Heavy and tired

The first 10 days that I’ve been here in Uganda have swept past so quickly, although at times I feel I’ve been here for months.  Today is my last day of pre-production as I’ve finally finalized a shooting schedule for the next week.  It feels good to have everything planned out and organized and I’m excited to begin filming.

Something so crucial to the soul of an artist is inspiration.  I’ve heard it said that there is nothing original to create– and I kind of believe that in some senses.  We all build to some degree on what we’ve seen and what has come before us.  And though we do create original work, it is always a swirling mix of the things that we’ve seen that inspire us.  So that being said, I thought I’d share just a few images, words, and videos that are in my folder of inspiration.  This little collection is by no means comprehensive.  I have folders of hundreds of images on my computer and there are many more still that I’ve seen and haven’t cataloged.  But this is a little taste of the things that have moved me and are currently moving me and inspiring me in some way or another with the project I’m involved in now.

Images/words/videos that inspire me tend to be anything that evoke emotion, timelessness, light and some kind of indication of the paradoxical inner struggle between despair and hope. I’ve found as a photographer that the most common human emotion is, of all things, tiredness. Is that an emotion? Either way– it is, I think, our most common state. And it is representative in the photos I take of people. Whether at a wedding or in a slum, it is always the way I find people most naturally and commonly: tired. Not sure what that means exactly. But it certainly something to think about.

Photo above and 2 below: Misha Taylor

Above photo: Harley Weir    Below: Dan Johnson

Photo above and below by David Goldman

Above image: nomadique.com Below: www.laureldailey.com