This is one of my favourite reads on here so far. Thank-you for the reminders ❤︎
As for a slow stubborn idea- mine is waiting for my father to pass away. Sounds dark I know. We were never close, he spend my whole life in prison. I’m wanting to write poetry from the letters you wrote me from inside, and translate them into something that a real ‘dad’ might of said. Advice and comfort. He doesn’t have long to live, something is eating away at his brain. I’ve had this idea for years now, never started it, when I hear he isn’t well I thought I would wait a little longer. I think being in the grieving would be a really interesting experience while doing this project. And who knows through it I might feel closer to him in a way I haven’t experienced.
This is an incredibly powerful post. The words “We create more than ever, but it weighs nothing.” will linger in my mind well after I close this browser.
My slow stubborn idea is honestly something I’m proud to say I’ve finally put into motion! I’ve always felt like too much of an imposter to share my ideas or knowledge. I always thought, “nobody wants to hear what you have to say”. But I finally got myself to a place where I don’t care if anybody likes what I say or doesn’t like it. I started my Substack to share my thoughts and talk about photography and I think it’s going to be really successful and fulfilling because I’m not counting on getting likes or comments. I have a much more healed view on myself as an artist and so I’m very excited to not only feel confident with my Substack but also with my new photography studio :)
A very interesting read as always Wesley. Currently working on a project documenting british structures in Malta that were used in WW2. Most of these are in an abandoned state but are part of Malta’s history. I feel that sometimes in this fast paced world we are craving instant results, commodities and forget the sacrifices our forefathers did. Remnants of the past I feel, give us an identity, yet most of us don’t care. I intend to someday exhibit this project if I manage to pull it off. Also shooting this on 4x5 to make it slow, meaningful and maybe donate it to the national archives. All good ideas, just need to pull this off. 🙂
I’ve been working on a “idea”, then turned project, then turned photo book, since my undergrad days. I first wanted to write a paper-war documentary on the infrastructure and social reconstruction in Bosnia since their wars in the 90s. The 30 year anniversary just came around in the last few years. Overtime the project kept “gnawing” at me and also got more specific. I wanted to compare war time photos of major landmarks or recognizable locations in six locations in Bosnia (eventually narrowed to just Sarajevo after visiting in 2023) to how they look today. It was inspired by a Facebook post I saw that contrasted ww2 photos of places in Europe with how they look today. Anytime I’ve posted about it though, it would get almost zero interest. I even spent two weeks in Sarajevo in 2023. The problem I ran into is that unfortunately many of those “famous” photos from the 90s wars were so very devastated that they weren’t rebuilt or repaired today, they’re just gone. Which is HARD to document, but I guess still WORTH documenting. I’m living in Hungary now so it’s not a hard place to visit , and it still gnaws at me to finish it somehow.
Thank you, for letting me know I am not alone. At one point I thought the level of effort was the yardstick of measure. Then I realized the definition of good was the level of effortless energy. My recent project is 100-word stories paired with an image I made. They are printed to look like a Polaroid and left in random places to be found by others. There is a qr code for them to leave a comment or story of their own.
Hi Wesley, another great read! I am thinking my heavy pursuit is photography related, my camera collection. It started with the cameras I inherited from Dad, no Leicas but some great Canon 35mm and Yashica medium format gear. It has grown exponentially in a weird way. I love the nostalgia, and keep an eye out for estate sales, goodwill, auctions, etc. To the point of overkill. I have been dealing with chronic pain for years due to an old injury. I became withdrawn, depressed and unhappy at my situation. I was also on a lot of pain meds and well... my judgement was a little off at times. A return to photography and the joy the nostalgia brought has been pure therapy. (I am soon to be off the strong stuff altogether - yay!) Nothing in the collection is too fancy; an eclectic selection ranging from bakelite classics to highly engineered German precision. I want to run film through every one of them and write about the experience. I also develop the film so that is a heavy companion process. Photography, including "heavy" analog, has truly helped mend mind and body.
