OK, bear with me here.
I have been a photographer since 2011. Probably.....since maybe 2013 I have photographed like a man possessed. Every day I went out and photographed someone or something. Be it dawn, dusk, midnight or afternoon; I had all my cameras with me and shot everything in sight which took my fancy. I saw everything in terms of a shot.....the light, a look, an incident a place, incongruity. It was all meat on the plate for me; much to the ire of the ever fragrant and much loved Mrs T.
It was suspected that my Parkinson's medication; Specifically my Neupro Patches, which were the root cause of my obsession. The patches had a reputation for causing obsessive behaviour, including gambling, drugs and other things I am too much of a gentleman to discuss here and would likely fail to get past the eye of the mods.
My legs and feet were swollen, I slept maybe 2 or 3 hours a night. When I did sleep ...I had the most dreadful nightmares which often had scenes of horrific violence. I was also very emotional and could become upset about some pretty minor things.
Moving on.......
I am now off the patches, having gradually reduced the dosage over a number of months. I am on new medication. I now sleep the sleep of the dead; and the ever fragrant and much loved Mrs T has to drag me out of bed. I still dream but they are vivid rather than nightmarish. Sometimes, when I get up to pee and go back to bed, the dream carries on in Part 2. The dreams are seriously weird, sometimes funny and always remembered in great detail when I awake. I am now much more alert, feel much more alive....more interested in things non - photography. I feel that a great weight has lifted from my shoulders and the black cloud has vanished. Family and friends have noticed a difference.
You can see this coming a mile off I know; but, the thing is, my obsession with photography has reduced almost to the point of it being "meh, whatever". Sure, I enjoy it when I go out and do it, but the frequency has seriously diminished. I no longer hunt at dawn or dusk or midnight. I no longer prowl the house in the wee small hours to seek photo fodder.
The thing is that I am not upset or concerned by it. I expected to become less obsessed when I came off the patches, but I didn't expect to become "meh". As I was coming off the patches, I was doing less shooting but more editing of old work. Now even that is a trickle.
I am not sure how far my interest will wane. I may become camera rich but interest poor. Yesterday I went out for an hour at dusk with my X-T1 but didn't turn it on even once. Normally I would come back with something I could play around with in LR and post on flickr etc.
It isn't a dry patch, or lack of inspiration. My God, I think I am becoming normal!!!
I have been a photographer since 2011. Probably.....since maybe 2013 I have photographed like a man possessed. Every day I went out and photographed someone or something. Be it dawn, dusk, midnight or afternoon; I had all my cameras with me and shot everything in sight which took my fancy. I saw everything in terms of a shot.....the light, a look, an incident a place, incongruity. It was all meat on the plate for me; much to the ire of the ever fragrant and much loved Mrs T.
It was suspected that my Parkinson's medication; Specifically my Neupro Patches, which were the root cause of my obsession. The patches had a reputation for causing obsessive behaviour, including gambling, drugs and other things I am too much of a gentleman to discuss here and would likely fail to get past the eye of the mods.
My legs and feet were swollen, I slept maybe 2 or 3 hours a night. When I did sleep ...I had the most dreadful nightmares which often had scenes of horrific violence. I was also very emotional and could become upset about some pretty minor things.
Moving on.......
I am now off the patches, having gradually reduced the dosage over a number of months. I am on new medication. I now sleep the sleep of the dead; and the ever fragrant and much loved Mrs T has to drag me out of bed. I still dream but they are vivid rather than nightmarish. Sometimes, when I get up to pee and go back to bed, the dream carries on in Part 2. The dreams are seriously weird, sometimes funny and always remembered in great detail when I awake. I am now much more alert, feel much more alive....more interested in things non - photography. I feel that a great weight has lifted from my shoulders and the black cloud has vanished. Family and friends have noticed a difference.
You can see this coming a mile off I know; but, the thing is, my obsession with photography has reduced almost to the point of it being "meh, whatever". Sure, I enjoy it when I go out and do it, but the frequency has seriously diminished. I no longer hunt at dawn or dusk or midnight. I no longer prowl the house in the wee small hours to seek photo fodder.
The thing is that I am not upset or concerned by it. I expected to become less obsessed when I came off the patches, but I didn't expect to become "meh". As I was coming off the patches, I was doing less shooting but more editing of old work. Now even that is a trickle.
I am not sure how far my interest will wane. I may become camera rich but interest poor. Yesterday I went out for an hour at dusk with my X-T1 but didn't turn it on even once. Normally I would come back with something I could play around with in LR and post on flickr etc.
It isn't a dry patch, or lack of inspiration. My God, I think I am becoming normal!!!