Still feels next to impossible to write anything. Whenever I think of doing so it feels like the biggest challenge I've had in years. I've usually been pretty good with it, knowing precisely what I want to say and how. Just throwing something together out of nothing. But here I'm really pushing for it. I'm really trying to get something out.
Well, as you can see, the photography hasn't stopped at all. That's not really slowing down at all, if anything it has picked up more than ever. Still reaching around 30k steps per day. Feeling the pain in the legs, the discomfort in the feet. A few warm spring days, a few rainy days that I have loved too. And this was on one of those colder, rainy days. I had an umbrella in the backpack but just decided to not use it. Getting absolutely drenched in the process. But with a few layers of clothing much of it wasn't really felt until much later, when the cold air hit after the rain stopped.
Yerevan is a tiny city that often feels like a big village more than anything. Sometimes the challenge is more in finding something new to shoot. A different street, different composition. Or not shooting into the artificial lighting around the main streets that are often shack cafes and the likes. It requires a lot of walking, a lot of trying to find something that stands out, a lot of attempts to discover something new within the same repetitive locations. I think this has been the greatest challenge as of late, though the rain definitely helps with how it changes an environment so much, even in how people dress.
With how strong the light can be, I've been using the polariser more often. I think it has helped a lot with reducing some of the extra glare that comes from the rain. Where the light bounces up from the ground and causes all of these annoying additional bright highlights that are a bit more distracting. Though this also means using a slightly lower shutter speed. But even that has pushed me into a bit more creativity. Shooting at F8 for the depth, and around 1/100th - 1/200th. Sometimes just a little bit lower to capture a bit of blur in the backgrounds, capturing some element of motion in the image instead of total stillness.
I also think that lately I'm more careless. That all the bullshit going on recently has just made me push more into trying new things and not caring for the potential outcomes. For a long time I was afraid of shooting people in the streets because of the previous situation that got me detained. That definitely encouraged me to shoot empty, open spaces more. To refrain from having the camera pointed intentionally at people in the street. Fearing the outcome of what may happen in the event I photograph someone that might be paranoid enough to get me again detained and in some miserable former Soviet police station.
But I'm seeing many others running around the city too, doing the same thing. All kinds of photographers suddenly sprung out into the rainy and sun. If they're doing it, I may as well stop caring and let all those fears go.