July 6: A New, Anonymous Home in the Pines

I’ve always enjoyed using this website to share and tell as much as possible. A photo is worth a thousand words, sure, but I’ve always enjoyed being able to expand and elaborate on the process behind a photo, the choice of one photo instead of another, behind-the-scenes secrets, and anything else that the photo itself wouldn’t be able to say. I’ve never shied away from sharing a photo somewhere, on my blog, my website, an Instagram story, something, even if I wasn’t in love with it. I love taking photos just as much as I love sharing them with my clients and friends.

Also, in the past two weeks, I have taken more than 17,000 photos.

And, for the next six weeks, I cannot share any of them.

I can’t even give details about where I’m working at the moment, for related reasons. All I can say is, it is physically located within a forest, and both it and my position are similar to another place I have worked previously. On a daily basis, I’m surrounded by amazing opportunities for photography and people who adore being photographed. And, quite honestly, I think I’ve taken a good number of photos in my first two weeks that are definitely portfolio-worthy.

So, naturally, the social media restrictions are a little frustrating. Still, being here hasn’t slowed me down one bit. Rather, the exact opposite. 

Because I’m constantly surrounded by energy, and because I am the sole (official) photographer on campus, I have a very privileged role. Early on, I set a goal for myself to shoot at least a thousand photos a day. I’ve accomplished or exceeded this every day thus far, with the exception of two editing days, and I’m incredibly grateful that my job allows me to continue to grow my photo cache at this rate. 

Not to mention, things outside of this campus have been looking up as well. Earlier this summer, I had a fabulous time photographing the Berkshire Pride Drag Show ––

– and, as a result, I booked a gig for tomorrow evening that represents a major milestone for me: it brings me up to nineteen performing arts clients in my portfolio, which now includes all of the five principal theatres in the Berkshires!

I’m writing this blog entry to give some context for why my website and social media won’t be updating for a while –– I’m not inactive. Not even remotely. I’m just making the most of a unique, if temporary, situation that keeps me grounded to one location here in the wilderness. Although the break from most electronics and social media here was tricky to get used to at first, it’s actually been surprisingly beneficial to my shooting habits and day-to-day workflow as a photographer.