Cliché, but indeed so true. I was somewhat expecting it though. I just got back from the photography tour with some members of the Oslo Camera Club. It's the first time I have ever been to one of these. Every Tuesdays during the summer, Oslo's most eager amateur photographers meet and photograph to their hearts delight for two straight hours at a predetermined location. This week's location was Akershus Festning (Akershus Fortress). So for two hours some 20 or so people (myself included) were running around this huge expanse of brick and mortar snapping photos. Add the tourists visiting the place and you get...utter chaos!
So the title IS true. Put many minds that think alike together and you end up with something sub-par. My concentration level was near zero, I was feeling tired, lazy and totally lacking in motivation. I did my best to capture some nice moments.
What surprised me though was that the pictures which I liked, though taken inside the walls of the fortress, had nothing to do with the fortress at all! A solitary leaf lying on the brick road, plastic flowers from behind a dirty window looking as if they wanted to get out, dandelions blowing in the wind unnoticed while tourists go about their daily business of being tourists. When I take pictures I like to zone in, disappear from the real work for a little while, and let my creative juices flow. It happened today, but it was out of sync. Instead of taking pictures of the fortress I ended up taking pictures of what I was feeling: solitude, the feeling that you are just a small fry in an ocean with millions of other fishes. The feeling of insignificance, coupled with the yearning to be acknowledged even for just a short while.
Although I still harbor these feelings, at least I gave those small, insignificant objects I took photos of today the small attention that they deserved.
Photography-wise though: I have yet to learn how to perform under pressure. There was a feeling of competition amongst the club members: who has the best equipment, who has been taking pictures for decades, etc. I wasn't able to relax and just pretend that I am being neither watched nor timed. This is something I have to master when I go out taking pictures with the club again next week. Furthermore, I should not be complacent: instead of rising to the occasion and taking the pictures that they expected us to take, I took pictures of of a subject matter I was more comfortable with. If I were a pro I don't think my clients would be pleased at all!
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