This photo might not seem like much, but for me it represents something deep and meaningful.
About the photo … It comes from me simply playing around a bit and experimenting.
Originally, I was testing settings on my camera and pointed it towards the talesman and clicked.
It was an image meant to be deleted, yet it survived long enough to be ingested onto the PC where it was later used as a throwaway image that I was using to test new settings and presets in an imaging program I set myself to finally learning.
Turns out that I loved the results when it was all done and so saved the photo.
It reminds me of high iso prints that would come out of some of what I use to out from the old school darkroom setup back in film days.
If I’m going to be honest, I almost walked away from photography after being a photojournalist for 30 years and a chief photographer at the local daily paper for around 20 of those.
I’ve won so many awards from the Virginia Press Association that I’ve lost count and even pulled out two “Best in Show” awards.
Yet I was ready to set my camera down and walk away from photography for good.
Of course, the awards were NEVER why I did what I did. Nice, but nothing more than something to go on a resume or on the wall.
It was passion that fueled me in the beginning and that pushed me to learn, grow and become the best self as a photographer to a point that I was constantly learning, constantly growing and constantly pushing the edge.
I even remember the couple years that I felt broken because I’d been laid off from the paper and couldn’t afford to outfit myself with proper gear.
Just knew my career with photos was over the jobs were few in number and with my daughter here in the Shenandoah Valley, I didn’t want to leave. So …. Career over.
Then the joy when a door opened at another paper in the area that allowed me to get my foot back in the door.
And ultimately ended up back where I started as the photo chief.
Years passed, and although I stayed on top of my game … something became missing.
Still cannot imagine myself without a camera yet …
Fact is towards the latter years, I never took photos for myself … only for work as to hold a camera felt like … well … work.
The joy was not so much gone but wrapped up in my job as a photojournalist at that publication.
When I finally left there (downsizing made me the last photographer they’d have before I finally was gone too), I was lost.
Found a way to get a camera and to still work, but there was something … missing.
And yes … I still did photography and journalism gigs, but I still remained lost … and was only taking photos for … work.
The fun for me has always been in the stories. The stories captured and shared.
So, what was missing? … I was still working, still taking photos after all.
Reached a point I seriously almost let go of my camera and all of it as I didn’t want to be someone just going through the motions.
Also have to admit I missed my co-workers as well and that factored in.
Then, I realized I needed to re-learn to take these photos and share these stories for me.
Not for a publication, but for me.
So, it began with me making a choice to pick up my camera one very, very raining day and head out towards Scottsville.
I knew where to find the batteaux that were floating the James River during the James River Batteaux Festival this past June.
They would be passing Hatton Ferry just upriver from Scottsville.
Love those boats as for a number of years, I served as rear sweep on two of them.
The rain poured down in buckets as I found my perch on the end of the old style ferry and waited … one hour, two … until the boats were sighted.
I …. FELT … ALIVE!
And I recently finished working up those photos as sadly it took a long time to do so as I was still feeling low on my art.
Although each passing day had me feeling just a bit better until I’ve reached where I am now … Which is ready to move forward once more.
Photographing for myself.
It’s why I’m looking to switch my brand from “Mike Tripp Media” to “F8explorer” as that’s what I do … explorer and capture stories with a camera.
I’m still freelance … sports photography for various colleges as well as stories for publications, both online, print and otherwise.
Yet, my priority now is to have fun and not worry about being perfection in all of it.
So often, photographers will only show you what they feel to be among their best work.
It’s a trap we fall into as our photos are there for folks to see and those photos lead people towards decisions on if they wish to hire us or not.
So you post only what you feel will help best market your product which is your skill as a photographer.
That picture at the top of this page that you’ve seen? … It’s not my best work by any means, and if you look at my Instagram page, you’ll not that many photos are simply iPhone photos I’ve captured while out and about.
Mixed with those, are the meat and potato shots of the job …. but those others are of my simply journey of exploring life on this ball we call Earth.
That photo at the top is also a spark for me as it helped me name a project I’ve been looking to do for some time now and even mentioned here and there.
“Believing”
What is “Believing” going to be?
THAT I will be sharing soon as I’ve already started writing it out as to what it represents in my mind’s eye, my heart and my soul.
And just what stories these photos and moments will tell and share.