fundament to achieve new goals for a positive feeling which helps to enjoy living in the moment. 

 

A moment in time

This (whole) blog is about my journey (and maybe yours too) that starts now, how I gain to change my mindset and transform it into a - mostly - all time positive spirit. It will contain active solutions to different photographic challenges I've passed and it will provide procrastination with some technical challenges to solve and also some real life gear talk.

The tool-question can be answered immediately since this is an outdoor photography blog.

 

A camera is my tool of choice!

 

Let me explain you why that is so and what possibilities it offered to me since I discovered its magic. 

I really can't exactly remember when I firstly used a camera but I can exactly tell you the reason. Photographing friends and me enjoying our time outside while skating our town. It was a good time full of joy and we've had fun to experiment with the tools we had been given. On top of all, we've recharged our batteries quite often, one of many reasons why childhood and adolescence presents itself with fresh and free spirits,

Back in the days, the late 90's to early 00's, it was all about shooting film. But the transition to digital cameras was already to be carried out. After several experiments with film cameras I gave up on it and focussed more on the sport itself. It took some years until my parents decided to gift me with a small point and shoot camera, one from Panasonics' traveller zooms, for an upcoming trip. The enthusiasm has been aroused again and I took the camera with me for so many years until it simply broke and I replaced it with a newer, higher end model of the same category. At this time it was unthinkable for me to leave the camera at home. Again, this camera was my compagnon on all the travels, family reunions, skate actions, parties etc. until I reached my studies. For some reason I stopped using a camera after I finished my Bacherlor's degree and headed into the Master's degree. Maybe the age of mobile phones kicked in and the quality of the in-built cameras got better and better over time.

 

Skate and Create

 

In February 2016 I started my new job as an engineer for glass and ceramic materials in a company that produces smart electronical devices. What I didn't like was the area it was located in, a - for me - highly uninteresting rural and commercial agricultural area in Germany which pushed me into a dark corner of my mind. After my succesful graduation as an engineer and beeing unemployed for nearly a year my mental base wasn't already the best at all. Also in the same year my ex-partner and I decided to go separate ways. All those future panics kicked in and I literally grabbed the first best job I could get. As my first job in an engineering field it was a new intellectual challenge I accepted but my private life fell by the wayside. Making new friends was really difficult for me at this time since I payed too much attention to my confused thoughts and I was finding peace in lovely memories of the past when I've had fun with my partner, friends and family. At this moment I woud say life kicked in, now I had to deal with it. I could've given up but that's simply not my nature beeing so I spent several years working on my career and gaining knowledge in landscape photography.

I remembered having fun with a camera and decided to buy a new one, now that I earn a loan to pay for whatever comes in my mind. I ended up with a Nikon D5600 DSLR paired with a Sigma Art 18-35 mm f1.8 lens (later a Nikon D7500). What a combo! I bought some books about photography basics, the technical ones, and started to use the camera again as often as possible. I bought more books about composition, colour theory, story telling ... the philosophical ones.

In 2019 I realised that I want to learn more. The process of taking photos revealed an unstoppable desire to get out and be there and the joy I've experienced again was extremely satisfying. Shutter therapy has started, as Robin Wong would call it.

This mentioned process is the essence of what I'm talking here. It is the exact definition of living in the moment, in the present, that helped me forget all the other things floating around in my head and holding me back and restore the connection to my Mojo. It is also the trigger to just switch the lever to be concentrated and to consciously perceive the moment, to feel and absorb its presence and to generate a vision of it that helps me understand why it is so important to pay attention to the little things, the details. This process is the reason why I'm so aware of myself now and it helps me to directly translate this technique into everyday situations where it is absolutely important to pay attention to your surroundings and making decisions which directly influence the results of actions. It is able of getting me outside no matter the conditions. This process makes like-minded people befriending each other and share knowledge, stories and feelings. In short, this process is commited to life itself and offers a broad variety of new things to learn which are mostly related to beeing active or creative. 

I'll try to exactly phrase those moments in future blog posts that you and I will get a deeper understanding of those moments and I'm looking forward having some discussions with you.

 

The small things

One thing to say for those of you also starting this journey now. If you want to photograph just do it (but you can also try sth different, it is just important that you stay on task)! Buy the cam that you can afford without breaking the bank. The best camera is the one you have beside you no matter if it will be your mobile phone, a point and shoot or an exorbitantly expensive medium format Hasselblad, it simply doesn't matter.  

It is all about the creative process and the mindset that comes with capturing the beauty of the moment. 

 

Let's get the light to shine bright!