Liz Kuball Photography

Daily walk

My neighborhood today

Editor

I’m an editor, and I have been for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, my mom brought my grandpa up to my bedroom, opened the closet doors, and said, “See? She’s your grandchild.” I had insisted that all the hangers in my closet be white and that they all face the same direction. My grandpa approved.

I used to watch him comb his hair in the morning, and he told me he could tell when even one hair was out of place. He also said he could feel crumbs of food through his shoes and socks, and that they hurt his feet, so I should make sure never to brush my crumbs onto the floor. I knew he was teasing—about the hair and the crumbs—but only a little bit. He was sensitive to details in a way I understood, because that sensitivity was a part of me, too. It explains everything from the fact that I’ve written a style guide for my own blog to the way I unconsciously arrange the packets of sugar, Splenda, and Sweet’N Low while I’m waiting for my food to be served.

It also explains why writing proved to be joyless for me. I feel better when the lawn is mowed, the books are shelved, the clothes are folded and put away. But it’s a sense of relief or satisfaction, not joy. And when I wrote, in the past, it was much the same. Turning off that internal editor long enough to allow myself to put a thought together was a Sisyphean task.

Photography has allowed me a spontaneity that’s absent from every other part of my life. I don’t think when I photograph. I’m in the moment, operating on instinct and feeling. The thinking comes later, when I look at my photographs weeks or months after the fact, and decide which ones work and which ones don’t.

And yet, because I gravitate toward restoring order to chaos, I’ve struggled to find a way to incorporate photography into my daily life. It’s been easier for me to get consumed with work, and then, even when I take some time away from my day job, away from editing, it’s been hard to pull myself away enough that I’m not still thinking about what I need to get done.

I tried, at the beginning of the year, to set aside Wednesdays for photography, and I did. But then my life felt compartmentalized in a way that didn’t make sense. I’m not a photographer one day a week, so limiting myself in this way felt awkward and forced. As Henry Wessel said, “Most musicians I know don't just play music on Saturday night. They play music every day. They are always fiddling around, letting notes lead them from one place to another. Taking still photographs is like that. It is a generative process. It pulls you along.”

Lately, I’ve arrived on a new approach that’s working well for me. It requires a level of focus and awareness that’s difficult (but not impossible) to maintain. And, in turn, it allows me to bring that same focus and awareness to my photography.

I wake up at 6 a.m. to an alarm clock (something I haven’t done since I started freelancing a decade ago), and begin my day with yoga. I take Boo for a walk, work out, eat breakfast, and I’m showered and dressed and at my desk working by 9 a.m. When I’m working, I try to focus on work, and keep the blog reading and Twittering and Web surfing to a minimum. When I start to feel my focus waning, I switch gears: I read or go for another walk with Boo. And in the evening, I’ve nearly eliminated TV watching. I read or listen to podcasts or knit. At 9 p.m., I do more yoga, write in my journal, and then go to bed. And everywhere I go, I carry my camera with me.

This routine requires discipline, but it allows me to focus on photography in a way that I hadn’t been able to before. It frees me up so that, no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I’m looking and seeing. And it helps me stay in the moment, and appreciate what I’m doing enough to give it my full attention.

I love photography for many reasons—not least of which is that it quiets the editor in my head.

Labels: day job, Henry Wessel, photographers

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I love the whole world

via Sara Distin

Collect this: Nice Pants

I love this photo. It reminds me of hot summer afternoons watching golf tournaments on TV with my dad. I picked up one for myself and one for Father’s Day. Get yours here.

Labels: 20x200, collect this, Landon Nordeman, photographers

Monday, March 8, 2010

Daily walk

Sunday, March 7, 2010

My neighborhood today

Editor

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Head shot

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

More

I love the whole world

Collect this: Nice Pants

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