Slow and stubborn is the hardest to keep pushing at, isn’t it? For me, the project that began with my grandfather’s Voigtlander Vitomatic and the discovery of a trove of his slides is still evolving. He documented a series of family trips to Europe, the west coast, and Maine, where we have a family house, in the 1950s and 60s, and I’ve finally organized a few hundred slides of places that have radically changed and others that have remained stubbornly the same. In some cases, he took the same photo more than once, for example getting different views of Copenhagen in 1954, 1958, and 1964. I’m interested in documenting the environmental changes in the years since, such as glaciers on Mount Rainier that have since disappeared, but I am equally interested in connecting with a man who was in his sunset when I came along and understanding more about how he saw the world. I’ve begun testing out some locations in Maine and am headed to Copenhagen for a week as I write this to reshoot a couple dozen photos with an eye to planning out the full scope.
This is a wonderful reflection, Wes. I create to heal. Before anything else, my work has to speak to my own soul. This story reminded me of that. It also brought to mind something from Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: “Many great artists first develop sensitive antennae not to create but to protect themselves. They have to protect themselves because everything hurts more.” That’s exactly what my creative journey feels like. Creating has both become my shield and my release. I create for me, and me only.
That’s also the heart behind a personal project I’m currently researching for next year. It’s a photography series across Southeast Asia, capturing temples and the lives of the people who care for and preserve them. Just dreaming it up makes me feel so alive. I’ve never felt anything like this—it’s coming from within, not driven by some external pressure or the need for validation. In this way, I think, the idea is more likely to reveal itself in its truest form. It’s really exciting and I’m learning so much along the way (about the process and myself).
“We create more than ever, but it weighs nothing.” My goodness does this resonate. I’ve spent over 20+ years now working as a photographer on films and television shows. As of late I’ve watched Tech take over what was once a group of companies that made art, cinema. Suddenly it’s “content” and my images are more and more rarely used or published, but rather stashed away as “IP” on some private server, never to see the light of day. Never have I felt that statement more.
The slow stubborn idea. Well there are a few of course, but there is this one that I have wanted to execute since the beginning of my career, and yet never even started. For me, what has become the most valuable in my daily experience in this wacky and intense world, are the people I work with. The hard working incredible artists who left the construct behind to “join the circus” if you will, and work on movies. They’re characters all of them, and each with their own truly remarkable story. Human beings from all over the world who ended up in this carney lifestyle of being the silent voices and artists behind cinema. They often visually match their quirkiness - piercings, mohawks, men wearing skirts, wild outfits… the hard work and lack of sleep on their faces, “artist” and character visually showing in every way. Even more amazing is that each department, has developed this kind of culture amongst themselves, to the point where they each have their own visual “look.” I’ve always thought, if I took one portrait of an artist on set each day at lunchtime or whatnot, in an alleyway, by crafty - the stuff nobody sees, on medium format film - that one day - I’d have a remarkable book - the hidden faces of cinema - organized by chapters of the different jobs, an homage to all the silent, brilliant, never honored, hard working artists that create the stories we all consume daily, that nobody would otherwise ever see, or honor.
So much of photography has moved away from the hands-on process of previous times. Not that it is wrong, but there is a difference.
There is so much to be gained from the visceral attention to the work we do.
For me, one of the things lost was the ability to choose a format.
I would think: Ah, this should be on 8x10, or that assignment would best be done on medium format. The choice of camera format was paramount to the process of making the image.
Looking down into a Hassy, or looing at the scene upside down with a very slow approach to making an image, or letting that motor drive hum through roll after roll... these were visceral, mechanical things we had to interact with.
Now, all formats are singular. Even medium format - for the most part - is built within the 35mm ergonomics.
I miss those format choices, the options we had to interact with the tools. I strongly believe they influenced the kind of image we made.
