Thoughts 2022-03-13: Everybody Knows It's Log!

I took this picture three years ago. It just popped up in my On This Day type feed from Onedrive. I remember someone commenting, and I thought it was on this image (can’t find the comment now), but regardless of which image it was, the comment was something along the lines of, your pictures are of mundane, boring things, but your post processing is really strong.

I remember thinking at the time, what kind of comment is this? Is this the equivalent of the fat goof at the gym telling you to drop weight and work on your form? I went to his page, and I can assure you, that was exactly the scenario I found myself in. His pictures were okay, definitely not a guy who should have been drawing attention to his own skills.

To each their own, in the end I took the comment as a compliment. Yeah, I take pictures of what might seem like boring stuff to some folks. Maybe some people think iguanas are not worth photographing, or birds, or logs…who can argue really. I have a photo series on logs:

I guess, in a way, the guy had a point.

I think seeing the beauty in mundane and boring things is a gift. I think if you can look at a log and think that the world needs to see a picture of it, then you have a gift. Anybody can roll up to some amazing landscape, with the right lens, at the right time and get an epic picture, big deal, show me an epic picture of a log.

Show me an epic portrait of a tradesman at work, show me a an epic shot of the lady in the drive through. That is where the skill lies. I am not saying I am some great photographer, but I am going to continue to take pictures of what I like when I like and I don’t care about some knob mansplaining photography to me. Thanks chief, now go work on your own craft.

Had a chat with an old friend today and he mentioned that I had inspired him to not put up with shit anymore. He let some lady who was looking for a fight in a COSTCO lineup have exactly what she was looking for. Good! I am glad. Maybe take that as a takeaway if you have read this far. Next time some flabby nerd at the gym tells you to drop weight and work more on your form, let the prick have it. Ask him if following his advice will make your skin pasty and pale like his, or if you need to bath in whole milk to get that look. Ask him if anybody has ever mistaken him for a bag of milk and tried to cut the corner off his protruding forehead.

Once he begins to sense that you are not feeling like taking his shit, he might try to just dissolve into the background, much like those types often do, let him go, you are better than him. Guys like him need to get set straight from time to time, but they are just like us, trying to get by, trying to find something they are good at and share it with the world. Have pity on him and roll on with your day. Be the big dog that only needs to growl once. Let the submissives slink off like rodents, you are an alpha, you make the rules.