Get Out and Shoot

First off sorry for the 2 week hiatus; finals were kicking my butt. Good news though, I passed so it wasn't in vain. Things started to kick off after finals ended, I had a few gigs that were fun to shoot. It is very important to shoot things. Things basically leveled off in a good way after finals but this one time I used photography as therapy. Let me explain!

Shot at Birthday Party

I went close to the south side of Miami for a tour of a new medical facility which was cool. I shot all around to building, inside, just a little real-estate kind of photography. While on the way to the assignment for the newspaper the day after finals I had the idea of just going out to shoot. Provided I was already mentally, physically, (all nighters) and emotionally drained from finals so I needed something to jump-start my creative side. It was like I needed a power up or to be resuscitated, to invigorate my heart for photography, I'm exaggerating. (not really)

So with the few brain cells I had left I came up with the idea of going downtown. "You know what let's go to Bayside and take pictures there, better yet let's just get lost."-Vladimir

And that's exactly what I did. I hitched a ride with friends who were at the tour with me and I just walked around downtown. My plan: walk, take a couple photos, repeat, don't get hit by a car. I had a lot of fun just shooting. It is important to just take a little walk around a place and shoot pictures. No editing, or deadlines to stress about, just shooting pictures because you like to. It helps to clear and refresh your mind just breathing fresh-ish air and pressing the shutter button. I shot from the top floor of parking lots, side of buildings, around the Miami Heat Arena, snapped photos of people at Bay-side, some planes, some cars, etc. No worries, just shoot as much as possible and have fun. A fully charged and prepped camera bag and a city to photograph.

It reminded me of my vacation in Europe where I was doing the same thing. I didn't have a full on plan, just exploring around the cities. (with supervision) A lot of the photos I loved came from times where I was just having fun with photography. I was running around with a camera like a toddler with a new toy. I was literally, mindlessly walking down a street in Portugal and I turned around and snapped this banger. (true story) Actually it was around this time last year. So new plan annually get lost in a random city taking photos.

I know this may sound very nostalgic for not much reason but when you are doing something that you genuinely love to do after feeling burnt out it feels good. This is the same as exercising, playing music, listening to music, writing, almost anything people love to do. I encourage this for almost anybody. So for all my photographers: "Just Get Out and Shoot." Out your front door, across the street, two states over, the other side of the world, I don't care just do it...