One might view your response as a contradiction to the philosophy put worth in your blog post. Rest assured I don’t read it that way!

I’ve been a photographer and photojournalist long enough to understand that everyone is inspired by places that are special unto themselves and what they do.

Hope you keep up all your good work as a photographer, writer, one of the driving forces behind IGVP and your selfless work with refugees (which I noted in your Bio).

I’m off in 9 days to one of MY major sources of inspiration…South America for three months.

BTW my initial comment was not meant as a challenge (although I wouldn’t mind if you took it that way)… consider it more like an in-depth analysis. LOL

Back to packing and my huge to-do list.

Take care over there!

Doug Pyper

I’m sure your images from the homeland are very inspired, as you suggest exotic location is not the source of artistic muse for the photographer.

Love to see three or four of yours…..from good old North America.

It’ll give you the opportunity to add some crediblity to your dialogue presented here.

Looking forward to seeing some of your homeland images on your next blog.

Doug

Places like Kathmandu are catalysts–or can be, but they’re never magic solutions. There are no magic solutions.

Jeff, great to hear from you, but it’d be better to see you!

Craig, exactly! One person’s exotic is another’s mundane.

Dru, thanks. No mater what, I’m enjoying Kathmandu. It’s a great place.

Vivian, I’m pleased with this photo. If I weren’t I either wouldn’t post it or would post it in order to discuss my displeasure with it. The evening it was taken was a bit of a turning point for me, but I’m still not in the groove.

Ilse, you’re doing some excellent work here. I was thrilled yesterday to see how you interacted with the sadhu and how you are approaching your project.

CJ, always a pleasure to share a table with you!

Rosa, I understand exactly what you mean. Blogs have brought me into a much richer world of photography than I ever imagined. It’s a brilliant community of which I’m proud to be a small part.

Jorge, you are 100% right. It’s always the vision stuff. Sure, one has to learn the technical aspects, but it doesn’t take long to master those. It takes lifetimes to master the vision stuff.

Matt, sometimes, often actually, it’s useful to put some time between creating our photos and editing them. We see them with different eyes.

Wayne, live the dream! Kathmandu awaits you! Make a plan–as long term as necessary–and make it happen.

Does that mean I envy artists such as David? Yes. Do I think that he has it any easier? No. Visual storytellers like yourselves have to struggle to find new “angles,” new ways of telling the story so that it is uniquely compelling and evokes an emotion that has not yet been triggered.

I will continue to dream. I will continue to admire. I will continue to learn.

When I got home and looked at the photos, I was disappointed at first just as I thought I’d be. But after letting them sit for a week, I went back and looked at them and realized my muse hadn’t abandoned me after all, but had simply been taking me in a different direction that I’d imagined. Many of the photos turned out to be worthwhile and even good.

Setting out to create great photos puts a lot of pressure on us, especially people like you and David who are expected to be able to conjure the magic on-demand. When as humans that magic seemingly fails to appear, it can be emotionally taxing as David so honestly described.

The two of you talking openly about photography being hard work are doing a service to those who look at your photos and think “It must be so easy for them…”

I applaud both of your honesty.

The real difficult part of photography isn’t knowing how to make the picture but in determing what picture to make and with that comes deciding what your real commitment to becoming a better photographer is. Being somewhere exotic will undoubtedly induce inspiration that wouldn’t normally get while just being in your neighborhood but in reality it’s all about choosing to see things differently.

The photographs that draw me in are generally always the ones accompanied with a good story. These are the ones that have subtle and surprising details throughout it that lead your eyes in new directions with every glance.

I certainly think that anyone who has ever tried photography a bit seriously knows that an exotic place in its own does not make good photographs. And that’s pretty easy to prove: me walking next to you or David, same camera, same gear, same everything… who would have better photos? Hey, I am working at it! One day I hope to get to your level guys

The honesty with which David expresses his feelings around photography is what keeps me hooked to everything he does. And it’s also one of the reasons why I keep taking photos despite the struggle. Reading many blogs, I once thought that I was the only one for whom taking photos was so hard. I am glad to have people out there to remind me that after the struggle usually comes the absolute happiness for having a decent photo that expresses how I feel.

One thing I often wonder is why a comment from one reader can get so much into you and David when so many of us love to read you in the good and in the not so good muse times.

Regards,
Rosa