The Biggest lesson in photography was an utter surprise to me. I would have imagined that is was about technique, equipment or knowledge. Some of this may be true, but what I was not expecting is how connected you have to be with your subject and yourself.

As a fairly new photographer I have gone out, learning the ropes of analog photography, trying and failing. At my darkest moment, I found myself on the darkroom floor, sweeping for the roll of film I had just dropped. I could feel the dust on the ground and thought about how bad that would be for the film, yet I continued for another 30 minutes, sweating bullets as it was not MY roll of film, but that of my daughters. I never found it and had to turn on the light eventually.

I have lost rolls of film, made many developing mistakes with agitation, chemical dilutions, temperature and time. I have mixed up chemicals, turned on the light with the canister still open and lived to talk about it. Conquering these things I imagined, would be what I had to learn to become a good photographer.

It really hit me after a recent interview with Wil Giles, who talked to me about giving form to what you are seeing, feeling and being. The connection one has with the subject, may it be a person or a landscape. The experience one has taking the picture. I knew instinctively what he was talking about. I felt it, but I could not put it into words.

Thank you Wil Giles for putting light on this subject!