Get On With The Fascination
Being a child of the 80’s, I grew up listening to certain bands that were popular at the time. One of those was the Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. They’ve long been one of my favorite bands - I still listen to them today (old habits die hard). I love their music, but what really got me interested (and still holds my interest) was their lyrics. They didn’t write typical party rock songs like most bands - they wrote poetry and put it to music. They had something to say. As a fan of poetry and the written word, I was instantly hooked.
One of their more popular songs at the time was Limelight, and the song contains the phrase “get on with the fascination”. While I believe the song lyrics represent Neil Peart’s (their drummer and lyricist, RIP - an absolute hero of mine) challenges with living in the spotlight and just having to accept it despite not liking it, the phrase also means something to me as it relates to photography.
I’ve always enjoyed photo editing, trying to learn as much as I can and share it with anyone willing to watch my YouTube videos or read my newsletter or blog. It still gets me excited today when I take a raw file that looks a bit blah and turn it into something much more attractive looking. I’m fascinated by that whole idea of reinvention, of craftsmanship, of creation as it relates to photo editing. I love to see my vision come to life.
In short, I’m fascinated by the art of photo editing, and I think that has made a huge difference in growing my understanding and skill set in it.
You see, I’m a firm believer that you have to be curious, interested, inspired, and possibly even fascinated by a subject in order to spend the time required to become skilled in it. You can’t really go deep into something without enthusiasm. I think you also have to be deeply curious. Together, curiosity and enthusiasm can help you accomplish a lot. It’s what I attribute the majority of my photography growth and success to.
And I think that is the thing that drives me forward in photo editing much of the time - staying curious and enthusiastic, and being fascinated by the process and the results that I can achieve. It’s just interesting to me. I love it, and I’m continually enthusiastic about it. So I keep returning to it, and practicing, practicing, practicing.
I love digging into an app and experimenting with the tools until I learn how they really work. I love shaping light and color, I love using masks, and I love creating a photo that feels a certain way. I’m no photojournalist - I edit based on how the scene feels to me, as opposed to how it actually looked. (And that is ok.)
But it all comes from a place of fascination. I’m frequently amazed at what we can do with these tools to bring our creative visions to life. It’s inspiring, and the more I learn and do, the more it makes me want to do, and the more it fuels my fascination and curiosity.
What are you fascinated by?
