Moving outside your comfort zone

Sometimes, it does one good to leave their comfort zone and try something different. Yesterday, I lead a Photowalk at Spring Mill State Park (my second year doing so). The 1800’s pioneer village provides a unique setting, except I focus on landscape and wildlife photography. I decided to step out of my comfort zone during the walk and try something different. My first stop was the woodwright’s shop where I decided to shoot with available light.

As I was setting up my gear, the resident woodwright-blacksmith-assistant miller appeared. We talked for a minute and then I spotted a can of spray paint on the workbench. I asked him if he could remove it as it was “out of character.” He laughed, turned the label towards me and told me it would make a great Andy Warhol shot! He eventually removed it. He also fixed the barrier so that I could move inside the work area to shoot. However, I was happy with my location for the workbench. I did move inside the barrier to photograph the planes.

As I was processing the image, I started to look more closely at the tools and discovered a few more items were out of character. I did like the Yankee drill as it looked exactly like the one my dad carried on his tool belt when he worked for the telephone company.

Later, a guy named “Doc” struck up a conversation. He was preparing for buck saw demonstration, but told me that since his wife was on one end of the saw, it was a “Buck and Doe” saw. We had a lively conversation as I waited for the woodwright who was morphing to blacksmith to arrive. I never got to photograph the blacksmith shop and my need to return someday to once again step outside my comfort zone.