My idea is not photography related, even though my whole purpose here and currently in life is photography. But that stubborn thing that I need to just do is to finally make a video game. The funny thing is I work in the games industry as an art director which provides me access to tools and resources to do the dang thing and while I’ve attempted this a few times in the past it’s always fizzled out. As Ive aged the ideas I have for a game have changed and adapted to my tastes in video games now. I want to make an odd and quirky game full of little secrets that players can find while playing through the main storyline. I have a fully fleshed out world, characters as well as gameplay mechanics and the “hook” that I think might give it reach but it’s a saturated market so who can say for sure.
I love this slow stubborn idea! An idea I'm hoping to pursue has been on my mind since January. I love movies and tv shows, and at the beginning of every year am so excited about all of the awards shows, especially the Oscars, and try my best to watch as many of the nominees as I can. I wanted to get into the industry out of college, but kind of felt like it wasn't quite my time, I had to explore more of the world and myself before I added some stories of my own. Fast forward 10 years, and I'm a social worker in New York, a shift in industry, but the focus is still on people and their stories. Watching these awards shows, the idea of celebrating entertainers still feels important, but also made me think of how much I wish people in helping professions were celebrated to the same level. My coworkers and the social workers I work with every day are incredible, and hold such heavy stories of the people we work with. I want to make a photo book of portraits and stories of social workers, how they got to this place, what keeps them going, but mostly to highlight the work that goes on behind the scenes. I think in a post-covid world, we have all heard each other say "everyone needs a therapist". I want to celebrate the people behind that, I want to celebrate the therapists!
This is one of my favourite reads on here so far. Thank-you for the reminders ❤︎
As for a slow stubborn idea- mine is waiting for my father to pass away. Sounds dark I know. We were never close, he spend my whole life in prison. I’m wanting to write poetry from the letters you wrote me from inside, and translate them into something that a real ‘dad’ might of said. Advice and comfort. He doesn’t have long to live, something is eating away at his brain. I’ve had this idea for years now, never started it, when I hear he isn’t well I thought I would wait a little longer. I think being in the grieving would be a really interesting experience while doing this project. And who knows through it I might feel closer to him in a way I haven’t experienced.
Thank you for sharing Shikani, that sounds very challenging in many ways, and I hope it brings you peace.
This is an incredibly powerful post. The words “We create more than ever, but it weighs nothing.” will linger in my mind well after I close this browser.
Thank you for the kind words Jennifer!
My slow stubborn idea is honestly something I’m proud to say I’ve finally put into motion! I’ve always felt like too much of an imposter to share my ideas or knowledge. I always thought, “nobody wants to hear what you have to say”. But I finally got myself to a place where I don’t care if anybody likes what I say or doesn’t like it. I started my Substack to share my thoughts and talk about photography and I think it’s going to be really successful and fulfilling because I’m not counting on getting likes or comments. I have a much more healed view on myself as an artist and so I’m very excited to not only feel confident with my Substack but also with my new photography studio :)
You hit it on the head when you said that the friction is what leads to the reward or fulfillment. I couldn’t agree more.
A very interesting read as always Wesley. Currently working on a project documenting british structures in Malta that were used in WW2. Most of these are in an abandoned state but are part of Malta’s history. I feel that sometimes in this fast paced world we are craving instant results, commodities and forget the sacrifices our forefathers did. Remnants of the past I feel, give us an identity, yet most of us don’t care. I intend to someday exhibit this project if I manage to pull it off. Also shooting this on 4x5 to make it slow, meaningful and maybe donate it to the national archives. All good ideas, just need to pull this off. 🙂
You can do it Felix! Thanks for sharing, love the concept!
Nice post and really looking forward to next week, too. Going through archives, yuck!!!!
haha I now love it!
Great read and awesome giveaway concept.
