Kremlin, Montana

Last fall my wife and I did a two week camping trip through the plains states and parts of Canada. We used our tent and left our camper at home. We find accessing camping locations much easier in remote areas that are near where I want to photograph using our small tent. On this trip my interest was in finding old granaries that once were operational and vital on the Plains. Most of these old granaries are abandon and many are being torn down. They mostly are located along R.R. tracks,many that are no longer being used. This image was in the state on Montana near the Canadian border. The R.R. track is still active and is called the high line by locals in the area. We both have a love for seeking out quiet places that reflect on past life in America. The Plains states once had vibrant communities of farmers and the R.R. tracks was the connection and life blood to this vast area. Traveling around through several of Plains states we stopped in many abandon towns that were once were a hub of activity for people that lived there. There is always a sense of sadness to witness a generation of hard work that has vanished from the landscape.

Motivation

What is it that drives us to create, to discover something new, or just want to keep learning? I go through periods of intense creativity and then long patches of the doldrums where noting seems to inspire. You would think after many years of making photographic images I would have a better understanding of the creative cycle and be more accepting of it, but I am not. I am sure most creative persons has asked themselves these types of question many times. How do we balance this cycle of the creative process? I think sometimes we need to step away from what we are doing and clear our minds of the pursuit we are on. Sometimes we are simply over trying and making ourselves frustrated. Second we all have the tendency to compare ourselves to others. It is easy in the current social media world to ask ourselves why do some people get all the attention and our work gets overlooked. That is another trap that will completely engulf you if you put your focus there. But then there is another aspect creatives all deal with. You ask yourself, "I've created so much stuff what is the point of making anymore"? Just yesterday I was going through some of my many archival boxes of my darkroom prints that were fully matted and ended up putting them in the trash can. Then today I am putting together this above image in a matte and a frame, and the haunting question came again, "why make more"? After so many years what is the point, no one is going to buy it, and it will end up in my closet with a bunch of others. But a voice in my head asked me "do you enjoy it"? and my answer was yes. So the voice said, then keep doing it. In life we need to focus on the journey and not the destination. As artist we are always looking for the completed piece but in our minds it is never truly completed. There is always something we could add or change, and that is ok. Just keep doing what brings you joy.