Was listening to Chase Jarvis and Seth Rogen on a podcast as I drove yesterday and they were talking about daily practice. There was a bit of confusion between living an intentionally creative life daily and working on your creative endeavour daily.
I’d argue, that for me, daily practice at your creative genre becomes overwhelming, that practice comes in waves and a true artist needs to learn how to surf them. Daily practice of living an intentional creative life is important. It’s just good healthy living. There is a clear difference.
They used examples of people who photographed and blogged daily for years. Personally, I think this advice is miss guided.
The important thing to remember is to give yourself a hiatus. To let the field lay fallow, as Brooks Jensen puts it, the creative field. I like to give myself breaks and holidays. I once put my camera down for years, and I can reassure you, surprising myself, that when I picked it up again I had improved.
Your brain needs time to catch up. To rest. To rejuvenate. So does your body. And I suspect your subconscious needs it too. Hence our universal need to sleep daily.
It’s a perfect time to be discussing this because I am sitting on the Spirt of Tasmania. Cyan and I are on route to Tasmania. Tomorrow we will probably walk into the Walls of Jerusalem for a few days to practice before going on a longer walk.
Adam Darragh used to tell me, that if my pack was too heavy, I wasn’t suffering enough. Pack weight is directly proportional to luxuries. So I am going to see what else I can strip away this trip. Can I survive without all that sugar I usually take, my endless cups of tea replaced with water. If I leave my cup behind I can save a lot of weight in tea and powdered milk.
So my intention is to get my pack weight down a bit more and see if I still enjoy it without all those extra little luxuries.
I will be trialing a down quilt handmade by Undercling Mike in Sydney, 500 grams replaces my 1.5 kg sleeping bag. I picked up a sub kg tent to replace our 3 kg snow tent. I replaced my pack last year and knocked a few kgs off it too. Tasmania isn’t the pace to be living under my 200 gram Cuban fly.
Expect a lot less daily posts for the rest of the month. Know I am in true Wilderness somewhere in Tasmania communing with some trees, rocks, mountains and the weather. Spending time with my son and hopefully creating some beautiful photographic art.
It is some Len time, doing what I love most. Being with loved ones, being away from society and modern life, leaving emails and digitally connected life behind, being in true wilderness all with a gorgeous camera to use.
For this trip it’s an Olympus EM5 mk 3 and a Leica / Panasonic 25 mm f1.4 mk 2 lens. Ultra lightweight and weather proof. A miniature EM1 mk 2.
Today I can return to the Helen Innis biography of Olive Cotton, and try my first daylight crossing of Bass Straight.
Might have to visit the Tarkine on the way home. You can join me there in June this year if you like. https://www.lensschool.com/workshops-tours/tarkine-photography-tour-2020
Tarkine Rainforest. Philosophers Falls. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2020