I’ve been working on a “idea”, then turned project, then turned photo book, since my undergrad days. I first wanted to write a paper-war documentary on the infrastructure and social reconstruction in Bosnia since their wars in the 90s. The 30 year anniversary just came around in the last few years. Overtime the project kept “gnawing” at me and also got more specific. I wanted to compare war time photos of major landmarks or recognizable locations in six locations in Bosnia (eventually narrowed to just Sarajevo after visiting in 2023) to how they look today. It was inspired by a Facebook post I saw that contrasted ww2 photos of places in Europe with how they look today. Anytime I’ve posted about it though, it would get almost zero interest. I even spent two weeks in Sarajevo in 2023. The problem I ran into is that unfortunately many of those “famous” photos from the 90s wars were so very devastated that they weren’t rebuilt or repaired today, they’re just gone. Which is HARD to document, but I guess still WORTH documenting. I’m living in Hungary now so it’s not a hard place to visit , and it still gnaws at me to finish it somehow.
That sounds very meaningful, Oliver. Hard and chewy and meaningful. I hope you pursue it.
Thank you, for letting me know I am not alone. At one point I thought the level of effort was the yardstick of measure. Then I realized the definition of good was the level of effortless energy. My recent project is 100-word stories paired with an image I made. They are printed to look like a Polaroid and left in random places to be found by others. There is a qr code for them to leave a comment or story of their own.
Thank you for moving me to my first post back.
Hi Wesley, another great read! I am thinking my heavy pursuit is photography related, my camera collection. It started with the cameras I inherited from Dad, no Leicas but some great Canon 35mm and Yashica medium format gear. It has grown exponentially in a weird way. I love the nostalgia, and keep an eye out for estate sales, goodwill, auctions, etc. To the point of overkill. I have been dealing with chronic pain for years due to an old injury. I became withdrawn, depressed and unhappy at my situation. I was also on a lot of pain meds and well... my judgement was a little off at times. A return to photography and the joy the nostalgia brought has been pure therapy. (I am soon to be off the strong stuff altogether - yay!) Nothing in the collection is too fancy; an eclectic selection ranging from bakelite classics to highly engineered German precision. I want to run film through every one of them and write about the experience. I also develop the film so that is a heavy companion process. Photography, including "heavy" analog, has truly helped mend mind and body.
Slow and stubborn is the hardest to keep pushing at, isn’t it? For me, the project that began with my grandfather’s Voigtlander Vitomatic and the discovery of a trove of his slides is still evolving. He documented a series of family trips to Europe, the west coast, and Maine, where we have a family house, in the 1950s and 60s, and I’ve finally organized a few hundred slides of places that have radically changed and others that have remained stubbornly the same. In some cases, he took the same photo more than once, for example getting different views of Copenhagen in 1954, 1958, and 1964. I’m interested in documenting the environmental changes in the years since, such as glaciers on Mount Rainier that have since disappeared, but I am equally interested in connecting with a man who was in his sunset when I came along and understanding more about how he saw the world. I’ve begun testing out some locations in Maine and am headed to Copenhagen for a week as I write this to reshoot a couple dozen photos with an eye to planning out the full scope.
This is a wonderful reflection, Wes. I create to heal. Before anything else, my work has to speak to my own soul. This story reminded me of that. It also brought to mind something from Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: “Many great artists first develop sensitive antennae not to create but to protect themselves. They have to protect themselves because everything hurts more.” That’s exactly what my creative journey feels like. Creating has both become my shield and my release. I create for me, and me only.
That’s also the heart behind a personal project I’m currently researching for next year. It’s a photography series across Southeast Asia, capturing temples and the lives of the people who care for and preserve them. Just dreaming it up makes me feel so alive. I’ve never felt anything like this—it’s coming from within, not driven by some external pressure or the need for validation. In this way, I think, the idea is more likely to reveal itself in its truest form. It’s really exciting and I’m learning so much along the way (about the process and myself).
Thanks again for sharing this, Wes.
