Photoproject: 100 visits to Seri Huamark Market (days 71-80)

After 20 days shooting with the tiny PanaLeica 15mm I was ready for a change, so I resorted back to my workaround zoom lens, the compact and versatile Lumix 12-35, not only the lens that I have had the longest time (I bought it along my first micro 4/3 camera, close to 4 years ago) but also the one with which I have taken the highest number of pictures so far, which clearly speaks of my bond with this lens and how comfortable I feel shooting with it.

Day 71, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71c, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71e, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71f, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71g, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71h, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 71i, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Another first-time happened, and I'm still unsure to this day about the meaning of it: someone took pictures of me with their phone while I was shooting them. There was no chance of conversation and the expression was quite indecipherable, it could as well have been curiosity as anger or threat. I just discreetly stopped taking pictures at that place and moved ahead to another spot, and that was the end of it.

Day 72, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 72b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 72bc GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 72d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 72e, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

One trend has been slowly developing in the last weeks and has become very apparent to me lately: I don't enjoy visiting the market when the light is not good anymore, overcast days keep me off the project and therefore I have ended up skipping more and more days as weeks passed when the light is not good as I see the end of the road approaching for the first time and I wanna make the best of every visit.

Day 73, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 73b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 73c, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 73d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 73e, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 73f, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Another first happened during these last 10 days, and one I would have liked not to suffer, but that I guess is kind of inevitable from time to time: I filled the SD card of my camera while shooting and thus I missed some shots while changing cards. Even after so many days, I realized how important it is to check everything daily and keep the routines to avoid missteps, as small as they might be.

Day 74, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 74b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 74c, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 74d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 74e, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 74f, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Some days I definitely felt less motivated and bored while walking around the market, with a feeling that I had seen it all already, and I'm afraid that shows in the images that I captured during those visits, a bit uninspired or repetitive, so I gladly welcomed the mid-term holidays, which meant I was going to travel abroad and be absent for 2 weeks, so I hoped this break would bring back the joy upon my return!

Day 75, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 75b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 75c, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 75d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

After the 2 weeks break I was definitely refreshed, but at the same time it took me a while to get back in track, and as I started seeing the end of the project ahead I became much more selective with the captures I took in every visit.

Day 76, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 76b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

There is something I have been consciously training more and more, and that has been a slow approach to each scene, in hope of improving pre-visualization; I walked more slowly, I saw with my eyes without raising the camera, I imagined what I would like to get, and then I worked for it. This implied waiting and being patient, and it didn't always paid off, but it was a good training nonetheless (my longest wait was 30 minutes at a spot to create what I had in mind and in the end I only got 50% there).

Day 77, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 77b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 77c, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 77d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 77e, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 77f, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 77g, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

As my motivation started to dwindle and I felt a bit bored, excuses started to appear every now and then to avoid going, something that had not happened before, so I needed to force myself to go more than before and I needed more discipline and will power than ever to keep going.

Day 78, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 78b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Probably as a consequence of the previous point, I left the market feeling dissatisfied for the first time, as if I hadn't found anything valuable or interesting, which made me realize that I need to find the way to bring back the motivation and the sense of surprise and discovery again somehow, for there are still twenty more days ahead and I really want to try my best in each and everyone of them until the end.

Day 79, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 79b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 79c, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 79d, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day 79e, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

The total  amount of images I took in these last 10 days was 994 (46-137), a new record, passing barely the previous 10 days and just a hair short of 1000 images. Not counting the holidays, I skipped a total of 9 days, also the biggest number since the beginning of the project, so this raises some questions to myself as to how I will keep the motivation for the upcoming 20 days. Time will tell, but I'm very comitted to finish the project and, no matter what, I will find the way to do just that!

Day80, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm

Day80b, GX80 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm