Monomad: Stray dogs continue to make photography difficult

I've been getting out a bit less as of late due to the heat. I love roaming around but the sun gets quite unbearable, and the few places I have been wanting to explore have been riddled with horrible stray dogs that make any attempts quite dangerous. At the same time I've been feeling that itch to get out, I can't sit inside for long at all these days, very quickly I start to feel like I should be getting outside and doing something, anything other than wasting away procrastinating indoors and not getting things done. I have found myself taking short walks here and there to at least try to reduce some of that guilt, though it doesn't really work when I feel that want to fly the drone and see new things. I tried to do that today, mostly just walking around my area with the intent of flying my drone somewhere. Though my main location was immediately lost with the recent problem: those nasty stray dogs. Immediately growling, immediately jumping up at fences and showing a clear intent to cause harm if you get close enough. Not worth the risk. Especially since online I have seen so many people mentioning they've been bitten by the strays and now have to go about getting multiple doses of rabies vaccinations. I'm not risking that nonsense just for a few minutes of drone flying and some photographs. So, I headed out of the area and started roaming aimlessly.

I walked through the streets of my area that I haven't yet been to. Mostly without the camera in hand for a large duration of it. Searching for something new without really looking at my phone at the maps. That was a fun time, though I felt a bit disappointed at how little I came back with: not a single drone flight, and just a handful of photographs that I had taken during what was actually an incredibly lengthy walk.

One mistake I had made was that I still had the 85mm lens on the camera, and I was in narrow streets with many tall buildings and little alleyways. I quickly noticed the mistake of having this focal length with me since I found interest in a lot of the surroundings that just wouldn't all fit into frame in the way that I saw them. The 35mm would've served as a much better option. In general as of late I have been craving a lens that is even wider than the 35mm, something really wide that would be great for architectural photography and those more narrow environments. I find that I walked through them a lot recently as I find new ways to navigate through the city, and find ways to get to and from the locations I tend to want to shoot with the drone. It's like the photography interest never really dies: either it's with the drone, or I have the camera in hand. Though the camera side of things has been dwindling as of late. I have been mentioning a lot the motivation I have to build a portfolio and shoot more drone things, mostly video. With all of this I have been thinking of gear recently, the types of equipment I need to start adding to a wish list, slowly chipping away at over time. I have even started to find that I am missing shooting on film, but the difficulty of finding film that isn't overpriced these days just continues to keep me from shooting it. Especially with how the weather is at the moment. I feel I have just been shooting too much of summer and it feels a bit stale.

Though with autumn and winter and the seasonal changes they bring, I'm really excited to go beyond with the gear I have now. Especially from the aerial side of things. Those beautiful snowy mountains. The colours of the leaves in the large forests around the city. All that atmosphere that comes with lower light and more beautiful tones in artificial lighting throughout the city.

I've also found I have a lot less interest in photographing people again. I feel the little stories of people going about their days recently just hasn't had much inspiration to me. I can't seem to care that much to photograph them. I think this returns back to what I just said about wanting the changing of the seasons and wanting to photograph more natural environments. A little tired of the noise and chaos of the city and more wanting that exploration side of nature that keeps things peaceful and in fresh air. Slowly waiting for that heat to cool off to start joining some hikes throughout parts of the country. To which that will massively inspire me with the cameras. I don't think I have ever done something quite like that before, aside from going skiing once in Switzerland when I was 13. And I just haven't done it since despite really wanting to go again. The more I grow up, the more I realise that I prefer being outdoors and in these areas, the more I feel I need to be in them often to feel sane. I think that falls into the feeling I get here when I stay inside too much, I start to feel that need to get out and do anything, to move and witness things. But I wasn't always this way, it sort of just triggered one day. But even in the city I still enjoy stumbling across its history, finding old buildings and such to roam or photograph, always curious over what's happening in these areas that almost seem abandoned but hold some life still.

And I think of how long this will continue to last with the rampant modern development that takes place in cities, the amount of time remaining until these places are just destroyed and people forcefully moved on to make way for some soulless modern development.

Anyway, these are the few photographs from the day. Stumbling around trying to find something interesting. Dying from the intense heat. Dealing with the mean dogs. Just feeling a bit tired but still very much motivated.