“We create more than ever, but it weighs nothing.” My goodness does this resonate. I’ve spent over 20+ years now working as a photographer on films and television shows. As of late I’ve watched Tech take over what was once a group of companies that made art, cinema. Suddenly it’s “content” and my images are more and more rarely used or published, but rather stashed away as “IP” on some private server, never to see the light of day. Never have I felt that statement more.
The slow stubborn idea. Well there are a few of course, but there is this one that I have wanted to execute since the beginning of my career, and yet never even started. For me, what has become the most valuable in my daily experience in this wacky and intense world, are the people I work with. The hard working incredible artists who left the construct behind to “join the circus” if you will, and work on movies. They’re characters all of them, and each with their own truly remarkable story. Human beings from all over the world who ended up in this carney lifestyle of being the silent voices and artists behind cinema. They often visually match their quirkiness - piercings, mohawks, men wearing skirts, wild outfits… the hard work and lack of sleep on their faces, “artist” and character visually showing in every way. Even more amazing is that each department, has developed this kind of culture amongst themselves, to the point where they each have their own visual “look.” I’ve always thought, if I took one portrait of an artist on set each day at lunchtime or whatnot, in an alleyway, by crafty - the stuff nobody sees, on medium format film - that one day - I’d have a remarkable book - the hidden faces of cinema - organized by chapters of the different jobs, an homage to all the silent, brilliant, never honored, hard working artists that create the stories we all consume daily, that nobody would otherwise ever see, or honor.
Stopping to say Hello as I recognized you here 💛 Also, I would totally buy that book. My brother is a DP and is one of those invisible artists.
"But friction is where the meaning lives."
Oh God yes.
So much of photography has moved away from the hands-on process of previous times. Not that it is wrong, but there is a difference.
There is so much to be gained from the visceral attention to the work we do.
For me, one of the things lost was the ability to choose a format.
I would think: Ah, this should be on 8x10, or that assignment would best be done on medium format. The choice of camera format was paramount to the process of making the image.
Looking down into a Hassy, or looing at the scene upside down with a very slow approach to making an image, or letting that motor drive hum through roll after roll... these were visceral, mechanical things we had to interact with.
Now, all formats are singular. Even medium format - for the most part - is built within the 35mm ergonomics.
I miss those format choices, the options we had to interact with the tools. I strongly believe they influenced the kind of image we made.
Wonderful post, Wesley.
B R A V O ! Well considered and stated! Thank you for this post.
Awesome piece, Wesley.
My idea is not photography related, even though my whole purpose here and currently in life is photography. But that stubborn thing that I need to just do is to finally make a video game. The funny thing is I work in the games industry as an art director which provides me access to tools and resources to do the dang thing and while I’ve attempted this a few times in the past it’s always fizzled out. As Ive aged the ideas I have for a game have changed and adapted to my tastes in video games now. I want to make an odd and quirky game full of little secrets that players can find while playing through the main storyline. I have a fully fleshed out world, characters as well as gameplay mechanics and the “hook” that I think might give it reach but it’s a saturated market so who can say for sure.
I love this slow stubborn idea! An idea I'm hoping to pursue has been on my mind since January. I love movies and tv shows, and at the beginning of every year am so excited about all of the awards shows, especially the Oscars, and try my best to watch as many of the nominees as I can. I wanted to get into the industry out of college, but kind of felt like it wasn't quite my time, I had to explore more of the world and myself before I added some stories of my own. Fast forward 10 years, and I'm a social worker in New York, a shift in industry, but the focus is still on people and their stories. Watching these awards shows, the idea of celebrating entertainers still feels important, but also made me think of how much I wish people in helping professions were celebrated to the same level. My coworkers and the social workers I work with every day are incredible, and hold such heavy stories of the people we work with. I want to make a photo book of portraits and stories of social workers, how they got to this place, what keeps them going, but mostly to highlight the work that goes on behind the scenes. I think in a post-covid world, we have all heard each other say "everyone needs a therapist". I want to celebrate the people behind that, I want to celebrate the therapists!