Mornings and garlic

Yesterday's heavy clouds have disappeared. The night has swept them away. As the early morning sunlight made its way in, I opened the doors, stood still and gazed. The gentle chill in the air, the cold tap water and the golden rays of sunrise made for the most wonderful start to the day. Every little activity assumes much meaning in moments like these. Even stirring a cup of coffee, seeing the froth rise becomes a joy to behold.

I was a little out of inspiration and had no plans to blip today, but the morning changed it. So, here's my crazy shot. The sun left this spot soon after. Solitude on a clear autumn morning is bliss.

Stray thoughts arrive by the dozens. Was thinking of various approaches we take towards photography. If we assume there's a single "best" way to capture something and try to seek it out, our approach is often too mechanical, like that of solving a technological problem, or writing lines of code designated for a particular task. Our approach is dictated by our consciousness. The element of intuition, that plays an important role along the edges of logic, in philosophy and more specifically in all forms of art is lost. Photography ceases to be a creative release.

It's so often, that many among us, think of our shot much before hand, sometimes even bordering on imitation. And when the scene does present itself, we try and execute using our camera what the mind has already created. A limitation of this approach is that it ceases to be our instinctive reaction to the scene before us. We are not receptive to the present moment. Photography is a way of life. It is a way we honestly respond to what we see. Therein lies its freedom. This is what eliminates the elements of shoulds and shouldn'ts. One is free to express oneself. Mastery of technique will always be the underlying prerequisite, but good photographs come solely out of intuition.

P.S. I like the way even Chopin's Nocturnes colour mornings like these. But not so much the shrill and tasteless religious music playing on loudspeakers.