Age And Simplification

  As I age I want a more simple art life. Ok, let me be truthful here. I can not accomplish as much as I once could, and at any given time I'm working on 6 or 7 projects that span across several mediums. Simply put, I need to slow down because time seems to be speeding up, and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day anymore to accomplish what I set out to do. More and more frequently something is getting pushed aside, and forgotten. It's time for a change.

  Usually, there's a cost for the changes that an artist makes. In painting it can depend on which direction they go in. During the pandemic I couldn't afford to buy canvas, brushes, or decent acrylic paint, so I improvised. I would go scavenging on trash nights, and come home with used canvases, cardboard, wood, and house paint. Even paper trash bags. It was a fun, interesting adventure, and simple.

  It's much more difficult for photography. Honestly, the chances of finding what you need for free is zilch. Well, bartering aside, which in todays world went out with 24 hour businesses. As for me, my change is a little more complicated. I'm having problems with my main camera that I've used and continue to do so for several projects. It's funny because lately I seem to be under attack by my technology. My iPad died, my 9 year old computer is behaving like a 90 year old man with dementia, and my 7 year old Epson printer is at the end of its service life. The truth is that the creation of photography costs money. The thing in which artists struggle with the most. This is my burden.

  This brings me to my change which for now is only in it's planning stage. After a lot of thought, I think that I want to return to being only a black and white photographer. Don't get me wrong, color was interesting when I found a subject that actually had color, and not infested by black, white, grey or beige. But recently I've lost interest in doing both color and black and white photography. I want to simplify, and I'm 90% certain that this is the right move for me at this point in my life.

  Now here's my game plan. To eventually own a monochrome camera. As of now there are only a couple of choices. There's film which I'll rule out right away. The cost has become astronomical, I don't have a darkroom or any space to assemble one. For digital the choices are either Leica or Pentax. About 11 years ago Leica loaned me their first Monochrom (No "e") camera and I fell in love with it, but the cost of the camera with a lens was around $10,000. Leica has since manufactured several black and white only cameras. I haven't heard from Leica in years, and sadly I guess they're no longer interested in loaning cameras to photographers who can't afford to purchase them. That's business, and there aren't a whole lot of camera manufactures who still sponsor, unless you have a few million followers on social media.

  A couple of years ago Pentax did something unexpected and released a monochrome DSLR camera. The price of this camera and a good lens, a spare battery and tax is near $3600. That's far less than any of the Leica cameras while being much more versatile too. This camera would be a good fit for me.

 In the past couple of years I've leaned towards going entirely black and white, and have even mentioned it on social media which was a mistake. People, I had no idea who they were began to come out of the woodwork with their two cent opinions. Most which were negative, and they acted like I was attacking their beliefs. God, I fucking hate social media. They didn't understand why I just wouldn't edit the taken color photos to black and white. Obviously those people didn't come for the era of film. I know of no one who developed color negatives into black and white prints.

 The reason is choice. When you use a monochrome camera all you have is black and white. You can't revert to color, or at least not without an AI program. Since the beginning of digital photography I've struggled with the conversion of color. When looking at the RAW files on my computer screen I have a problem imagining them as black and white, and I know that I've missed out on some good photos because of it. My mind was initially trained in film negative and contact sheets. The only solution for me is to remove color from the equation. It's that simple.

  I have pondered the ancient saying that " One Should Make His Decisions Within The Space Of Seven Breaths ", but I'm wondering if money was ever an issue for the Samurai. A photographer in Japan, whom once lived in New York City recently told me that "simplicity in America is unobtainable and expensive". I guess I'll find out soon enough.