I give the people what they want! 🙂 This past week I was trying to decide what series to run next on Picture of the Week, so I did a little poll on Instagram. Milky Way scenes edged out images from Charleston 60/40, so night scenes it is! Not to worry though, Charleston is next on the list!
I have a confession to make. The idea behind this week’s Picture of the Week isn’t mine. I was talking to my good buddy Ryan Yoder a little while back and he happened to mention that he’d discovered that the Milky Way actually lines up right behind the Chimney Tops. The Chimneys are as iconic of a landmark as you can get in the Smokies, so I decided to check it out, and sure enough, he was right (there was never a doubt in my mind Ryan)! After seeing how it lined up I decided to borrow (steal?) Ryan’s idea and I set it up and put it all together at 50mm (Ryan’s idea was actually shooting it at 100mm, which frankly after seeing it at 50mm I think his is the better idea – I’ll leave that one for him though).
The reason I bring this all up is because I do want to give him credit for the idea, but I also want to talk about creative slumps. For one reason or another, I’ve found myself in a bit of a creative slump for the better part of July and Aug (I shot almost no pictures in July). I decided to borrow Ryan’s idea because frankly, I had no other ideas in mind. I did it, if for no other reason than to go through the creative motions, and that in and of itself, definitely helped me (though I could still REALLY use some fresh ideas). Sometimes I just need a good solid push to get out there and try something – sometimes anything – and that will spawn new ideas.
More next week!
–Dan Thompson