Mississippi sux.

[intheflow]

I have never been so uninspired to take my camera out for the sheer joy of shooting as I am here in Mississippi. It never even occurs to me to take my camera, even when I do things like go to fairs, I get there and I think, "I should have brought my camera!" Then again, maybe it's just that I've taken too many photos in the disaster zone this past year. I mean, how much disaster can you shoot before you lose interest in capturing it for posterity any more? :(

But I gotta get back to finding something to photograph because all work and no play makes intheflow decidedly outoftheflow.
And grumpy. x(

[CC]

1. Sounds like a good time for you

to take that camera out and use it to look at MS with new eyes. Even if you don't feel like it. Suggestion, if you can do it safely keep the camera with you all the time, if only locked in the car. Sometimes it seems like everything is the same old same old but you can use the camera to force yourself to look at common things differently. You seem to do that naturally. I might be wrong there but that would be because of your photos. :)
Sometimes when things are getting to me and the last thing I want to do is go take pics I force myself to. It tends to get me to really look around and notice there is still beauty out there and good things. It also usually lifts my mood.

[intheflow]

3. I hope to do that when Blue comes down soon.

Absolutely no time between now and then to do it. :( But you're right, I just need to find the dang time.

Part of my problem may also be that the a/c is broken in my car. Dark inerior+no a/c+MS=SUX. Maybe I'll feel more motivated to explore when it starts to cool down a little.

Thanks for the encouragement! :hug:

[regnaD kciN]

7. I agree...

About ten days ago, I was feeling stressed and depressed. To top it all off, we had our first blast of fall gray weather, and I had Seasonal Affective Disorder, bad. So, the next time I went out, I took the camera and vowed to shoot anything that had even the slightest chance of being less-than-horrible...which, in this case, turned out to be farmland under stormy skies.

The results? Not too great, but they put me back in an "image collecting" state of mind so that, next time around, I was seeing lots of things I probably wouldn't have noticed before, some of which did make good photos. I'm convinced that, had I not made that earlier effort, many of those shots would have evaded me. Think of it as a "psychic pump-priming."

BTW, here was one of the few interesting images from the farmland shoot -- Cross on Barbed Wire.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Now, I want you out there scoping all the great places

you're going to take me for photo shoots when we're down there visiting you in THIRTEEN DAYS! Just put yourself in my head and try to figure out what I'd like to get pictures of, having never spent any time in that part of the world in my entire adult life. That shouldn't be too hard.

[intheflow]

4. But no pressure on me, right?

:rofl:

This is a difficult chore since I'll be in Denver for seven of those (now) 12 days before you arrive, and then I have a job to work double time since I'll be blowing it off when you're here, but I'll see what I can do.

One thing about MS is that there always seems to be some sort if event happening: classic car shows, Vietnamese Moon Festival, Seafood Festival, Scottish heritage fair. You'd think I'd actually remember to bring my camera to some of these events, but nooooooo! This is why I'm so looking forward to your rip here. I know you won't let me forget my camera!

Plus I'm counting on YOU to help me see Mississippi with new eyes. The Disaster Coast Photo Smackdown! :rofl:

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Get out your macro lens. Or put on a another hat.

Tourist Bureau, Architecuralist, Escher, abstracts .... Something a bit different than trying to show what most of us would see if we were there and (being less talented than you) wouldn't have been able to convey. You've done that. Thank you. Now go to the more universal, where the specific locale becomes less important.

[intheflow]

6. Hard to get away from it.

Normally I'd go hiking, but the only real hiking trails I know of are closed due to storm damage. The same is true for the beaches--most are still closed, and the open ones are small stretches, pretty bland, and over-crowded. There aren't many real hiking trails down here anyway--there's a reason why Mississippi consistently ranks as one of the most obese states in the country. (Or as merh says, "fried" is the major food group down here.)

But I like the macro lens idea. I also wish the millions of dragonflies and bullterflies I see every day flying through my yard would actually land so I could take their photos. An amazing variety of insect life down here. But the only ones that seem willing to pose for me are the giant roaches that come into my kitchen when it rains. And they creep me out so much I fling whatever is in my hands and scream like a cartoon woman seeing a mouse. Not recommended to be holding a camera in such circumstances!